To ask what the social classes are?

[nicea]

Never understood it.

Have only heard of working class, middle class etc and wouldn't know how to identify someone as one.

What are the classes and the stereotypes/generalisations linked to them?

There shouldn't be an 'etc' after middle class as those are the only 2 I've heard!

The grade of social classifications is more defined that upper middle lower.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRS_social_grade

Isn't that a rather old fashioned classification?

I believe they are this:

1. Silver spoon in gob.
2. Plum in gob
3. Purple grape pretending to be a plum in gob
4. Fag in gob
5. Roll up in gob
6. Spliff in gob

HTH
.

It’s a bit more complex than just going off someone’s earnings. Other things to take into account are: The area you live, your parents & their parents earnings, your ‘connections’ and a whole host of things that would effect how the outside world perceives you (Your vocab, grammar, spelling, perceived level of education, the cars you drive, the places you visit). For instance, you could be in the top 1% of earnings in the country- but if you’re New Money the highest ever class you’ll be is ‘upper middle’.

That's where it gets tricky, money is a very small part of it. We have had phases where we have earned very little, but we're still solidly middle/upper middle I guess.

If you have a title, or there is one in your immediate family, then you are Upper Class.

If any of your 4 grandparents were one of the Professions* then you are middle class.

If not, you are working class.

Money has very little to do with it. There is a strong correlation between money and class, but also very possible to be wealthy and working class , or aristocratic and dirt poor.

*not including teaching or nursing which are often considered professions today but are not traditionally considered as such.

Grandmother was an aristocrat so I thought would upper/upper middle for life. Went to private schools, studied at LSE. Currently unemployed and working class DP (son of farmers) believes were now both working class.

So you wouldn’t put business people in the middle class however successful, Troublesomest?
On what grounds would you say teaching and nursing aren’t professions? (Definition: profession/prəˈfɛʃ(ə)n/noun1.a paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification. "his chosen profession of teaching"

So you wouldn’t put business people in the middle class however successful

Not automatically,; 'class' is a different concept from 'measure of success'.

Social class is more about where you came from, whereas success is all about where you have got yourself to (if that makes sense?)

A successful business person with doctors for either parents or grandparents? Middle Class.

An equally successful business person with builders for parents? Working class. (even if those builders were owners of a building firm and perhaps wealthier than person 1's doctor parents)

Look up the bbc great British class survey 2013. Really interesting and there’s a fun quiz too.
There’s also the ABC1C2DE classification - I’m never sure if I like it or not.
And the idea of social/cultural capital is really interesting.

(I’m doing my dissertation on social mobility atm, spending a lot of time thinking about social class)

Currently unemployed and working class DP (son of farmers) believes were now both working class.

Class cannot change throughout your life, irrespective of waxing and waning fortunes.

I like the gobs.

I’m with Marx on this actually. 2 classes, the owners of the means of production and the workers.

Also don't forget -

New money (business success)
Old money (inheritance throughout the family line)
Poor money (locked in property, non disposable)
Dirty money (BMW driving knobhead who buys a lovely 4 bed semi in a MC area and drags the area down with his electric gates 🙄)

Oh... and lotto winners.

I have a simple rule on this and I like to get in early on threads like this so subsequent posters can prove me right:

If you claim not to know what class you are, you are middle class.

Working Classes & the Upper Classes know where we belong.

Cue many posts of "Well my husband went to Winchester but he once read the Daily Mirror while waiting for a train, so what class is he?!"

So what would be the difference between working and middle class?

We know who thinks they make the rules of society and we know who's interest it's in that the class structure continues. I am amused by the whole I may be unemployed and poor but at least I'm upper class nonsense! With class comes connections, wealth and a seemingly unshakable confidence - I'm sure other people will mention other attributes - but if you have lost these, you have lost your class advantage, you no longer have access to inherited privilege - so mutter I'm still upper class even though I'm skint and it means something all you want - maybe the wall will care - no one else will.

There is an absolutely brilliant book by an Anthropologist called Kate Fox which covers this used proper methodology and huge amounts of research. It’s also extremely readable.

It’s hugely complex and takes in things like birth, upbringing, language, social codes.

*So what would be the difference between working and middle class?

Does the class system o my apply to those of English heritage?

If you were a Kenyan accountant living in London who takes part in their own cultural activities, what class would you belong?

@Tribble that's what I've always believed, but he was adamai that unemployed = working class. I currently live of my inheritance which add up to my class sense of belonging IMO.

Unskilled
Working class
Middle class
Upper middle class
Upper class

The BBC thing asks about social activities and stuff. Others will also use things like grammar, accent, table manners to estimate class.

Currently unemployed and working class DP (son of farmers) believes were now both working class.

Class cannot change throughout your life, irrespective of waxing and waning fortunes.

^

EXACTLY.

How do you sound? Tells you all you need to know

Sinisers good question. My DH in his home country would be firmly upper-middle, I was raised as definitely working class. We have a lifestyle now in the U.K. the lines up with approx lower middle, but both ‘feel’ our birth classes, for want of a better phrase. I don’t think people can really change class, as it becomes such an intrinsic part of a person. I do, however, think that generationally you can go up or down. Good example is Kate Middleton, going from upper middle, which she sort of still is really, to having upper class/rulings class children. If let’s say Prince George marries whoever he marries and then gives up his claim to the throne to live a normal life, his class won’t have changed, but his children will drop down a rung. I think I’m getting it right, I haven’t seen an example of a person changing actual class during their lifetime, unless it happened when they were a child I guess.