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.

Yawn. This topic is done to death, just Google the older threads.

Or are you a journalist?

It reminds me of that money python sketch, 'we were so poor we lived in cardboard box'

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 appear to be the opposite to everyone. I grew up with young parents who struggled for everything and were constantly stressed about money. Both left school at 16 and nobody in either family had ever gone to uni. I feel like I'd be taking the piss if I said I'm working class when to them, I'm living a life of luxury in comparison to what we grew up with.

Being working class is fashionable, donchano? You can just tell by the posters protesting how working class they are. The way class works is that nobody wants to be working class in resolute, but everyone wants to wear it like a badge of honour. Because it shows they are salt of the earth types, better than others. Superiority complex in reverse.

@starlingdarling I know a lot of struggling middle class. Think classical musician or teacher in expensive SW town or London. No richer partner in better paid job to share the bills. Esp if there are DC involved.

I am middle class. Both parents and most of my grandparents worked in the public sector (teacher, doctor, lecturer, civil servant etc).

And so do I!

@VestaTilley

Yawn. This topic is done to death, just Google the older threads.

Or are you a journalist?

You clicked on this thread specifically to say this? When you could have scrolled by. Yeah right, you think it’s been don’t to death.

I’m a law graduate, work in a professional setting etc etc however when you consider that Kate Middleton (and those of her type of background) is considered to be “middle class”, I most certainly would not consider myself to be so, I am working class.

If middle class means affording Marlborough college fees and the like, then there’s a fair few who consider themselves middle class who are mistaken.

Working class never meant “doesn’t read books” or “doesn’t own their own home”. It is funny that there are tiers to middle classness lower/upper that do not exist for working class, but probably should. But everyone wants to be part of the aspiring middle classes.

And there has always been a non-working underclass where the dearth of aspiration is multi-generational.

Class still very much exists. Don’t fool yourself that those with all the land and power aren’t the ones in charge.

@Momicrone

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

And pretentious. It must be some insecurity they have the need to hide.

I always find it interesting how desperate some people with very middle class lifestyles are to still be considered working class. Your grandad may have worked down the pit, but you're a university educated professional with a detached house, two cars, and a foreign holiday at least once a year.

It's OK to have done well for yourself and be 'upwardly mobile'. Let it go.

It's not straightforward. I went to uni (in the days when there were grants/loans; and I worked throughout) and now have a professional 'middle-class' media-adjacent freelance career. I live in a fairly well-heeled area and can use organic supermarkets, eat out, pay for theatre tickets etc.
But I grew up in a working-class household and I can always shock a genuinely middle-class person by saying that we used to have ITV on all day long, and commercial radio not R4.
They seem to be very reliable class shibboleths

@SemperIdem my DH is 32 and he grew up in a non posh north London suburb. Many of his friends went to private school though not as expensive as Marlborough college. 12k per year etc. He has a friend who was the only child of a journalist and a barrister who had so few clients he moonlighted as a teacher. He went to Habs.

I think they are MC as they were not from wealth but founded their own business which was very successful..barely any of us are upper class as that usually means landed gentry.

The British class system means that whether your dad is a QC or a lawyer working for legal aid in a high street firm earning less than many admin roles, you are 'middle class'. A plumber's child would have many more financial privileges than the child of such a solicitor.

I own my own home (no mortgage), my kids went to private school (not prep) but I’m working class. I’m not middle class because I don’t wear gilets, hunters wellies or have my hair highlighted and styled regularly. 😁

Yep, middle-class, middle England and proud!
Why shouldn’t I be?

My dad used to say:

If you have to get up and work for your money you're working class.

If you're rich enough that you don't have to work you're middle class.

If you're born or married into a title (no matter what's in your bank) you're upper class.

and it works for me.

If you must work to earn enough to live then working class.

If you can live off wealth/investments/passive income then a capitalist (and actually a Marxist too).

Much simpler and more rigorous a definition.

@Laiste indeed.

Just to add, I know I’m working class because we watched Magpie not Blue Peter growing up🙂

@Zilla1 x post

@desiringonlychild2022

That’s what I meant in my post - they to me, are what middle class is. I also acknowledge your point that finances can be a red herring.

I suppose it’s a case of a couple of generations of university education, professional jobs. Essentially I don’t think people can change class for themselves, rather, their children. So whilst I’d consider myself working class (not because there’s anything wrong with being it. I’m just not), my child isn’t.

[quote desiringonlychild2022]@starlingdarling I know a lot of struggling middle class. Think classical musician or teacher in expensive SW town or London. No richer partner in better paid job to share the bills. Esp if there are DC involved.[/quote]
But then I wouldn't consider them middle class. Maybe the problem is that I see class as a mobile thing that can change based on circumstances.

Unless you're a titled noble of course, I saw many in my time in litigation who used smoke and mirrors (plus loans from friends) to hide their lack of wealth. They'd never be working class.

I work for a living so therefore, i'm working class.

Somebody upthread said they'd hit someone for calling them middle class - bonkers!