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...

[Tapandgo]

Putting on a 'down market' accent to appear ' one of the gang' is an example - think Jamie Oliver.

[Brighteyes27]

My dad bought a fairly basic car but it was brand new when we were younger. My brother refused a lift as he said he was embarrassed for his friends to see him getting out of a brand new car. That's what I would call inverted snobbery.

[MinervaMcG]

The press always linked Sophie Lancester's murder to the fact that she was a Goth, but I wonder if lot of it was inverted snobbery.

It does harm people.

[clarehhh]

Origami warrior has good definition, it is the Upper Class being anti aspirational consumer goods such as large TV's, designer clothing etc.At my childrens Private School the riches bought second hand uniform whilst less well off bought only new.

[Sara107]

It's a real thing. My dh is from a working class background. My family were penniless, but the end of a 'pedigree line' as it were. My mum gave me some family silver ( cutlery with various family crests on). Dh pointed it out to mil when she graced us with her presence ( she is supposedly really interested in family history, genealogy etc). She picked up a fork, peered at it at arms length, pursed lips. Her only comment? 'hmph'. Various similar episodes to the point where I don't feel able to mention my family in her presence.

[Nataleejah]

Origami warrior has good definition, it is the Upper Class being anti aspirational consumer goods such as large TV's, designer clothing etc.At my childrens Private School the riches bought second hand uniform whilst less well off bought only new.

Isn't it the other way around? Popular benefit bashing themes are large tvs, sky bundles, 'designer' gear. How dare those unemployed single mothers have them?
And its kinda 'trendy' thing to not have a tv at all.

[user1470055656]

I was in the bus the other day in Hackney chatting to my sister. We both have what people would call "posh" accents. Anyway, guy behind me chatting to his friend starting moaning about how Hackney had changed since all the "poshos" had moved in. He decided that he needed to leave the area as "poshos are awful and look down their noses at people like him". This is classic inverted snobbery. In fact, he was the one making assumptions about "posh" people and looking down his nose at us. Thought it was rather sad...

[Gwenhwyfar]

"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
Bo"

No, that's normal snobbery, not inverted snobbery. Inverted snobbery is looking down on things that the upper classes (or any class 'higher' than one's own) would actually do.

[Gwenhwyfar]

"Person I asked said 'haha, yeah you sound like you're not used to being in here'"

Well, that was true wasn't it.
Not very nice of them not to help you though.

[OlennasWimple]

Deriding anyone who would spend their money on going to a classical music concert (because it's elitist and unaccessible) but would happily spend the same - or more - of their money on going to a rock concert or a football match.

Deriding anyone who prefers getting a coffee and muffin from Starbucks rather than from Greggs (because it's a waste of money for hot water and a bun)

Deriding anyone who reads a broadsheet rather than a tabloid paper (because it's pretentious)

[OCSockOrphanage]

During first teaching practice, I was asked by a student, if I was really posh (because I speak RP in a vernacular city). I replied, very crisply, that I was not so posh that I didn't need to earn my living. End of discussion.

Half my family have become MC, and the other half already were MC. My grandfathers were on one side, a clever lad who left school at 14 and was put into the drafting office and did qualifications through years of night school, plus a job; on the other side, a horse dealer with an eye for a deal. How middle class is that, not. But they instilled respect for hard work, education and knowledge in their children, and with or without degrees, we are generally MC. Some more so, some less.

[JellyBelli]

Inverted snobs also look down on education;
You'll never learn anything from a book.
I went to university - The University of Life!

[Gwenhwyfar]

"2. not wearing ladidah sunscreen when you are doing jobs outside that mean you blister ypur ears to scabs every summer

1. not eating salad 'ladidah or rabbit food' because its what posh people do..and so increasing your risk of cancer and miserable/non existent retirement"
   

Surely these are macho things rather than inverted snobbery?

[Gwenhwyfar]

"I would say an inverted snob is, for example, a working class person, who would look down on other working class people as 'rough' or 'chavs', even though they are of the same social standing. They would never openly declare it, but would definitely think it - if that makes sense."

That's normal snobbery Donald, looking down on someone you see as lower down the pecking order than yourself. Inverted snobbery is looking down on people you perceive to be higher up the pecking order.

[TheCompanyOfCats]

One (tiresome) man I know has a massive chip on his shoulder and judges me and all of my friends to be 'poncey wankers' on account of the fact that we are not 'good, working class people' (his words, not mine btw).

There's some kind of psychological double bluff happening here. I think that he feels judged and therefore judges all middle class people before he even gets to know them.

[museumum]

I grew up in an area where our family had the piss taken out of us for having books in the living room and for going to museums 🙁
I was called "up myself" for going away to university. And apparently "thought I was better than everyone else".

TBH I didn't care and was happy to leave the area but my much younger brother was fully sucked in and left school at 16 to work and be "one of the lads".

[deedee56]

Spudlet.Not all horsey women have huge arses and are snobbish.
Have been riding since age 7, am size 8, arse has all but disappeared,the 'horsey' women I know are very down to earth, swear like troopers and are usually skint, due to equine costs.

[OCSockOrphanage]

Nothing wrong with middle class, unless you're not as far as I can work out. If you aren't, you resent not being MC. But what is MC? My definition actually seems to be what is currently defined as upper middle class, if a postman is middle class. Professional qualification, wears a suit and so on....

[Spudlet]

deedee As a fellow horsey woman I entirely agree. It's the stereotype that's the inverted snobbery!

[TheCompanyOfCats]

This topic really riles me actually. I used to teach this cocky mature (very mature) man. He used to take these sly pot shots at me with comments about 'Jag driving Tory scum lecturers'. It was so wearing. He'd had a hard life having worked in the pits in south Wales. But his judgement of me was so wrong. I was a PhD. student lecturer and lived on Super Noodles and cheap yoghurts. Amusing to think that he thought I drove a jag and that I was 'Tory scum' just because I happened to be the teacher and because I speak well/ am educated.

So many examples of this. Grrrrrrr.

[OlennasWimple]

A postman wears a uniform, OCSock (and not sure what qualification he has?). Only acceptable MC uniforms are things like a pilot or an armed forces officer.

[joshlymanlover]

I started work at a new place which was very working class.

The staff all hated me, my boss explained they didn't like me as I had a degree.

[BoinkAlongQuietly]

Meh, inverted snobbery isn't about being MC vs working class. It happens in complex layers among all strata of society.

I get inverted snobbery about the other students at my DCs private school who have drivers and don't have to "slum it out" taking public transport in London. And I like to think think they "don't know what real life is like" blah blah. The families spend all their time outside of the UK when they aren't in school and they don't know what it's like to have parents who "work for a living" etc.

Because taking public transport to your school really teaches you what life is all about of course. .

Again, a lot of the examples here have been internalised classism and not inverted snobbery.

[OCSockOrphanage]

Olanne, my pint exactly. My postman thinks he's middle class.

[OCSockOrphanage]

In fairness, locally, he probably is. This is not the City.