How do you define class?

[PedroTheCowboy]

I grew up working class. Both my parents have working class jobs, they never went to university and live in a coronation street style terrace house. I went to university and have a phd. I live in a small semi detached house and might be considered lower middle class now. But I can't stop seeing myself as working class. My inlaws also look down on me for being working class because my parents didn't go to uni and they live in a terrace house. What do you think defines someones class? The class they were born, their house, income, university education, the friends they have or their hobbies? Something else?

I think theres a difference between being a certain class and being classy. I like to think ive got impeccable manners and kindness, whereas ive seen upper and lower class people with disgusting manners.

But according to an earlier poster, Cameron is working class, because he gets a pay check (and seeing differences in type of occupation is just snobbishness)

CoolCatKat

It closed because it reached 1000 posts (thread size maximum)

It was linked earlier, but as it's all to easy to scroll past something by accident, here it is again: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3563641-To-wonder-what-exactly-middle-class-and-upper-class-Mums-do-to-be-skinny

If you believe MN, fat = working class and thin = middle class

Hmm, not sure I believe that BBC class calculator 🙄 apparently we’re ‘elite’ but pretty sure I’d look like Vicky pollard next to Kate Middleton 😂🙈

The way people use language - Their pronunciation, the vocabulary they use, the content and mannerisms. It's easy to tell someone's class from a short conversation, especially if you're familiar with their accent / dialect.

I don’t think you can define it, you just “know”.
For example my mother considers herself upper class as she comes from a family of landowners with titles even though the estates are sold and there is no money left.
My father is typical professional/public school middle class.
I have always grown up feeling I don’t know what I am or where I slot in!
Oh and I think the definition of working class is strong values, community spirit, practical skills. Middle class is overrated 😆

Why do you care op? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m an immigrant, my dad was a taxi driver and my mother worked in a corner shop, I have a degree (and masters) from Oxbridge and have a fairly professional job (actuary), I also (well the banks does) own two properties.
Need more information about the job. Pensions - working class. Capital modelling - practically royalty.

It's easy, just go to the mn search box and type in 'how do you define class' and you will get some light reading for the next year or 2

Just did the BBC test and it claims I’m Established Middle Class which I’m surprised by as I identify as WC and on first encountering me in a social setting most people would assume I was WC (at work people assume I’m MC due to my role and the fact that the only WC people there are admins or work in the post room).

However, according to the calculator having a diverse range of cultural activities (I stated I like rap and hip-hop as well as rock and indie (didn’t pick classical or opera) that I socialise with secretaries and cleaners as well as software developers and solicitors) whilst having a financial safety net makes you more MC.

I’m mixed race and speak with a somewhat classless London accent. I’m also educated and DH and I own a home in one of the most expensive streets in a gentrified area. We live in a high income household and we will also do what we can to ensure DC gets the best education.

However, I grew up in a very WC area and my parents didn’t finish school. I didn’t know how to hold cutlery properly until I was in my twenties. I’ve retained many of my childhood friends. I’m a size 12 so not skinny which according to MN means I’m WC. I know street slang. I can speak with a cockney accent when I feel like it. Although I dress modestly, I do admire some of the TOWIE style looks, which have inspired me to be more glam. I love make-up and also sometimes holiday in places like Marbella. I can be loud, laugh loudly, swear etc. I drive a blingy car. I also try to keep my house and DC clean which according to MN is WC.

I don’t think I fit into any class as I retain WC culture whilst also fitting some MC norms such as a belief in good education, saving money etc.

I was born working class and still consider myself working class even though I have a degree, live in the Home Counties in a detached house and am successful in a professional role.

Because if people like me don't consider themselves working class it means as soon as you're educated and successful you're middle class = working class people can't be successful and educated. Which perpetuates lots of class related bollocks.

@wheresmymojo - but I don't think "success" as defined by acquisition of money has ever been an exclusively middle class trait.

I am sure Lord Sugar would define himself as working class.

I agree it is mostly bollocks though.

It seems today many are only too eager to declare themselves MiddleClass.

I would disagree with that, I see a lot of people who are desperate to paint themselves as salt of the earth, hard working, very ordinary working class types. (Despite their Uni education, decent salary and jobs as managers in financial services and so on).

They say stuff like "everyone who works is working class" and go on about how their great grandfather was a brickie living on tuppence hapenny a year.

For many people, middle class is an absolute insult, and the worst thing you could ever call someone.

Going to Uni and getting a management job doesn't magically catapult you from working class to middle class!

Being middle class is the worst class to be anyway: you get 0 help from anyone, pay tax right left and center, but are not high enough to benefit from the "caps" on tax that the Upper Class enjoy.

Occupation and income has little to do with it. The suggestion a bank manager is upthread is outdated. They are more likely to be customer service agents made good nowadays.
I would sat it's more to do with media you consume, academic, cultural interests and how you spend your leisure time.

I would define class as a very British obsession

This. It’s absurd. It’s a social construct to keep people in there little boxes.

Created by sheep who like to call other folk who don’t comply ‘dim witted’

I would define class as a very British obsession

I would say it's a fact of life, a crucial aspect of being British, the way we align/define ourselves, the lens through which we view ourselves. Neither right nor wrong.

Working class = the majority of people, some of whom think they are middle class

Middle class = the minority of people, some of whom define being middle class as being superior to working class people

Upper class = the hat you bought for Ascot cost more than most working class people earn in a year

When i'm avin a burping competition with the missus i always let er win. Coz i'm classy, innit?!

Accent.

I'm mixed class.

My mum solidly working class, my dad's family upper class from another country that has distinct classes like here.

I could have gone to boarding school like my cousins from one half but I went to secondary like my cousins from the other half.

On upper class side all generation went to uni, at least once, some masters, professional qualifications and PhDs. The other wc side, in my generation around half went to uni and/or have professional qualifications from working their way up.

I have class signifiers from both spectrums so I'm mixed class, if there is ever such a thing.

Outward signifiers, save not spend, value education, went to uni, own property, speak well. However have no money.

If I mix with my rich cousins then I see that I am the poor relation.

If I mix with some of my wc cousins then I see I'm over educated.

If I mix with my uni educated working class background cousins then I fit in just fine....

I have the southern england rp non London accent.

Cringe.

Well the BBC class test puts me at Elite which is obviously bollocks and I will still say that for a lot of people there is so much overlap that there is no clear definition for most people. Also that as no-one can agree on class markers and definitions, it is pretty much meaningless for a lot of people.

I've certainly never suffered from the class discrimination that many middle class MNetters claim that the working classes are held back by and the same applies to many of my peers.