So what class are you in?

[alwaysmoody]

I see a lot of comments about social class "la di daaa"

So I'm curious to which class you would all place yourselves?

Honestly?

I'm from a LC background but I'm wealthy now from my own hard work and live in a MN area from what I've gathered (Chiswick) but I definitely don't fit in with these "mums" I still prefer having my friends from council estates in hounslow over

So what social classes are you from? And please be naice

it does no-one any favours to pretend there aren’t class markers, differences in lifestyle etc that contribute to a lack of social mobility.

People just do this to make themselves feel better, I think.

Catch up complete.

It is upbringing, manners, what you call a toilet, what you call meals.
Yes, I agree.

One of my parents (both from very similar poor WC families) had a 'MC' job and the other a 'WC' one. You could argue that we were MC on the basis of that MC job. But we had no money and the WC parent dominated my upbringing and the household. We had breakfast, dinner and tea.

I had to learn table manners, polite conversation etc for myself when I got out and went to uni (the first time I had met people who were MC and above). I once silenced a room of youngish MC professionals when I said I'd never been to the South of France; this had been the default family holiday for all of them and was considered pretty modest. We had caravan holidays in Skegness if we were lucky.

Writing any of this down makes it sound silly or not significant, and I'm sure people will be along to dispute the things I've said, but in day-to-day actual life I find class differences pretty clear and easy to 'read'.

I think class does have a lot to do with money but more how you earn it and how you spend it than how much you earn.

MingVase that BBC quiz is ridiculous. If you put in that your family income is high and your property is expensive, EVERYTHING else can go in at the lowest (no savings, friends who are in unskilled jobs, no hobbies etc and you still come out as elite it's all based on assets not behaviours.

ReginaGorgeous may I ask how you found your banking job with no degree? Genuinely wanting to know.

I agree, @damnthatanxiety -- I was suggesting it primarily so that the OP could see past her fairly basic/outmoded ideas of 'lower class' vs 'laa-di-dah', because it lists a more nuanced seven subsets, rather than because I think the criteria for where it places you seem accurate.

Ah yes, the holidays are a really strong indicator of class.

I’ve been in situations where people around me start discussing in excruciating detail the ski resorts in Switzerland, and it’s amazing how quickly they use this ‘class signal’ to bond.

I sent my friend a message recently telling her how suddenly MC I'd found myself after standing on the sidelines at DS's rugby match discussing the upcoming ski trip we all had planned (myself included).

I said upthread. I'm from a WC background living a MC lifestyle. I'm okay with that. It means that I'm grounded and I appreciate things like ski holidays all the more as it's not something I grew up with.

In the USA its called new money, or old. The new money are looked down upon.

Only in circumstances where it's flaunted ostentatiously. No one here would be looked down upon in America if they came from a WC background and lifted themselves up by starting a successful business or went into a well paying profession. Actually such people are much admired.

Middle class is not a thing.

It is spilt into lower middle, middle middle and upper middle.

Gosh.

My family of origin would be either lower middle or upper working. Probably UW as my DF was an engineer. No university degree but plenty of vocational training and skills.

What I am now? I don't know. I am on long term sickness benefits, although I do have a University degree in Legal Studies. Basically the same thing as LLB Law but I took longer to complete degree due to ill health and LLB Law means you can go straight to a LPC or BVC, Legal Studies means I'd have to do conversion courseor access course in order to practice as a lawyer. (So my degree was waste of money really lol) and am not well enough to work. I live in housing association house with floating support for my disabilities from council and housing benefit.

My hobbies are what they call "middle class" (stereotype or what?) - I have always been interested in classical music, opera, reading novels and history. But I also admit to reading Take A Break magazine sometimes and enjoy KFC and Greggs! I think stereotypes are stooopid anyway.

@damnthatanxiety My first job was advertised on the bank’s website, I applied and got lucky. It was an operational role within SME business lending. All vacancies are advertised on our jobs board and anyone can apply for a promotion. There are very few roles that come up that require a degree, the only ones I can think of off the top of my head is that you need a computer science degree for the Fraud Team and you need a law degree to work in the legal department.

I’ve been able to study for industry specific qualifications which the bank have paid for and I’ve been able to then pursue my specific career path. If you can get your foot in the door, there’s lots of opportunity usually. I’m not London based either.

I think the aspirations I was brought up with were lower middle class. Not posh but education was very important and "what the neighbours think" also was important, even to the extent that my DF considered me an embarrassment for having mental health issues and socially being a bit of an individual. My DM was from an upper middle class family, a lot of "society" do's and expected to marry someone well off. Trained as a Norland Nanny and loved it but was expected to give it up when married. Careers then for women in my mum's type of background (in 60s/70s) were just something you did whilst waiting for marriage. to a wealthy man (my GPs were furious that she married a penniless engineer like my DF!)

She wanted me to do well educationally but was less driven about it than my DF, which I think does stem from her background- it is fine for girls to do well, but marriage and babies are more important.

Because obviously no WC person has any table manners or can make polite conversation

The BBC has me as established middle. I am degree educated, DP has a professional job. Both sets of parents are WC, both brought up in council houses.

This thread always has people insisting that if you work, you are working class, does that include Boris J etc ?

Aargh, someone mentioning the ski holidays reminded me of some very MC mums responding when I mentioned an indian takeaway that "of course, they taste nothing like real Indian food, from India" groan!
My WC roots show up often (and I have no problem with that)

I can get on with super-posh (related to royalty), very poor on benefits folk, MC, WC and everything in between if they aren't judgy or snobby.

Started life in Immigrant family in slum clearance area of a northern town

Now live in a very expensive middle class area in London

A lot of my friends are single parents in minimum wage jobs that rely on benefits.
All of my friends are either from immigrant families or are immigrants.

I can’t think of a single friend who is British and has a fully British born extended family

I don’t even think about what class people are. I think that went out of the window many years ago.

I know I was conscious of it growing up but now if someone mentions it in rl I would find it really odd.

I'm both titled and landed
translation = I've got a garden and My title is 'Mrs"

I’m in C1.

Class in the UK is measured as AB, C1, C2 and DE.

Look at your poll card at Election time.

AB, C1, C2 and DE.

AB, C1, C2 and DE.

Hmm. According to that scale I would be B or C1 - 'middle class' or 'lower middle class' (according to Wikipedia) but that isn't how I think of myself. I don't think you have to be an unskilled worker to be 'working class'. You can have working class people in managerial or professional roles. That scale seems to be more about income than class in its true sense.

god knows.

my OH and I - A's or B's, I'm not sure.

my parents - D's
my OH's parents - C2's

my siblings - C2; E
my OH's siblings - C2; C2; E

my maternal grandparents - C1's
my paternal grandparents - D's

my OH's maternal grandparents - A's
my OH's paternal grandparents - B's

there was some significant downward mobility on the part of my OH's parents, but still, the status of OH's grandparents did count for something in a kind of 'cultural capital' sense, and undoubtedly played a part in my OH's bounceback.

it's such a sad thing that social mobility is declining.