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.

Because he never gets his leg over. Sad bastard

Fair enough. But I'm still struggling to understand how this came up. There are contexts where it's a perfectly understandable thing to say and contexts where it would be deeply wierd. I can't think of any context where it would be snobby or showy offy or anything like that......

But doesn't that depend on your point of view?

There are definitely some people who like to think of themselves as above working class people for example.

So if social class is not about money, it's wrong to say only DCs from middle class families can afford to do internships. Social mobility is increasingly being tied to already having money. Supporting a non-earning adult is more expensive than supporting a child or student - there's no child benefit, tax credits or student loan. And if you're not in the SE, where the majority of "graduate" jobs and internships are, the costs of an internship are prohibitive for most people.

Bit like the arguments about grammar schools. "Bright WC children could go to grammar school and then to a RG uni and a good career". But that doesn't do anything to alter the basic inequality that if you're an average child of a well-off, well-connected family, one of your parents' connections will find you a position, and if you have any ability at all you will flourish, whereas if you are an average child of a family on median income, likelihood is you'll end up in the service industry with no real chances of career progression.

"Pigeonholing people into ‘classes’ isn’t a statement of fact"

To some degree it is though. If I described myself as working class just because my grandparents were a factory worker and a cleaner, even though I have three degrees, a professional job and a largish house, you could justifiably say 'oh fuck off'. It'd be claiming some hard luck rags to riches life story which is totally unjustified, as I've been the recipient of a lot of privilege. I'd be much more wary of some obviously middle class bloke trying to pretend he is working class, they are the most pretentious fuckers of all.

As for 'it shows you've spent time thinking about where you fit compared with other people', well yes. I'd guess about 99% of people have, and the other 1% only pretend that they haven't!

Frog - I do get what you're saying. But as much as there are people claiming To be working class when they aren't, there are also people who claim to be MC just so they can look down on other people.

I don't feel the need to describe myself as middle class, I just am middle class. It's a factual description, not an opinion or a judgement.

Who, in your view, is allowed to call themselves middle class?

Also, socioeconomic position and amount of cultural capital affects every aspect of a child's life chances in the UK. The attitude I see on mn that says 'oh class is all nonsense' is deeply regressive, because unless you name the reasons for inequality, you can't do anything about them. Without the right cultural background accessing high level professional jobs is incredibly difficult, whatever education you manage to achieve, as people who have done it attest (look at working class female MPs and what they say about the house of commons for example)

'Who, in your view, is allowed to call themselves middle class?'

I don't know. It seems a little subjective as can be seen from this thread. Some people think teachers are middle class and others don't...

I dont think i've ever met anyone who claimed to be mc so they could look down on other people. Its a thing i've seen on tv skits. Much more in rl is the 'mc but aware of privilege' leftie type position
Personally I am lower or middle middle class of working class origins, like most lower middle class probably are. That quiz puts me as established mc, i'm sure i've changed category since I last did it! Really, I think more in terms of education, I consider myself part of the educated, or liberal, elite ;) now that would go down well on a first date ......

MorrisZap. So in your case, it's a fact but then probably you wouldn't be blurting out on a first date would you?

I'm not saying that all MC people feel the need to say they are. I'm saying that some people say it to act superior iyswim

Clearly some people do look down on working class people from the dizzy heights of their middle class position, but I'm not sure from your description that that's what date bloke was doing though. Of course that doesn't stop him being a tosser. If he'd been funny, gorgeous, lovely and thoughtful the whole evening you probably wouldn't have even registered the comment, as you'd have been too busy staring into his deep blue eyes thinking naughty thoughts

PaintingByNumbers - can you define privilege?

MorrisZapp, you’re allowed to call yourself whatever you like. The issue is that the whole ‘class’ thing even exists and keeps on getting ingrained and perpetuated.

Maybe he wasn't. I could be wrong of course. He did sound smug though!

But he said he was lucky? Ie born to privilege rather than deserving of it? Should he have been whipping himself as well for better effect? The smug thing to do would have been to ascribe his success to his awesomeness and ignored the male/pale/stale privilege

"class" is outdated and unnecessary. I really don't know why people get hung up on it. I've worked in a professional role for over twenty years and can guarantee that this issue of class never ever comes up in conversation. No-one cares about it anymore. People are just hardworking and get on with things.

TabbyMumz, I’ve lived in this country for 12 years and until I moved here I had been blissfully unaware of these class divisions and didn’t realise and country had them in 20th or 21st century. But I did notice it quite quickly when I moved to London and find the class system is very, very, very ingrained in the culture here.

Perhaps it's a regional thing then, or more in London than anywhere else as where I live no-one cares or talks about it.

Mumsnetters are noticeable for their ability to turn a blind eye to their own privilege......

So, will you be seeing him again? :o

A Vending Logistics coordinator will be someone who arranges for goods that are sold to arrive at the purchaser's place. So it is an administrative job.

But OP you sound like you don't like middle class people or people who identify as middle class at all, so maybe state in your dating profile "Only interested in men from the working class" or something like that. Then neither of you have to waste any time.

I am middle class, my parents were SLT in schools (both) a generation before that they were down mines and cutting turf... social mobility writ large.

i am middle class, my children are middle class, and would be middle class if we had nothing because I am bringing them up in a very middle class way. And for anyone who thinks that middle class is aspirational it's not.

It's not a big deal, it just is what it is.

It sounds like he's virtue signalling.

Bertrand, I feel my lifestyle is privileged and think I had a privileged upbringing. I do recognise that certain things in life are much harder to achieve if you come from a low-income family with low level of education. But class labels are a different thing that I don’t like and don’t use for myself of others.