What makes you middle class?

[Singlemum90]

So a comment from my mother a few years ago has stuck with me ever since then really. When I was no longer a single mum, and found myself a little less skint, she said 'oh it's so good now you're just a nice middle class mum, I'm so proud of you'

Aside from her clearly looking down at me before this, and deciding class was what defined how she felt about me- I have often wondered what made her decide I was middle class at this point.

How do you define it? (I feel it's very subjective) Is it what family you are born into? Your income?(And what income makes the 'classes'? Is it a specific job type? The way you stick your finger out when you drink tea?
Or is it just a shitty way to divide people and how they feel about themselves?

'due to inherit' rebel child with the genetic drive to do it your way ...classless or in a class of your own.

Upper middle class people sometimes have a low income because they have been disinherited &/or have anger or other issues that hold them up from being a high earning worker in established occupations. Some, having been born into relative weath, value it less than others who have come from poorer backgrounds, & see greater value in other things, like free time to express yourself & develop interests & even help others. Ironically, while this is going on, some end up actually making a sizable amount of money.

Pretty much all upper middle class Penelopes and Pippas have access to trust funds and don't really need to work.

It's the bog standard middle class who need to work and they aren't all that different to the working class oiks they sneer at and condescend.

I'd probably do both

Some people - mind blowing as it may be - do both.

And actually, access to a wide range of activities is very middle class. Which means gasp haribo factories.

My FIL was deffo WC by that definition. (Even worse he was a builder and had a fried breakfast in a caff every day)

as a family we are MC with the champagne and avocado.

Its further muddled by us both having a gay brother and our much loved daughter suffering from anorexia whilst being teased at an Oxbridge uni for going to a 'comp'.

I think you'd need a pretty big trust fund these days to not have to work, larger than most upper middles could stump up. However, enough parents can potentially rustle up a family property they can put a troublesome child in, & get the social to stump up the rent. While trust funds are commonly employed in wealthy families, often their offspring can't get free access to funds till they are much older & hopefully wiser. A trust will sometimes skip a generation, to prevent feckless offspring making a claim on the grounds of needing support for their kids, & also so their kids don't suffer, with the trust paying for boarding school, followed by Oxford, followed by a US masters .This can also be handy for avoiding death duty, & protecting family wealth from outside marriage partners who seek divorce.

Not lower middle 😀

I’m deeply middle class and I would be all over that Haribo factory visit.

Both are fantastic, but DC probably prefer the Haribo factory, regardless of the sociology.

The Haribo factory is a modern marvel on a par with Roman engineering but I will not be saying this in order not to entirely ruin the experience. Hoping for a careful explanation of how they make Tangfastics

In the horse world there is a definite heirarchy, so not all horsey people are MC/UMC. This may be a bit dated and I don't wish to offend anyone as there are always exceptions to the norm. This is my take on it but would love to hear from anyone else who thinks differently

UC - Polo, eventing, and a few racehorse owners (landowners' private yards)
UMC - Lots of eventing, dressage and a few wealthy showjumpers at high level competing nationally (Full livery or own private yard)
MC - Have a go at everything locally, but largely happy hackers as can't afford to compete at high level without a lot of sponsorship (Usually DIY or part livery)
WC - Coloured cobs, hacking (DIY livery), racing, showjumping (a few privately owned SJ yards with traditional working farm owners/tenants)
LWC/UC - Driving coloured cobs (Grazing verges or common land)

Right with you!

Sorry - just catching up on thread but oh dear me, this post! 😂

😂😂

@keepyourcatsinladies I completely agree with the fact that some mc parents get completely pissed off when working class kids do better than theirs academically, musically or in other extracurriculars.. They cannot bear it & up the ante immediately!!

I would think that’s lower middle 😂

I'd say you watch too many influencers on You Tube and Insta.

Deeply. I bet there's a lot of grey crushed velvet around as well...

This has already been mentioned, but isn’t class in Britain a purely Anglo Saxon thing? If you’re a second generation Italian/Indian etc etc, you’re basically classless. You might have grown up with parents who were manual labourers, but in a family where education etc was much encouraged. It gives one the freedom to mix with anyone.

We’ve actually found the high level eventers and polo players to be the least snobby of the bunch as they have nothing to prove. We are by no means rich but our local polo club has been incredibly welcoming + generous to teen DD who is learning to play after a bit of a break from horses in general. It’s the predominantly MC livery yards where all of the fur coat no knickers cat fights are!

That was horrible what your mum said. I don't particularly like the class system. However, I do identify within it. I identify as middle class as that was how I was brought up even though I am skint now. I mix with people of all classes, have equal respect etc. But I do find I have more in common in terms of background with those from middle class backgrounds.

I found it quite hard when I was younger to fit in with my exDH's working class family. I remember being invited to a buffet at his uncle's. I took some brie and olives. They looked at me like I was crazy and noone touched them.

You have missed out:

• driving at top level (ie driving trials) can be either UC (Prince Phillip) or MC but either way lots of £££
• showing can either be WC or MC with a tiny smattering of Upper C
• Show jumping even at top level is mainly WC and at lower levels (unaffiliated and low level affiliation) just chavvy. Even the wealthy SJs are usually WC (yes even the Whitakers)

Hard agree on showjumping.

I also married 'down' and regretted it (as my mother annoyingly predicted). His family turned out to be inverted snobs. They loved to be included in things with my family that they wouldn't otherwise have got to do, but were really nasty behind closed doors because I was 'different' and they took that as some kind of deliberate insult!