To be a bit surprised that 60% of us think of ourselves as working class?

[BlancheBlue]

www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jun/29/most-brits-regard-themselves-as-working-class-survey-finds

This really. Does this this figure surprise you? I thought more people identified as middle class or I suppose it depends on company and context!

Of course class is hard to define ranging from being "a state of mind" to people basing it on income, background, how you describe meals etc etc!

Is teaching traditionally middle class?

I thought teachers (up until maybe the seventies) in state schools were almost always from working class families.

At least as far as my historical knowledge goes teachers came from middle class families. I'm talking about a century or more ago as you can't consider anything in the 20th century to be traditional for classes as that's when the class system started to break down.

class really doesn't exist apart from in the home counties and places in england where they never have to mix with the majority of europe and the rest of the world.

little enclaves up north and in middle britain still have a class system. usually all based around farming. or being doctors.

the rest of the UK don't have time for such trite.

There's nowt like a good turn.

dinosaur

I spent a lot of my childhood working in the working mens clubs.
I did my first gigs there from being about 10 years old.

I think of it as being a cultural rather than financial distinction. I live in a very working class town, and come from a working class background but culturally I am your archetypal Guardian reader. I've always felt that meant I was becoming more middle class but perhaps as a pp suggested there should be tribes rather than classes.

I've been in a working men's club, I have worked in one.

Does that make me and gillybeanz the definition of working class now? The bar has been set

I have no really strong views about class - and indeed studied A Level sociology - but, having said that, always knew I was 'middle class' and felt comfortable with that.

Above average income, university education, etc

However, perfectly happy not keeping up with Jones's', and absolutely love Aldi - so don't know how easily I fit in with other peoples stereotypes.

You are not true middle class unless you were born into it. Kate Middleton is middle class despite being married to the future king, she was born into it. The social elite, upper class, born into it. You just can't put yourself there regardless of how many degrees you have or the size of your dick!

This Grayson Perry article on taste and class sums it up well for me. www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/10117264/Grayson-Perry-Taste-is-woven-into-our-class-system.html

Mumsnet is obsessed with class. I know wealth isn't necessarily an indication of class however what do you think the distribution of wealth is in the UK? Who do you think is doing all of the manual jobs? Perhaps perception comes into it, I'm working class, live in a council property in a very working class area and I'm surprised it's not higher than 60%, perhaps you are surprised it's so high due to your personal experiences?

"what do you think the distribution of wealth is in the UK? Who do you think is doing all of the manual jobs?"

Exactly Twatty! If "everyone is middle class now" who sweeps your roads?, who serves you in shops?, who wipes your Granny's bum? The fairies?

I disagree Twokids.
Its not uncommon to have a working class background but join the middle class in adult life. And yes, you may have certain tastes, attitudes and behaviors that are adaptations to a completely different set of circumstances. But you also have options and possibilities that your family, friends and neighbours can't access.
That's the position I'm in and its OK to acknowledge that.

I think if you have to work to live (to have food, roof over your head etc) then that makes you working class now. So actually 60% is pretty low as the vast majority of us have to sell our labour.

Natsku I am a bit worried about your plumber. Surely its dangerous to fall asleep in a sauna. I hope the heat wasn't on at the time.

I think it's unique to MN to desperately want to belong to the middle class and what many people on here consider middle class isnt the real definition.

Class is a very difficult thing to quantify. My parents were on benefits and I grew up on a rough council estate. However, I am Masters educated and have a good job. I just had to get there a slightly different way than the "degree - graduate role/internship" path that a lot of the middle classes can afford to take. If I stop earning, there is no safety net. I am on my own.

I am still very much a working class girl though, even though I've lost most of my Dorset brogue. I don't own my own home (not yet anyway) or do anything deemed typically middle class.

I do, however, write and have published a novel. Soooooo what does that make me?

"Today 07:59 unlimiteddilutingjuice

I disagree Twokids.
Its not uncommon to have a working class background but join the middle class in adult life. And yes, you may have certain tastes, attitudes and behaviors that are adaptations to a completely different set of circumstances. But you also have options and possibilities that your family, friends and neighbours can't access.
That's the position I'm in and its OK to acknowledge that."

You can disagree but it's not necessarily right. A middle class person may well not consider you to be in their class.

Coming from a working class background then going to uni, getting a professional job, shopping at waitrose etc doesn't make you middle class.

Aaah mumsnet the home of the middle class... sat in their rented houses watching jezza kyle after doing the school run in their PJs and fake ugg boots :)

Funniest conversation i had about class was this . Woman : my mum was horrified that we bought an ex council house, Me: why? Woman : she thinks im slumming it but great grandad was in mining fgs Me; was he Her ; yes he ownedthe company in Canada . 😂

MrsJay
I once witnessed this:
"On my estate..."
"Wow, you have an estate"

Skittlesss! I think there is no way the middle classes would be watching JK (you need a large screen for that), and my uggs are real!!

Now enough of the stereotypes!

"A middle class person may well not consider you to be in their class."

My god! The rejection would just kill me!

I'm a C1, lower middle class by any sensible analysis. Class mobility has been an everyday fact of life since the 1960's. Although sadly declining these days as the gap between rich and poor widens.

I'm not saying you should care, I'm saying you're probably wrong to think yourself MC. Don't be ashamed of your roots

My neighbours rent from the council. They don't have jobs, eat a lot of processed foods (packaging is thrown around the street), wear tracksuits with lots of brand names and listen to very loud music day and night. My other neighbours own their former council house, both have arts degrees, grow their own veg, their kids wear secondhand Boden. My parents own a detached house on a small private estate, have a really big TV and often go on all inclusive holidays to Majorca. My best friend's parents are wealthy, have horses and don't own a TV. Just using those brief descriptions I'm sure many people would feel they could say which class they each belong to, but class isn't clear cut enough for people to all agree!
Fwiw I would say my first set of neighbours are working class, my other neighbours are middle class, my parents are working class and my friend's parents are middle class. And that if the wealth of any of those people changed, their values and interests would be what made them either working or middle class.