To consider myself working class?

[TheCatsKnickers]

I'm fully aware that it doesn't matter, but for the sake of argument - basically an ongoing debate with friend who insists I am middle class - which of us would be correct?

My background:
Dad probs upper working, good job but no higher education, bought our house and subsequent houses without mortgage. Mum from educated family but was SAHM. Grew up in MC area and schools, kept horses but more rough and tumble than 'posh'. Had a few years off too travel and have fun in late teens largely funded by parents, then went to uni late and studied fine art.
This, according to my friend cements me as MC.

The present day:
Followed my passion and became a painter. Didn't want to marry or have children so chose to rent. Preferred this as could move around and experience different places. Bit of a free spirit, but had to accept some financial insecurity for the pleasure! Am now in 40's and still similar, very content with long term DP but, I presume, not typical for many my age.
I have a decent 5 figure sum in savings although we received only a smallish inheritance due to both parents needing care in old age (they had also given their second property to an aunt and uncle who developed health issues in later life).
My income is somewhat fluid and would possibly terrify some, but I have intermittently earned very, very well and often receive high payments for my work (anywhere from £200 to £1k per commission or piece), but some months are quite the opposite.
So my lifestyle is not standard and has some financial insecurity, but I made my own choices.
Therefore, since I don't own a home or have a private pension I perceive my status to be 'working class', regardless of my background privileges and lifestyle. My friend argues not!

Which of us is correct?

You not YouTube obviously

Because he was a fancy cheese vendor later on, married your middle class mum, owned two houses and horses, funded your teenage lifestyle, then sent you off to university to study fine art. Your dad possibly made the class switch (he may have still considered himself working class), but he certainly raised you in a middle-class home.

(I wouldn't call you upper middle class, but there's no way on earth you're working class.)

😅working class

Who cares?

That's not really true. By most definitions middle class people work too, but in higher paid, professional roles or as business owners.

OP - you are definitely middle class. Having time off to travel funded by parents, receiving an inheritance (even it it was small), having higher than average savings, having the financial security to be able to choose less secure work, having studied fine art at university (having attended university is a marker of being middle class, but fine art is particularly middle class), having had horses... all markers of being middle class! Even the fact that you 'chose' not to have a private pension or buy a house is a marker!

You are not working class OP. This is a constant source of discussion at work.

😂 did you study sculpture at St Martins college?

I would say definitely not working class…

I consider myself formally working class - I grew up on a council estate in a 2 bed flat with 6 people and 2 dogs. My mum was a single mum on benefits & working 2 jobs as a cleaner and dinner lady. There were days we would search the back of the couch to find change so we could all share a cone of chips from the chippy. No one in my family had ever been to college or university before I did. My mum could never afford to give me any money at college or university, as in not even £20.

I grew up with no idea how college or uni works, how taxes or mortgages work, how saving money works, how having a real decent job works, how to do a CV, how important qualifications are - because my mum had no idea about any of that stuff and neither did her mum and so on and so on. I will never have any inheritance because my mum doesn’t have a penny to her name except debt and benefits and that is reality too for a lot of people I grew up with. A lot of people end up like their parents because of the lack of knowledge being passed down. That’s my idea of working class (unless there’s a lower one?!)

You seem self absorbed and are most definitely middle class.

Duh,took me a while to get the Pulp reference

Holy cow!

No one who describes themselves as a painter is working class - for 99% of people it’s a hobby job for the privileged.

This

What on earth made you ever consider yourself WC?!

You're middle class.

Your mum was privileged and had an arts education, horses and travelled. Your father made his own money but that meant you were raised in a privileged home with no mortgage and you went on to do an artistic career.

My dad earned a good deal from quite young, plus maternal GP's contributing to their first home, which was a tiny terrace. This would have been in the early 60's. By the 1980's we were fairly well off financially.

Very well put. It's the multi-generational lack of 'cultural capital' you describe that can really set people apart and limit social mobility. The OP's post is the exact opposite. I think being able to do something you love/a hobby as a job without having to consider how you will keep a roof over your head (because there is an inheritance/trust fund/safety net of a wealthy family in the background) is exceptionally upper middle class.

To mention a passing thing on MN does not make one 'obsessed' or absorbed.
I once started a thread about eggs, but i cant say they take up a lot of my attention in daily life.

I don't get what part makes you think you are working class?

It is bizarre and somewhat insulting to presume there are no working class artists. I know many.

Just a technicality - no home ownership or pension, so finance i suppose?

You have no Idea what working class is so fuck off on your middle class horse hon.

How much inheritance do you imagine working class people generally receive?