Why do some people feel the need to describe themselves as ‘middle class’?

[lottieandmia22]

I met a man who said

‘I am incredibly lucky. I’m a middle class, white, straight male which puts me at an advantage’

Frankly, this made my teeth itch. I thought ‘what a tosser’

Why do people feel the need to do this? I couldn’t care less which class I am.

I can honestly say that I have never met one person who banged on about how 'proud' they were to be WC

Where have you been all these years?

It's descriptive and what he's saying is factual.... although when you say what your occupation is... a person in the know can tell what class you are.

I used to work in market research many years ago conducting surveys and we asked questions to determine socio economic groups at the end of the survey.

From As to Es I think.

Most people are desperate not to be middle class tbh

You MUST be joking.

Virtually the whole of mumsnet appears desperate to be middle class.

'if you feel the need to tell people you're middle class you're NOT'

Eh? No, that really doesn't follow...

Mostly when I hear people say this (or say it myself!) it's about acknowledging privilege, or poking fun at a shared cultural characteristic. It's got nothing to do with an 'obsession' with class, except to the extent that the whole country is obsessed. The UK is ridiculously class stratified and if you haven't noticed that you are going around with your eyes closed... Read Kate Fox 'watching the English' to see just how far crazily finely-grained class divisions affect everything from educational opportunities to taste in furniture to whether your car is messy or not. I hear all the time on mn that people have no idea or don't give a damn about class, but unless you live in a bunker, you can't really avoid it, and are deluded if you think you are 'classless'.

willsa up north luv with all the commoners

He was signalling his wokeness to you, you are supposed to reply Black lives matter and confirm you are opening to cuckolding him

I think that what bothers me about it was that he seemed to be trying to say he was better than other people who are working class or whatever.

Yes frog, I would agree with that post. Of course class exists. Of course it does have an impact on people's lives. But it's not necessary to speak about it on a first date. The way he said it to me, came across like he was trying to suggest he was a better catch than the next person who might be working class.

Messy / tidy cars define someone's class?

Yeah, I wouldn’t want to hear about someone’s (supposed) social class on a first date, either. Odd.

If you feel the need to tell people that you're middle class; you're NOT.

What a puerile thing to say. This is a thread about class. Some of us, me included, have simply stated a fact.

What I can never understand is why people say it's so bad to be middle class, and ascribe all kinds of values to them - like PP said 'pen pushing snobs'. Based on what?!

But some people will say they are middle class just to try to be 'above' other people.

I have just looked up this guy's job. He's a Vending Logistics coordinator. I have no idea what that actually is tbh.

'Watching the English' is a book I own

The cars thing was funny. I seem to remember the super posh drive round in old bangers full of doghair and the lower middles spend all sunday vacuuming and polishing theirs. This of course reflects the relative worth of the car to them - is it a luxury item or not.

My car is a mess because I have autistic kids who throw their food!

Yes, the ‘old bangers and smelly Labrador’ trope always appears on these threads eventually.

Along with ‘muddy wellies’ and ‘ancient Barbours’.

It is a very subjective thing, there was a programme a few years back where John Prescott was examining the idea of class. He interviewed a couple of girls, early 20’s, never had a job, heavily reliant benefits. Asked them what class they considered themselves to be, they replied ‘middle class’ he was visibly taken aback and they said ‘well we can’t be working class, we don’t work!’

Class is a very fluid thing, I come from a working class background mum a typist, dad a motor mechanic. They worked and saved very hard over the years and are now very comfortably off. Both DP and I have degrees and work in professional jobs, I imagine people would perceive us to be middle class but I have no idea. I do know that I am very fortunate and through hard work (and luck) we have a comfortable life.

Oh now you’ve said his job title I’m picturing Arnold Rimmer.

Who's Arnold Rimmer??

As pp says, the amount of people who actively describe themselves as MC (or who even think about it more) is completely dwarfed by the sheer masses of people desperately scrambling to point out they are working class, at every given opportunity, relevant or not.

I don't see why one or the other is better or worse so have no idea why the latter are so desperate to label themselves?

I hate the whole British class thing. I’m foreign and when I first moved here, some of the comments made me roll my eyes a lot. I would say I’ve met people proud and making declarations about being WC, MC and UC and banging on about definitely isn’t a MC case.

What really grates on me is all the random arbitrary criteria designed to feed one upmanship.

With the worst offenders, it sounds to me it all sounds like it stems from a lot of insecurities and trying to create a sense of own worth through some really random stuff. Often with little ability to self-reflect. The most annoying comment is ‘that’s what WE do’ - can you seriously not work out who you are as a person and what you want in life? Instead, ‘what WE do’ seems to dictate schools, houses, holidays, hobbies, clothes etc.

And don’t get me started on that Kate Fox book... It is clearly written from a perspective of someone who considers themselves ‘upper-middle’. She seems to be impressed and looking up to the UC and often makes derogatory comments about the people she perceives as being lower down on the scale.

"working class" is one of those ridiculous phrases someone with a "middle class" up bringing says in a pathetic attempt to establish some socialist credence after desperately trawling though the family tree to find a Durham coal miner great grandparent from the last 150 years. "I'm working class stock me" despite being private school, uni educated, professional stock of a country GP

Arnold Rimmer is one of the “heroes” of Red Dwarf. Formally a Technician (Second Class) but actually responsible for refilling the chicken soup dispensers in the vending machines.

It's not about how much money you earn.

TBH he sounds my kind of man!