lighthearted, are you middle class?

[mrziggycoco]

How do you define classes, personally, and are what class are you?

I read a book once that said if you are a professional (in one of the professions; teaching/doctor/engineer/surgeon/lawyer) you are middle class.

Similarly if you are a blue collar worker (you have a uniform for work) this makes you working class.

I wonder if being socially housed makes one automatically working class?

Thoughts? Just for fun.

I think of you read a book once that makes you middle class.

A surgeon is a doctor

I don't know. I have read plenty of books. Doesn't make me middle class. I have no money, work a working class job and live in social housing. I think those things are bigger markers than what books I read.

I’ve always wanted to be unnecessarily mean on mumsnet and here was my chance! Sorry OP!

@Thereisnolight

A surgeon is a doctor

Yes, but not all Dr's are surgeons.

Absolutely no clue what "class" I am and have absolutely no idea why his seems to be a mumsnet obsession!!

There really are only two classes anyway. The people with all the money, and the people who work for them. Everything else is just smoke and mirrors

I’d fight anyone who says I’m middle class. I read for a hobby, I have a career in financial services, own a detached house and our household income is 6 figures. But all those things (well except the reading) are just the result of good choices and a bit of luck. It doesn’t automatically make me middle class.

@Thereisnolight

A surgeon is a doctor

Came on to say this! Surely anyone middle class would understand that surgeons are doctors?! (DOI: I am a doctor and I am very firmly middle class.)

I am not originally from the UK so i don't feel like the class system applies to me. I am a graduate with a law degree, my DH and I both work in financial services. My DH went to the same university and has a master's degree in law. We own our London flat and we are able to afford holidays overseas and eat out at nice restaurants.

DH earns much more than me but he grew up on free school meals (though his mum is a graduate and the child of a managing director); his dad's side is definitely working class as his grandpa was a black cab driver.

My parents were both graduates and did quite well in their careers, though both were from poor families(my grandpa was a teacher but they were very cash strapped even though he did manage to send 2 out of 3 children to university overseas by cashing out of pension) Dad is a property developer, mum in senior management in a bank. Grew up in a detached house and parents sent me abroad for university, had a lot of tutors growing up too.

I would say I am middle class but as my grandparents were poor, I am not sure I am. I also don't have very refined tastes lol! I like McDonald's for goodness sake. I like museums but not classical music. I feel odd being middle class but my parents are genuinely well off and well educated and I was extremely privileged growing up so it feels wrong to say I am working class (even though I am probably more comfortable with working class people).

@VanGoghsDog

I think of you read a book once that makes you middle class.

I disagree. Working class people read books too.

There's too much overlap these days for there to be a set definition.

Income, attitudes, interests, education don't objectively pigeonhole people into WC or MC boxes.

Most popular / frequent threads on MN:
Parking ire
MIL drama
Class

Why is MN so obsessed with it?!

I think of you read a book once that makes you middle class.
I disagree. Working class people read books too.

oh dear

I'm kind of the opposite of Phos. I would guess we're middle class. We own our own home, we have nice enough cars, we can afford to holiday and while we think about money and budget, it's not a big worry in our life. I'd be ok with someone saying I'm middle class.

Working class to me would be someone struggling to pay bills and unable to afford their own home. The type of person who is working just to survive and unable to progress because of it.

There are really only two classes. The workers and those who own everything/landed gentry/ aristocracy. I’ve been watching a lot of historical dramas recently and not much has changed tbh.
I’m university educated and work in one of the jobs you mentioned. I’m still working class.

Starling- your definition of working class is wrong. We built our house without a mortgage. Own several houses and have a few other income streams. I’m still working class.

Your post is very contradictory. I work for the NHS, I am better paid than a teacher but I do wear a uniform. Also live in social housing. DHs wages are shit and we have kids, with the cost of living rising we are on the bones of our arse financially.
There you go, now you know. “Just for fun”. So much fun. 🖕🏻

@starlingdarling

I'm kind of the opposite of Phos. I would guess we're middle class. We own our own home, we have nice enough cars, we can afford to holiday and while we think about money and budget, it's not a big worry in our life. I'd be ok with someone saying I'm middle class.

Working class to me would be someone struggling to pay bills and unable to afford their own home. The type of person who is working just to survive and unable to progress because of it.

Dh and I are working class. He's a high earner, we don't struggle for anything, own our own home, have nice cars and holidays. I'd feel a fraud calling myself middle class.

I don't believe in a feudal system of classes created in the Middle Ages, we are all equal and as long as Britain keeps talking about class then good people will always be regarded as peasants by some who like people "to know their place". This is 2022 time to move on.

I don't think the book you read was very good, because it appears to have massively over-simplified what class means in this country.

Class is nowhere near as clearly definable as what job someone does or whether they live in social housing. It's not the same as an A/B/C1/C2/D/E demographic classification where there are very rigid criteria for which group you're in.

For me, class - particularly in the UK - is much more about upbringing and background and general outlook than it is about what job you do, how much money you've got etc. For instance, thinking about my own family, there are siblings where one has a Master's degree and does a job where you're required to gain specific professional qualifications and be a member of a regulatory body, etc, and another left school at 16 and went straight into an apprenticeship as a plumber. They both grew up in the same council house, same parents, same social circles, same school, same accent, same values - they would both consider themselves working class, definitely. As would both my DP and I, white collar jobs and homeownership or not. I've got a degree in an arts subject and work in a professional environment and a highly skilled role and own a house with a garden in a pleasant suburb; I'm widely travelled. read a broadsheet paper and have lots of interests and hobbies that most people would definitely describe as middle-class, but in a group of ultra-middle class people I would stand out as being different from them in a quite a lot of ways. There aren't many working class people in my professional field (or DP's field, these days) and it's pretty noticeable.

I'm also not British and haven't really understood this class system yet.

I work in the arts, sometimes I'm in uniform, sometimes not

But I'm also the first person in my family to go to university and to have a non-manual job.
My parents and extended family all work minimum wage jobs in cleaning, construction, retail, car garages - those kind of industries.

We read lots of books as kids and any disposable income went towards extra-curriculars so we could have a varied and full education. Never went on holiday as a family though, it was all trips to the countryside for 2-3 months each summer, where my parents had caring responsibilities for elderly relatives, so it wasn't really time off for anybody.

I put myself through university in the UK with no maintenance loan, or any financial help from family. But I now have two degrees and plenty of disposable income for eating out, expensive holidays, decent savings which is a word my parents didn't really know about. I was employed by one of the top 3 companies worldwide in my field by the time I was 19 and just a few years later I'm looking at 6-figure salaries for my next promotion. What class does that make me?

@ShirleyPhallus

Most popular / frequent threads on MN: Parking ire MIL drama Class

Why is MN so obsessed with it?!

Why is there someone who jumps on the first page and says ‘why is MN so obsessed with class’. It’s so predictable. What do you hope to get out of this? Why don’t you scroll by?

I'm from a working class family but my mum was raised in a middle class home while my dad was working class. My parents both had WC jobs and lifestyles though. My sisters both married partners with WC jobs and backgrounds, and I would say that they have a working class lifestyles.

I'm a bit confused about my identity as I feel working class at my core but I work in PR, my husband is an architect and we live a traditionally more MC lifestyle. My husband would say we are definitely MC, but that is partly because he had a MC upbringing.

I moved away from my home county and have made friends in my husband's circles and through more traditionally MC hobbies and that has led to all my local friends being MC. I still remain in contact with my WC friends from my hometown though, so I'm really not sure what box to tick.

Sometimes I feel a bit like a lost imposter if I'm honest.

not sure why people rail against being called middle class, its a bit shallow

I’m in NI , we had a land reform act which allowed tenant farmers to buy the land they farmed. When a few families own much of the land it causes a huge class divide.
If you watch the Vikings or any historical drama, wealth and status has always been about how much land you own.