Could you please give me some examples of inverted snobbery? (British context)

[btfly2]

What exactly does it mean?? I think I have an idea but still don't get the meaning or purpose for that...

Please

Not sure these are great examples.

But for instance, if I was talking to someone and mentioned that I was going to the opera that evening, an inverted snob might tell me that was a waste of money and I could find out everything I needed to know about human nature by watching Big Brother instead.

Or someone might tell me that they'd just bought a Jo Malone candle and, if I were an inverted snob, I might say that I don't know why they spent that kind of money on something that just burns to nothing when the ones from Poundland do the same thing.

So it's basically putting down things that cost money / are traditionally associated with wealthy people in favour of cheaper stuff / things more traditionally associated with less wealthy people.

The attitude of seeming to despise anything associated with wealth or social status, while at the same time elevating those things associated with lack of wealth and social position.

Not employing someone just because they went to a private school? Although maybe that's discrimination rather than snobbery, not sure.

It does exist, it just isn't 'dangerous' to society in the same respect that traditional snobbery is. Given the 'posh' and wealthy hold all the power in this country and have done since the dark ages taking pot shots from the poor seats does them no damage...whilst them holding their desires and traits as the only ones worthy of promotion does.

Horsey women have huge arses and are bossy and snobbish?

Journo?(feel like need to ask that frequently these days!)
Getting called a 'posh fucking bitch' at a work do, despite never having had interaction with this person before, purely because of my accent- West coast Scotland born and bred, but due to English parents don't generally use colloquialisms. Also can swear like a trooper when appropriate but as I didn't at work this made me stuck up?!

It does exist, I grew up to a very ordinary working class family in a inner city east London borough. I went to speech therapy as a toddler and as a result pronounce words really well, my brother is the same due to speech therapy so we stand out.
Anyway starting a new secondary school in year 10 was tough. Kids would hear my voice, see me with good grades and eager to please the teachers and I would be called a snob, posh girl etc. They wouldn't even give me a chance just made an assumption on the way I talked. I always remember a girl who had been a right cow to me turn to me at sixth form and say that I was alright really, just like everyone else.

I know that may not be a form of inverted snobbery because I am working class but it certainly felt like it.

Daily Mail obssession with 'luvvies' and 'metropolitan left wing elite' even if they have a good idea, it can be dismissed automatically using those words.

Equally dismissal of 'book learning' or any interest in classical music/opera/ballet/theatre outside of musicals - my DDad was seen as weird by his family for not wanting to go and work at Fords in Dagenham as that what everyone did and my DMum was rejecting for sending me to private school.

Encouraging statements like 'I'm no good at maths' at school.

Dh is dreadful for inverted snobbery. He's from a council estate up north, which really shouldn't matter and largely doesn't, apart from in his head.

An example might be, he works with someone doing a similar level role with a "posh" accent who was privately educated. He will automatically assume that this person will look down on him, even if they don't. This is poor self esteem on his part. However, and this is the inverse snobbery bit, he will then look down on this person because he persuades himself that he's better than them because he's an uneducated northerner who's always worked hard for everything he has, and done well in his life despite his poor background, whereas clearly the other person can only have reached the same level because their parents had money and they went to university etc etc.

So it's all a bit fucked up and can definitely be tied in with self esteem.

Inverted snobbery exists to put working class people down and "keep them in their place," so it doesn't just affect "posh" people. For example discouraging working class people from pursuing education, or from pursuing interests in anything intellectual or cultural.

A close relative of mine who grew up very poor and Northern happened to have a real talent for both maths and music, and suffered bad discrimination from his (very working class) community because of it. He had to get away to Cambridge to find people who would accept him for who he was.

Whenever my dad had to wear a dinner suit he would make sure his hair was a complete mess, presumably to let everyone at the dinner know he wasn't impressed by them or their fancy ideas.

DH's "friends" dismissing my opinions on anything because I was privately educated and therefore have no concept of the real world. (Even though I was on a 100% scholarship and raised by a npd single mother in a council b&b)

I experienced this a few years ago. I had a v working class and proud manager who would criticise and undermine me for any success because I was privately educated. I still get it because of my vair Surrey accent. It's just ignorance and a sign of insecurity.

I don't like the trend to play down posh accents in case other people are judgmental. I like a good posh accent, DH has one but I don't

There's an element of pretence in inverted snobbery. Think Diane Abbott.

Shortly before I went to university, my parents inherited a significant sum of money which they used to pay my university fees in full. Therefore, unlike most people in their 20s, I don't have a crippling student debt.

If this ever comes up in conversation with peers who do have student debt (rarely as I avoid the subject), I get treated as though my degree is worth less because I haven't paid for it.

Looking down on people with:

status cars
expensive flat-screen TVs that fill the whole wall
people who buy a pedigree dog rather than rehome a rescue
loads of presents for the kids at Christmas
all-inclusive holidays

so in short, all the 'aspirational' things that people buy/do, that could be interpreted as trying to emulate the middle/upper classes, but which in fact, the upper classes would never do/buy

I see it all the time at my area.

My dd has been called posh because she doesn't have the really thick (by that I mean strong not stupid) local accent.

Dd has been called a snob because she doesn't say the F-word every other word. She's 11.

I've been called a snob for choosing a different school to our feeder secondary school (because we preferred it and it has much better results).

I've been called a snob for saying I listened to The Archers and watched some documentaries on BBC4

I've probably got more....

I thought inverted snobbery was someone 'looking down' on someone from a higher class?

I was picked on at school for being posh (not that I was bothered!)Because I had once mentioned in class that my mum stored our recycling in the utility room :o it all went a bit a utility room? Who does she think she is

I'm not at all posh btw. My family think I am though because my children have been brought up down south (I still have a Midlands accent) some of things my mum will come out with
They think they are above their station
Fur coat and no knickers
They think highly of themselves
Who do they think they are?
Then just connotations of stuck up/snob/posh

None of it is very attractive :(

The attitude of seeming to despise anything associated with wealth or social status, while at the same time elevating those things associated with lack of wealth and social position.

That's a good definition ;) My husband suffers from it a bit. We're well educated and well off in professional jobs. However, he drives an old white van that he bought second hand from a council, he'll take me out to dinner at a Turkish cafe instead of a nice restaurant and he gets excited when he find a bargain in Lidl... I find it quite amusing ;)

Spending £100 on a party for your child is ridiculous. Make a few sandwiches and carrot sticks and tell them to crack on.

You send your child to boarding school? You must not love them like I do mine.

Clothes from Boden, what a waste! I get all my DDs clothes from Primark and still have enough left over for a Greggs sausage roll the size of a baby's arm.

A live example!

Just mused to my husband why no one these days uses an electric carving knife (we do) since they are so much better for carving beef and he replied "Inverted snobbery"

When I was aged about 11 I was seen by some other kids in my year exiting the local library on a Saturday. I was the taunted by this group every time they saw me thereafter about this, including called me 'library girl' in the most sneering tone very odd.