To think the middle class is shrinking?

[crunchymint]

I see jobs that were once solidy middle class such as bank manager, be downgraded with globalisation. The middle class is getting smaller, and there is a bigger divide between those below and above.

People with a very comfortable lifestyle, which wouldn't be affected by not having a job are rich

• or retired on a good pension !

They may be working / middle / upper class or whatever.

Class is independent of money
A skint lord would still be upper class

There is some social and / or financial mobility,
although both have decreased in the UK and USA since about 1980

HoneyDragon It's normal to become slightly shorter with advancing years

Between age 30 - 70, women lose about 2", men about 1" (no, NOT from there)
More rapid loss after age 70 to look forward to.

Doing pullups and chinups help avoid / reduce this.

Is that middle class or working class ?

However my grandmother used to hold a title and lived a very privileged life in a huge manor house until she married a commoner.
Reinette if your grandmother inherited a title then she wouldn't have lost it just because she married someone without one.

I thought it had been expanding, especially with the increase in unemployment. My SIL tells me she is now middle class, because she is unemployed, therefore not "working" class.

I agree. A lot of permanent middle class jobs have become contract work. There's an issue with job security in today's middle class.

Neo Feudalism is on us.

@BigChocFrenzy pull ups at the indoor climbing centre = middle class. Pull ups down your local muscle man gym = working class.

:-)

*However my grandmother used to hold a title and lived a very privileged life in a huge manor house until she married a commoner. She was very much from an upper class family and they employed half the town where she grew up. So am I working class because of where I live and because I work for nmw or middle class because of my ancestry or something else?I

What’s your educational background?

MMW is generally low skilled work so unless you’re highly educated and are just doing your NMW job for fun or to fit around child care as a temporary measure - you’re working class.

Am I the only one in disbelief that these type of conversations are still happening in 2018? I’ve never met a single person in real life who talks or cares about this stuff (and I come into contact with all types of people).

Nope, me too.

I meet loads of people who care about this stuff, not the names as such, but social inequality in this country and their own place in the pecking order.

Given that class prejudice is alive and well, we bloody well should be talking about it.

Fine, but most of the posts on here are boasting about which group they believe they fall into...

Reinette if your grandmother inherited a title then she wouldn't have lost it just because she married someone without one

Yes she did. Titles were only passed on through the male line. Her parents completely disowned her and refused to go to her wedding. She was the only sibling not to inherit anything on her parents death.

@FluffyWuffy100 I have a degree but have been SAHM for 15+ years. I work for nmw because I have been unable to find anything else.

SD1978

I’m not a huge believer in the middle class. You either work or your don’t. The difference is the amount of disposable income you have and how you use it. Whilst some professions are seen as more intellectual or professional, ultimately for me you’re working class if not working means you can’t live.

SD1978

I’m not a huge believer in the middle class. You either work or your don’t. The difference is the amount of disposable income you have and how you use it. Whilst some professions are seen as more intellectual or professional, ultimately for me you’re working class if not working means you can’t live.

This is both simplistic and wrong.

IheartNiles

Am I the only one in disbelief that these type of conversations are still happening in 2018? I’ve never met a single person in real life who talks or cares about this stuff (and I come into contact with all types of people).

It’s not necessarily about talking. Many think such things and believe such things which is the point. And, of course, people demonstrate their class credentials all the time.