What are the main identifiers of those who describe themselves as lower middle classes?

[Rosehip10]

As distinct from middle/upper middle.

Mooba I laughed at Frayed. Especially since I could recognise a lot if it (small town 80s Aus to London)

Good manners and knowledge go a long way nowadays.

What may be interesting is that many live in "bubbles" and measure themselves against their bubble. Take schools for example: primary in a deprived area will have a few better off children who may think they are more comfortable but those dc who have most there may have relatively little compared to the cohort in the next village attending the outstanding cofe.

I’m very behind everyone else but finally watching Downton Abbey after enjoying another Fellowes book.

I’m getting into it and think it’s very good but the ridiculousness of upstairs downstairs is crazy. Glad we’ve moved on.

Found the comment re the second sibling being the start of the middle class interesting by pp. and agree it’d be this over advertising which was a fairly blunt tool back then.

It's so fascinating because everyone's definition is variable and it's fluid so the identifiers change. My expensively educated DC actively blend and downplay compared to my experience of being in my 20s in the era of Peter York. Those who don't downplay their privilege annoy them intensely.

@VivaLeBeaver you, me and my elderly cat are in the same uninsurable lifeboat and I bet he has a better pedigree than the two of us and most other people on this thread .

@surreygirl1987, did you mean Russell Group?

Ouch!

In SurreyGirls defence my spelling and typos are horrendous on here compared to real life. I could easily see I could spell Russell as Russel. And sometimes I swear my iPad changes a correct spelling to an incorrect one!

I don’t give a shit. I quite enjoy not conforming or rebelling.

Someone upthread identified me as middle class, but the mc care about what people think. I don’t care!😁

I think non conforming comes with confidence.

Lljk.

Boris is in a special class called the twat class

According to THE BBC quiz I'm Emergent Service Worker. I think that's working class released culturally from its box

MikeuniformMike

However The Royle Family are definitely wc. Just been watching the reruns on Netflix😁

The Good Life.

Jerry and Margot
Tom and Barbara

Where would they fit in?

Just done the i news quiz and I am allegedly UC. Readers, I am not.

Oh they were all middle class in the good life. Jerry and Margot had more money but it's not really about money.

This is quite funny but I suppose I'm lower middle class - just ordinary really. Comfortably off but not flash, ordinary 3 bed semi, reasonably well educated but nothing outstanding, had quite a good job which I enjoyed but not special.

The Royle Family are definitely WC.

I think it's a fucking joke to think you have tranceded the trappings and limitations of a class system through some kind of personal strength of character when you have all the comfort, opportunity and security of a middle class life.

Baguette

I think you are projecting.

Of course it is easier to move class if you have a safe, warm home, enough food and good educational opportunities. We all know that there are children living in this country that do not have that and that their opportunities are seriously limited.

This is a bit of a lighthearted discussion but there is a serious undercurrent. A deeply entrenched class system does affect people’s life chances. Even amongst comfortable, secure people life chances vary by class. See the Sutton Trust research I linked to earlier.

What class are the beneficiaries of 'robber barons'? Did the descendants of said robber barons make up a whole thing called class and set this paradigm in stone to maintain it is acquired by blood and not brawn?

The phrase you have nothing to lose but your chains comes to mind in these kind of discussions.

@SleepingStandingUp

I didn't know there was a quiz, till I saw your post! I am Technical Middle Class, which sort of makes sense, as I am the dd and dw of sciencey types. But I am a humanities grad and SAHP!

My point is entirely to raise an eyebrow at those who, having had all the opportunities of a middle class life, think that they are so enlightened that they don't belong to a class, or worse, those who think that class has been replaced by "tribes"

@ChazsBrilliantAttitude, I think @Baguetteaboutit is responding to @TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince’s posts about not giving a shit and rebelling. In fact, @Baguette is right — rebelling and priding yourself on being too cool for this class stuff requires privilege.

And it also misses the point. Social class is not like the Brownies. It doesn’t involve signing up and going along. You’re in the system whether or not you like it, and whether or not you think social class is important, or whether you think it even exists at all.

Rebelling against your upbringing and the expectations associated with your class or refusing to ‘obey’ class shibboleths doesn’t get you a free pass out of the class system any more than 60s debutantes aping working class accents were in any way stepping out of their privilege.

The Royle Family are definitely WC
@MikeUniformMike how dare you?
You obviously don't know what wc means. I am working class I have worked since I'm 16. I dress well. I can hold a conversation, my DC are educated at home and in school. We respect people as do most of our neighbours.
My 4 siblings have worked all their life. 3 of them have the money to be considered mc but they're happy working hard as working class. Dsis is an accountant Dbro owns a building company.
Money didn't change who they are.
I don't care who is upper or middle though I hate the way wc is automatically assumed to be on par with a Jeremy kyle guest.

Baguette Feigning
Fair enough. My misunderstanding.

I agree with you both. Rebelling, to the extent it is possible, is only possible from a secure position.

I now have “Common People” as a ear worm