to be unsure which class I belong to?

[Thankgodforcaffeine]

It isn't really keeping me awake at night, but I am curious.

I am not British and did not grow up in the UK, so I do not have this "6th sense" most Brits have which enable them to tell which class people belong to.

How can I tell where I would fit in, considering that in my case accent and vocabulary are irrelevant (I learnt English at school)?

Trivial I know, but I keep wondering.

Funnily enough ComposHat, that pretty much sums up why I don't know what class I am.

How do you decide? If it's defined by education, income, home ownership, profession or parental or grand parental background I could be any class from underclass right through to upper class. Anything subjective like vocabulary, where you shop or what you buy also gets me mixed results.

Now clearly I can't just pick one, that's not how it works. Is there a points system? Can I add them all up and get an average?

"my parents run a small shop, my grandparents were farmers"

You need to tell us what job you or your DP does too, level of education, any inherited income. But from above could be lower middle class or skilled working class. Kind of depends on what you mean by a small shop. Tiny corner shop just giving your parents enough to survive - skilled working class.

Decent size shop maybe employing some part time staff - lower middle class.

IMO

Only the MC worry about class , so you must be MC

UC and WC don't really care

Greythorne is spot on.
As Brendan Behan said 'F* the begrudgers'

I'm British and have no idea either.
Currently I am a single SAHM on benefits
I have a degree
I have worked in a managerial role, admin and sales

My mum has a degree, was a teacher, is now a bursar
My dad left school at 15 but went on to run his own insurance business

Maternal grandparents both have degrees
Paternal grandparents were a farmhand and a dinner lady

I think of myself as working class but have been called middle class by people...

Not sure it matters though does it?

(But although I have said it doesn't matter I would be interested to know )

freakoid - Middle class without a doubt

I agree with Lesley freakoid

Oh I never worry about what class I might or might not be, I leave that to other people to make those assumptions of me, it's our national obsession

That's what we British like doing the best, deciding what class you are by the way you hold your knife and fork, woe betide you if stab at your peas like some serial killer or any other arcane culinary faux pas, the class police will definetly label you a 'chav'

baking - The examples you give are about judging whether you belong. "Are you one of us?"

Ooh I feel like I've climbed the classes just through this thread

Does anyone know / care what class people are in nowadays?! I wouldn't have a clue!

lesley I really dont know what you mean by ''Are you one of us?''

I'm from working class parents but have a university education, work as a scientist own a large house so while some people perceive me as middle class others see me as working class based on my likes and background, it depends on the person making that call but over the years i've found people often do base it on their own arbitary notions of what class is, although i'm very comfortable with my working class roots.

I live abroad now and it surprises me how much this is actually still an issue for a lot of people living in the UK.

My parents are firmly convinced that they are working class. They both attended fee-paying grammar schools but neither went to university, and now both do admin/managerial jobs. They always told me that anyone who has to work for a living (i.e. doesn't have a massive inheritance/hasn't made tons of money with stocks & shares) is working class. I think the concept of "middle class", especially as it is used today, was a bit alien to them. Maybe, growing up in the part of the country they did, it would just have been seen as "being up your own a*se" to call yourself middle class.

In school, however, I was constantly bullied for being the "posh" one because we lived in a very nice house in a nice area (my parents were very thrifty to achieve this, and people assume they earn far more than they actually do), went long-haul holidays, ate out in nice restaurants at the weekends, and also because my parents encouraged hobbies like music (so not cool at my inner-city comprehensive school). It made really sad to be isolated by an accusation that I really didn't feel applied to me.

In my exprerience only the middle class worry about class nobody else cares , My dh is a plumber we are working class as we came from mining stock the upper class dont give a toss either Its the middle ones you need to worry about

Me neither. Isn't that nice?

I wouldn't say it's an issue or that I worry about it, just that when it comes up I wonder what I count as is all.

I don't actually care. :)

TBH, it only really comes up on here, lol.

I used to think I was working class (dad a miner, brought up on sink estate) but I've been told many times that I'm not as I have a couple of degrees, earn my living in the arts, own a crumbling pile with dogs and horses and send my DC to independent school.

But I'm absolutely not middle class either. No way.

lesley I have a degree, and work in managerial role. My mother has a degree, my father trained as a mechanic and their shop is a corner shop with no other staff.

DH has same degree and similar job to me but thinks he is working class because his parents are.

Any ideas?

I don't think the owning / renting your home someone mentioned up thread factors at all

Im not having a dig at anybody honest , but is class really important to people does it matter , ? we do ok for ourselves but we see us as working class . just interested as to why people things they are in a certain class ?

You don't belong to a class.
You either have it or not... ;-)

Agreeing with mrsjay too: who cares?

I like Polo but I have a soft spot for Nascar
I refuse to go to the hunt ball as I think fox hunting is cruel.
I love lobster but I like it with chips and ketchup
I have read Horse and Hound and Heat

I don't know what class I am but I don't really care either. It seems a very strange thing to worry about. Certainly no one has ever asked me and until joining MN I have never given it much thought

I often read that thw upper classes don't care at all about class but my experience is really wide of this.

One of my best friends is uooer class (top public school, parents' home is a large sprawling manor in the country, grew up riding, now lives in a posh part of West London, etc.) and she physically shudders when she hears people say "toilet" or "pardon" and she is often heard to remark to her children, "we don't say couch" and "my name is mummy, not mum".

I saw her reading a picture book to her DC one day and there was a picture of a toilet and underneath, it said, "toilet." She pointed and said, "lavatory". She oftern whispers of someone of the lower orders, "she's nice but she does insist on saying couch".

And think about someone like Alan Clark. His diaries showed him to be quite barking, as well as incredibly snobbish.