Page 5 | To be a bit surprised that 60% of us think of ourselves as working class?

BlancheBlue · 2016-10-06T09:12:12+00:00

[[https://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!

Skittlesss · 07/10/2016 09:02

Haha Dolly, well I don't even have uggs I have skechers :p I don't have a tele in every room though :(

Original poster

BlancheBlue · 07/10/2016 09:04

Council "estates" were initially called that to help with perception I saw on that bbc history of housing programme.

OP posts:

DoctorBeat · 07/10/2016 09:05

I'm working class. I grew up on a council estate, neither of my parents went to university. I went to a grammar school, uni, and am now working in a profession. However I can't change who I am. I don't think social mobility exists really. You are what you are.

unlimiteddilutingjuice · 07/10/2016 09:10

Treebedsemi I'm very proud of my roots! I'm very happy to talk about my working class background and all the positive aspects of working class culture.

However: When I am packing my car to spend Christmas in a highland cottage. And chatting to my neighbour, who has just come down the street with the two carrier bags of Irn By that constitute a "Christmas treat" in her house. And she tells me how relieved she is that her benefit sanction got lifted because now she can get presents for her other child (this actually happened to me!). When I'm regularly having experiences like that- it would be a bit daft to insist on still being working class against all availible evidence!

Actually, as people up thread have said: it would be insulting.

RufusTheSpartacusReindeer · 07/10/2016 09:12

I am sure i read about 6 months ago that 80% of us consider ourselves to be middle class

And now its 60% working class

Fess up who has swapped

(And how many moved because Pre brexit it was all about the hard working squeezed middle and now its all about the Hardworking working class)

MrsJayy · 07/10/2016 09:13

I agree you are who you are I like that phrase. Where i live and went to school the majority lived in council houses then everybody bought them and lived in ex council houses except my parents as dad wasnt going to pay Margaret fucking thatcher a penny of his money

Threebedsemii · 07/10/2016 09:13

Unlimited I'm a bit confused- why can't working class people go to cottages in the highlands? Of course they can and do!

Working class people aren't like your neighbour. She sounds like someone in poverty. She may also be working class, but the 2 aren't connected

unlimiteddilutingjuice · 07/10/2016 09:14

BlancheBlu I didn't know that! Very interesting.

MrsJayy · 07/10/2016 09:17

No the 2 are not the same that woman is skint which is a shame but being able to afford a highland break does not make you middle class as was said pages back WC doesnt have to mean poor and destitute.

GetAHaircutCarl · 07/10/2016 09:24

Unlimited I don't think it's insulting to describe yourself as WC despite living a very middle class lifestyle.

I certainly continue to identify as WC despite the fact that I'm no longer living the life I once did. To identify as MC now would be to deny my upbringing surely?

I may now be well educated, wealthy, have DC in private school etc but I grew up on a sink estate and both my parents left school at 15. That is my history.

Natsku · 07/10/2016 09:40

The heat wasn't on unlimited he just decided it was more comfy than the sofa DD was highly amused when we told her he was our sauna elf and she ran out and fetched all the local kids to show them her sauna elf!

Working class definitely doesn't mean poor - I live in a very working class town, biggest employers are two factories and a bunch of machine works, however many many of these working class people own boats and owning horses is also common.

unlimiteddilutingjuice · 07/10/2016 09:46

"Unlimited I'm a bit confused- why can't working class people go to cottages in the highlands"

Obviously I'm not saying that working class people never do this. That would be absurd. But, yes, its a pattern of behaviour I would associate with the middle class. Not for financial reasons necessarily. Working class youngsters are less likely to move far from their families for example- so might be hosting Christmas or expecting to visit nearby relatives on boxing day.

"Working class people aren't like your neighbour. She sounds like someone in poverty. She may also be working class, but the 2 aren't connected"

Unfortunately where I live there is very widespread poverty and it absolutely is working class people who experience it. Its a very common working class experience in my area, at the moment. Obviously not saying all working class people are in poverty- that's clearly not the case. But to say that poverty isn't connected to class: really?! At all?!.

To be frank, a statement like that just shows the danger in seeing class a solely to do with tastes, culture and background.

MrsJayy · 07/10/2016 09:56

But you are still working class social mobility is different imo where i live their is 2 cars in drives and flats with unemployed people on benefits neighbours going away for summed to center parcs and haven

franincisco · 07/10/2016 09:57

Until a universally recognized definition of the class system is devised rather than people putting forth their own ideas/notions of what it means to be WC/MC there will be confusion. I know someone who thinks that eating potato wedges means you are MC, and really wealthy MC people who think they are poverty stricken

Does it really matter though? I have never, ever had a RL discussion about this. Surely we are what we are? Is it really important to feel the need to label yourself as either?

thisagain · 07/10/2016 10:01

I guess it depends on your definition. My 82 year old runs a big successful business and has 4 homes - not huge mansions but normal nice homes, with one in Spain. He literally came from nothing and says he is working class because he works for his money. In his definition, if you are middle class, your money works for you ie living off bank interest, rental house income etc.

PoppyBirdOnAWire · 07/10/2016 10:04

"unlimiteddilutingjuice

Treebedsemi I'm very proud of my roots! I'm very happy to talk about my working class background and all the positive aspects of working class culture.

However: When I am packing my car to spend Christmas in a highland cottage. And chatting to my neighbour, who has just come down the street with the two carrier bags of Irn By that constitute a "Christmas treat" in her house. And she tells me how relieved she is that her benefit sanction got lifted because now she can get presents for her other child (this actually happened to me!). When I'm regularly having experiences like that- it would be a bit daft to insist on still being working class against all availible evidence!

Actually, as people up thread have said: it would be insulting."

Are you educated to university level, though? Your sentence construction is interesting, to say the least.

PoppyBirdOnAWire · 07/10/2016 10:06

unlimiteddilutingjuice:

Middle class people tend to live in middle class enclaves. It doesn't sound as if you do.

MrsJayy · 07/10/2016 10:08

Urgh typos showing my working class education 😀

PoppyBirdOnAWire · 07/10/2016 10:09

Being middle class is largely linked to profession not money.

PoppyBirdOnAWire · 07/10/2016 10:12

You can have squillions in the bank and you will never be regarded as middle class if you live like a footballer's model wife and have zero taste.

GetAHaircutCarl · 07/10/2016 10:13

poppy in London, areas are far less enclaved.

The gentrification of WC areas, the cost of housing generally, means there is a lot of mixing.

You also mention education. But I don't think that's key either. I am very well educated (a degree from Oxbridge, another from the states) but I am solidly WC because of my background.

GladAllOver · 07/10/2016 10:23

Everyone I know is working class. Some are on NMW, some earn six figure salaries, but they all have to work for a living and by my reckoning that makes them all working class.

wowwee123 · 07/10/2016 10:26

definitely working class here. me and dp both work full time. he is degree educated and i have an nvq. we live in a rented house with a shared yard that is damp.

we cant afford to save for a deposit and even if we could we arent allowed a mortgage as we have got so much credit as we have had to get that to have any kind of nice things.

im 31 dp is 29. at this point in time, unless we get an inheritance from somewhere we are unlikely to ever own a house.

i already know i wont get any inheritance. grandparents already dead and parents havent paid off their mortgage yet and dont know if they will? even if they do they will have no funds for funerals and neither will we so money will have to go on that and settling their debts.

the majority of my siblings live in council housing. the rest of us rent.

ShotsFired · 07/10/2016 10:31

SukeyTakeItOffAgain People are desperate to be working class now

I think it's more that people are desperate to tell you they are working class now. That's what seems to be trendy.

I have long wondered why people who see themselves as WC are always in such a bloody rush to let you know - who cares? (clue: no-one)
I don't think I have ever referred to myself as any class particularly, because that is not a relevant factor in who I am.

Doesn't playing into the class thing just perpetuate it?

PoppyBirdOnAWire · 07/10/2016 10:33

"GetAHaircutCarl

poppy in London, areas are far less enclaved.

The gentrification of WC areas, the cost of housing generally, means there is a lot of mixing."
Of course. That is actually the case in many cities - not just London.