Do you know anyone middle class?

[angelos02]

I don't. But my definition of middle class is those that go to work but don't need to.

Do people honestly still think about such things?

Some sociologists define by wealth, some buy education, and some by profession. It is too fluid to define, so in essence it is meaningless....

I was privately educated and I'm decidedly WC.
My parents went without foreign holidays, new cars, a larger home etc so that they could prioritise my education.

I know a (lovely) woman who doesn't have to work, as her DH has a very high income.

She retrained as a schools counsellor, and does that voluntarily.

So she works, but doesn't have to.

Does that mean she's middle class, but her DH is not?

i took the bbd test. i'm established middle class. apparently.

Eating quinoa (because obviously you're just eating it because you think it makes you MC) tastes rank, never eat it
-Shopping at Waitrose (because you're just doing it for the bags) We don't have waitrose but I occasionally shop at the stockmann deli which I imagine is the equivalent, bloody pricey anyway
-Not being white (yep, seriously) I am white
-Being a nurse (that means you'll always be working class) Not a nurse
-Seeing musicals at the theatre (should always be a play, if you've seen a musical, you're toast) I've seen plays (and been in there), musicals and the Opera - what does that mean?
--Bought skiwear in Harrods (it's chivvy). I ski but cross-country which I suspect is the working class method of skiing
-Driving a new Audi (MC people only drive old cars. I don't know what they do when the old car dies) Don't drive - OH drives an old red van that's on the verge of break-down
-Get a blow-dry (too showy and nouveau riche) I only go the hairdressers a couple times a year for a trim
-Package holidays abroad. No but I wouldn't mind going on one. We go caravanning
-Being from "The North", and heaven forbid you're Scottish! From the South-West originally and then the East coast. Dad is Scottish though and mum is foreign
-Having any accent whatsoever. My accent is a weird cross-breed of West Country, Suffolk and Rally-English

The BBC link says I'm of the Emergent Service Workers which sounds exactly right, I work part time in a charity shop and enjoy a mix of high-culture and low-culture and I'm dead poor.

Oh and I'm WC in spite of that five question BBC 'test'

I actually find it amusing that anybody would take it seriously. A few questions pertaining to income/pastimes/friendship circle does not in fact negate generations of cultural conditioning/ideology/ethos/capital.

Like pps, I would have thought you were describing the "independently wealthy" in your OP. I know at least two people who are independently wealthy. Sadly not me!

As Steff pointed out, it's all about the benjamins (as in Franklin; he's on the $100 bill) in the US. Here's a handy dandy calculator that will tell you if you are middle class in the US.

www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/05/11/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class/

I should point out that there are matters of education and taste that do enable Americans to judge each other in ways that are similar to UK class distinctions. For example, Donald Trump is clearly upper class by income and wealth, but have you seen how his residences are decorated? I mean, I hate his position on just about everything, but people also need to think about what he would do to the White House. Seriously.

Oooh...I've never been told I'm working class before. My mum was an hon, and a debutante and we had ponies from when we were tiny, owned a chunk of rural land, went sailing, had trust funds etc.

But she and my dad were very keen on state schools (both being hippy liberals) and sent us to the local comp. I am actually oddly excited to be called working class.

(My DH who went to a well known public school on a scholarship from a council estate just gave me the side eye when I told him he outclassed me)

Also, isn't this thread confusing middle class and upper class? Also, class and money. I definitely see private school as being more about the latter than the former these days.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-ultimate-class-quiz-8563034.html

Yes I know a lot of middle class people, and I don't know what I'd class myself.

Yes, me- although I believe I'm Upper class -

But I wouldn't class someone with money as Upper Class like they say money can't buy class, think of all those people who make lots of money illegally.

I never understand why people think of "middle" class as the idle rich! Hardly middle!

I have friends I consider to be Upper class. They struggle to pay their heating bills etc, forever broke- hopeless at coming up with ways to make money- it's quite funny really.
Lots of money has nothing to do with Upper class or style.

I thought nobody admitted to being middle class any more and everyone wanted to claim to be working or upper class... whilst in reality far more people are middle class than upper and working put together. There is also an under class of course, of the chronically unemployed (those who have been unemployed and reliant on benefits - rather than a trust fund - for decades or who are on the fringes of petty crime semi permanently)

btw that wasn't meant to sound how it probably read, as judgemental - being chronically unemployed is surely a position almost nobody actually chooses to be in!

www.theguardian.com/education/2011/nov/17/permanent-underclass-emerging-businesses-warn

I find these threads sad because pp seem to confuse working class with the families on those benefit bashing programes.
I don't recognise the working class that people talk about.
The wc families i know are working hard and are very ambitious for their children (it makes sense that if you had a hard life you want your dcs to have an easier one), they are very keen on activities, read to their dcs, they are the first to pay for school trips, they are often work overtime for a trip or music lessons.
For some reason some people don't want to accept this.

As for food, most foods are widely available and cheap these days and everybody i know is familiar with hummus, brie etc tesco and asda do value brie, value halloumi, i am afraiyou will need to find something else to feed your superiority.

There are people who like salty things like olives and people who like sweet things and others who like plain food. they can belong to any group -wc or mc.

There are also people -in both groups - who like Arts and books and those who don't. Which is fine.

Personally i 'll take the money any day!

Laquitar under class is absolutely distinct from working class - hence the words under and working. ..

The under class are the result of systemic failures in allowing people to "fall through the net" that a civilised society aims (or should aim) to catch people in before they become very long term unemployed. It's not about benefits bashing it's about people becoming trapped - and ots nothing to do with the working class (because they are working, it's in the name... Though of course people from any background can have periods of not working it's not the same as chronic unemployment).

Schwabis
i know, i was talking about posts that go a bit like 'i value education for my dcs therefore i am middle class', ' i listen to jazz blah blah, i do manual job BUT i like theatre, , i live in council house BUT i read to my dcs.....
To me there is no BUT . Why BUT. it is normal.

Ah sorry Laquitar - I thought pp meant me because mine was the previous post - I see now it meant some previous posters (vain )

Yes, sorry. I only read your post after i posted:-) but i see that it looks like i was addressing you!

Although even you Laquitar will assume that a WC upbringing is a difficult one and that WC parents will strive for and aspire towards 'better' for their children.

Not necessarily true.
I had a WC upbringing which encompassed a wonderfully diverse, private education and has afforded me a professional occupation and a very good, albeit within a staunchly WC area of my choosing, standard of living.

My life has been by no means marred either economically, socially or culturally compared to my MC peers.

I'd be quite content for my DC to remain WC. I see no inherent or indeed quantifiable benefit in the alternative.

Hmm. Both DH and I are professionals with extensive post grad qualifications. Neither of his parents were in further education, mine both went straight into work from school but were motivated to do degrees in their 30's. There is no inherited money from either side. Everything we have we have worked for. I was privately educated only by getting a scholarship OH wasn't, our children are not, as despite being in 'well paid' professions that are stupidly stressful and make us both incredibly stressed to the point of being ill, never going abroad and driving pretty average cars, we can't afford private fees. I wonder what that makes us ??!

I agree Ellen but when i said 'hard' or better' i didn't mean socially or culturally. Absolutely no.

But work-wise hmm... my parents
and my pils worked very hard doing very tiring jobs so they wanted for us to have 'easier' lives meaning to do an office job.
We don't have easier lives.
I don't have a good career and no security so i would prefer it if my dcs had a secure and well paid job tbh. Not for yhe status thu , only for the money.
If electricians continue to be in demand and charge what they charge then i would be over the moon if one of my dcs becomes one.