What makes you working class?

[Greenbluestar]

I noticed the thread on what makes you middle class. So how about what makes you working class? I’ll go first..

• achievement achieved through merit and seldom by privilege
• keen to work and hard working

Any more?

I'm proud to be working class. I rent my little house but it is kept neat as a pin inside and out. I was taught to cook and sew by my grandmother, she always said "a stitch in time .." and "make do and mend". We don't have expensive holidays abroad but we do have lovely day trips and save our pennies for the things we want. No credit cards, bank loans or overdrafts. I live a happy little life 😊

@CowboyJo

Nope,it's deffo that way around. You have to read between the lines.

@QueBarbaridad

Tell me about it. I haven't got the time to get out of the bath for a wee and I have one every month whether I need one or not.

@DoncasterHombre
I would get out to wee but I don’t like to interrupt my secretary when she’s taking dictation.

I'm not from the UK so always find these threads on class really fascinating.

So much moral value attached to class - as if working class people are the only ones who can be 'good' people, apparently posh people cannot be moral or good.

It's all an accident of birth really! But love these threads. Such an insight.

I come from a working class background. My dad was a plumber (although later rose to management) and my mum was a careworker/cleaner. I was the first person in my family to go to university. We lived in council housing (albeit nice council housing because I grew up in the South of England), went on holiday to a caravan in the west country every year, didn't do any extra-curricular activities except Brownies because my parents didn't have the money.

I acknowledge that I am middle-class now. I am a homeowner, I had a good career in middle management and i travel abroad. I have been able to help my own children with house deposits.

Some things always stay with you though. I am a through and through labour voter and have a passion for the under-represented and non-privileged in our society. I don't spend large sums of money on anything because it would make me feel too guilty :)

If you are not from the UK, does WC or MC apply to you?

I grew up in an ex british colony where most of the population was in abject poverty until the 1980s.

My great grandfather was a rubber tycoon with many wives and children; my grandfather was raised by his aunt fairly modestly and his father lost his fortune due to the Great Depression. My Grandmother was 1 of 8 children, her father owned a jewelry shop but they lost a lot of money due to burglaries (it was a lawless place in the 1950s) and hence the girls had to go out to work at 15. They didn't grow up in great conditions either, a family of 10 shared 2 rooms though they did have a live-in maid. My grandfather was a teacher, and my grandmother was a nurse; they had 3 children who all went to university. my mother was born in a 1 bed flat and as a child, shared a bed with 6 other siblings. they moved to a larger house later on but money was still tight. My parents were both professionals and we grew up in an expensive house and had a very privileged upbringing- I was sent to university in England.

when i write it all out, it seems like I am solidly MC, but at the same time, my grandparents and parents have many WC habits that I recognize simply because they came of age in tumultuous times and the country was poor by western standards. UK GDP per capita was more than 3 X of my country in 1965. In my country, my family would be considered nouveau riche rather than old money (that was a tiny percentage of the population but it still existed).

[quote DoncasterHombre]@CowboyJo

Nope,it's deffo that way around. You have to read between the lines.

@QueBarbaridad

Tell me about it. I haven't got the time to get out of the bath for a wee and I have one every month whether I need one or not.[/quote]
Oh ok ok I misred

Heating on all the time
Over-cooked meat

Eh?

@Mellowyellow222 I come from a working class background and tested as Elite on the link you have provided lol. You can now tell how everything has changed. I grew up in a council house but my parents pushed me for a further education and supported me. We didn't go to museums either or art galleries but travelled to every seaside coast in the UK but had picnics. I took the interest in going to museums and art galleries as I became an adult enjoying time alone with myself. I don't watch soaps only because I don't have the time. With my education and marriage, I am apparently classed as a elite on that test but I don't feel like it.

Right now we are able to experience different foods, cultures and are much more open. We have internet, reading and writing skills have improved. I would never imagine my working class grandmother ordering food online 20 years ago but now she does it because she has adapted. Knowledge, culture, finance is all changeable. My parents were self starters and instilled the work hard ethic from a very young age as they didn't want us to become like them having limited choices and this has opened a lot of doors for me.

We are very down to earth, warm, compassionate people and go above and beyond to help people. We are pretty traditional family with decent honest morals and values. My DH comes from a Mc family and all I see is competition and snobbery- looking down on people, taking the piss out of people who make a grammatical error, talking about how they are better than everyone else. Thank god DH isn't like that because he has plenty of friends from wc backgrounds. I'm not saying all mc people are like my in laws btw.

I clean my house before a play date, I dress my child clean, make sure my child's finger nails are short and clean. We eat healthy home cooked meals but also junk. We allow quiet screen time in restaurants so my child doesn't disturb fellow diners I have a toilet brush, I don't hire a cleaner even when I can afford one because I'm elite remember according to the BBC test. Some things stay with you which I'm happy about. I also like gathering around with my mums working class cousins and gossiping and we have great relationships with our cousins but my dh's family don't really because they all compete all the time and are all alone as a result from the snobbery.

@ionlydomassiveones really interesting point! These threads sometimes do make it feel like posh people (or even MC sometimes) can't be good people or understand 'real life' but from your comment it's made me understand more - but also feel sad that people feel judged and they feel they need to 'prove' themselves.

Fascinating stuff. I lean to the view that if you wear a shirt or uniform with your employer's name on it you are working. If you make the big decisions within a company, then you are probably middle class or even upper middle class. Or in our experience as small company entrepreneurs, you are middle class if you are the people not taking salary during lean times. Clean or scruffy house: both exist across all levels. Museums, art and stately home visits versus theme parks depends on the interest in such things, and neither is an absolute class marker.

I grew up in a working class household in a very working class area. I now live in a very middle class area and earn a ‘middle class salary’ if such a thing exists but I will always consider myself working class, I guess as they say you never forget your routes

Oh and I now love live theatre and plays - but I still consider myself working class

No, Darbs76, I can get home too!

@Bluesheep8

*Heating on all the time Over-cooked meat*

Eh?

@Bluesheep8 this is really true ime. My grandparents’ sitting room temperature was roughly ‘core of the Earth’ and you always needed a really good knife for the beef. I laughed out loud when I saw the quote.

Loveliest people ever.

Whether you shower before or after work.

“Bluesheep8
Heating on all the time
Over-cooked meat

Eh?
@Bluesheep8 this is really true ime. My grandparents’ sitting room temperature was roughly ‘core of the Earth’ and you always needed a really good knife for the beef. I laughed out loud when I saw the quote.

Loveliest people ever.”

It wasn’t true of my grandparents’ houses, @MangosteenSoda although it might have been if they could have afforded it. I suppose the general rule is that the working class aren’t ashamed to want comfort (any fool can be uncomfortable) in the here and now whereas the middle classes tend to prioritise some other manifestation of wealth or status like an old country cottage, or some other long-term goal.
WRT the well cooked meat, I always regarded a pride in one’s own squeamishness as a working class trait. It seems to be a sort of virtue signalling.

@onlychildhamster I often wonder about being non white British and fitting into the class system. We went to private school - not because my parents could easily afford it but because they were poor immigrants with big aspirations for their children and a huge focus on education so we went on scholarships. This has led me to have quite a middle class upbringing - surrounded by well off white British people - but it's still quite alien to me and not my home culture as such.

Working 40 hours a week and still being piss poor

Not having a teapot?
Or is that more generational?

@QueBarbaridad how do you make loose leaf tea without a teapot though? If you drink tea. I don't drink tea, i like bubble tea and other soft drinks, but on the rare occasions i do drink tea, my favourite is a loose leaf korean tea! I am in my 20s.

MN are obsessed with class

In my family it would be a tendency to want to display wealth - pride you've done well/keeping up appearances I guess.

Driving a pricier branded car.
Immaculate home, decorated regularly.
Children neat, hair especially.

[quote onlychildhamster]@QueBarbaridad how do you make loose leaf tea without a teapot though? If you drink tea. I don't drink tea, i like bubble tea and other soft drinks, but on the rare occasions i do drink tea, my favourite is a loose leaf korean tea! I am in my 20s.[/quote]
Well, you can’t properly. There are little mesh balls you can suspend in a mug but I don’t think they have quite the same result.
I don’t think having a teapot or even drinking leaf tea makes you middle class, but the absence of a teapot probably indicates you’re working class. Perhaps, more so if you’re older.