To ask what makes you middle class?

[Wantobeareader]

I am not from the UK so not very familiar with these class definitions (which personally I cannot stand) but I am curious to understand what people mean with MC. I thought it was a term referred to the fairly wealthy but apparently lots of people and incomes seem to fall into that categories.
So, how would you define Middle Class? Feel free to type a description of a typical MC person you can think of :)

Is it always the poor MC and UC who argue most stridently that it’s not about money? Because it is…eventually.

Well when I was growing up everyone in my very middle class town voted labour, you would have been lucky to find many Tory voters in the town. Plus I didn’t just say it was because my family voted labour, it was working class largely as my parents had a manual job - factory work

Not really - not everything holds true all the time. Student laziness is a key driver of the ramen/beans lifestyle.

Aka the saintly!😂

My (somewhat limited to Christian people) test would be is Christmas for you and your family:

a) a nice number of presents often opened after big extended family dinner, but for children probably equal as an event to birthdays (or they tend to get bigger presents on birthdays)

b) something that is saved for for months, involves piles of presents and types of food and drink which would never be seen in the house at any other time of year (included branded crisps and chocolates)

(a) is MC, (b) is WC. As someone who was brought up WC and has outwardly now achieved MC status, this is the one test that allows me to tell which of my co-workers are MC and which ones just pass, like me!

You are clearly mc.
It's both income and culture.
Generally speaking mc value education and professions, wc lower skilled or manual jobs.
Wc value family as in living close bu, fairly tight knit see each other weekly, mc tend to be move geographically mobile to move for the jobs.
Tastes, wc like more football and soaps type of thing, mc more crime dramas and a wide-ranging set of interests including football, but maybe crafting.
Parenting, wc allow less negotiation and more playing out from an earlier age, mc educate from babies without thinking about it and teach their kids negotiation (management) skills early on, it's not rude to bargain a later bedtime in a mc household like it would be in a wc one.
Schools, wc send to the local, mc pay for tutors for 11+ view the nearest 20 and agonise over it.

Bear in mind all wc examples are lower wc and mc at least mid mc so the boundaries in reality far broader.

Ah but there is a big gap between the middle class and UPPER middle class and I think it allows those who have moved themselves from WC to MC to not feel so ‘bad’ about no longer being WC.

The difference between MC and UMC is quite stark. Some generational wealth, good education or poor education - it didn’t matter because there is family money and the girls aim to marry well (hello the Middletons). Cut glass accents, cultural pursuits etc… lots of dogs, maybe horses…looking ‘slummy’ in excellent labels, skiing, competitive slimness, cash problems unless GPs have paid the school fees etc….. the closest thing to UC without having titles.

By educate I mean talk directly to the child with exaggerated enunciation.
Use numbers and counting and colours all the time. Buy toys that are designed to develop fine motor skills and cognitive development.
They don't know they are doing it because its normal for them, which is why for those who don't get it and are behind by 2yrs old it's very very difficult to ever catch up. Hence surestart and other policies.

Self entitled

It's about your family background and upbringing mostly - education, manners, tastes, the way you speak etc. It's not a single dimension.

What it doesn't relate to is wealth. Plenty of working class have money now. You don't win the lottery and suddenly become middle class! 😂

There are posters here taking this all far too seriously. That’s probably a signifier of either lower middle class or determinedly working class with a bit of a chip on the shoulder. 🤣

Only drinking with meals is not a MC rule. It is more dependent on what you drink and where.

Education is relevant but it’s not just about having a degree as they are ten a penny and rather devalued these days. It’s more about broad general knowledge, cultural knowledge and interests, an occupation that is respected or decently remunerated.

The MC bands are interesting and there is such a difference between them. Confidence makes a difference. Being overly concerned about what others think is very lower middle class and also affects the WC in respect of certain topics.

It’s interesting from a sociological point of view but George Bernard Shaw’s famous comment about class judgement on how people speak
is still valid. Class is a British, largely English, obsession.

My take on that film was not to judge a book by its cover more than class or riches.

It's total nonsense though to say only the British have class.
In the USA tell that to write trailer trash, have you not seen making a murderer?
In India they have the caste system which is far stricter.
In Germany at 14 the mc go the gymnasiums and the wc to technical school.
Almost all societies have class / status signifiers beyond educational quals and the job you do. The only reason you think we're the only ones is because you recognise the social signifiers of your own culture.

White!
Yes old and new money in USA, political families etc.
And it is the same in Europe. Marine le pen would not have got anywhere without being from her family.

I would say I have a middle class lifestyle with a working class background/Upbringing.

I must have missed where someone said only the Brits have a class system. Pretty sure everyone knows that it exists elsewhere but the OP was asking about the UK, hence the responses.

I dont pay much notice to what the BBC say tbh

This probably describes me too..

Same. My parents are working class, my DC are middle class. Not really sure what I am.

This again?

Bourgeoisie, ma cherie. You know historically that means on the Continent. 😂

All the nonsense about only MC people cooking from scratch, speaking other languages… there are a lot of working class families in the uk cooking all kinds of foods ( Indian, Middle Eastern, Pakistani for example) and speaking several languages!
I don’t actually know many middle class people who genuinely speak more than one language. Some of them think they can speak French..

Indeed

Disagree.

Plenty of middle class markers there, including "being French." Professional, educated, migrant knowledge worker... All MC markers.

However, I think your Frenchness removes you a little from the English class dynamic. Definitely not WC, though.

Interesting. Now i’m confused.

i’m master degree, DH is Phd. I earn 70k, dh 170k. Own two house mortgage free. Drive range rover. Shopping in waitrose. So i’m MC??

but there is big but. I’m asian. I’m loud, very LOUD and i’m not speaking posh at all. I speak english with my own accent. Does it means i’m still considered MC???

i always tough MC is for white british only who speak posh like the royal family.