What makes you working class?

[Bdueb]

Was listening to an interview with oa well known actor talking about their childhood and growing up working class. For them a key part was lack of travel and having not left their local area much etc. That was 20 years ago. What about now - what do you think distinguishes working and middle class childhoods of today?

But a lot of class shibboleths have nothing to do with the cost of items. Sure, chickpeas and hummus are ‘poor food’ in lots of other countries, but both are a comparatively recent and and ‘exotic’ introduction into the UK — Waitrose was the first UK supermarket to stock hummus, and that was only in the 80s.

💯
This is almost a weekly topic on here, obsessed!

In my opinion, the only people who care are people trying to be something they’re not.

I thought about this the other day as I saw some ‘influencer’ on instagram post a thing about Gregg Wallace which basically said that some ‘middle aged, middle class women’ he insulted were brought up working class and are hard as nails. She is someone very clearly from a a working class background whose husband runs a business and makes a lot of money so they are now rich. She doesn’t work (nor ever has as far as I can tell) and has not gone to university, had her kids very young. She prioritises material possessions, going in lots of holidays and ‘having stuff’ but does not seem interested in anything I was told was considered MC (art, literature, musics etc). But clearly she thinks she is now middle class because it’s about how much money you have.

it made me wonder if she would think I was working class as I work full time and long hours but I don’t have very much money so can’t afford foreign holidays or any luxuries. But I did go to university, as did my parents (they were the first generation to go) and I like the cultural and social pastimes associated with being MC like classical music, opera, literature, theatre, art etc.

So I am now confused as to what being MC vs WC actually is anymore.

I get that. That's why I said there are some amusing differences. Hummus being one example. Some particular food items just amuse us because they are from our places of birth so we always laugh how far we grew to having them now as part of the "better" diet instead of "payday is not here yet" diet as we were used to🙈
And vice versa. Something cheap here, is upmarket in our native countries and we are sometimes baffled and amused too.
Or even cooking rather than premade meals (and other way around) differeces between countries.
It's just interesting.

I haven't read the thread but having a tattoo of your child's name seems a working class trait where I am.

Encouraging your child not to pursue education and training post 16 & going to work instead is v wc in my area. Not valuing education or widening your cultural/social outlook & not having aspirations. Having a very closed mind set is what I call working class.

Oh, I agree. But people are often just mistaken about elements of other countries’ cultures — there are people for whom the Queen and Danny Dyer have the same ‘British accent’.

I love a class thread!!

It is such a huge spectrum in my opinion and there really is no single definition.

Just to chip in about teachers being considered MC which I think demonstrates that profession cannot categorise class… there is a huge difference between an Oxbridge educated teacher who is teaching English Literature or Economics compared to a PE teacher who studied Sport Development at the local university college…

I agree. And it's why I think it's good for people to learn other languages and spend time in other cultures

I always think it's a marker of a lack of knowledge/intelligence/foreign travel if someone is taking class markers too seriously

Finding the replies to this very funny, compared to the similar threads on here I remember from 15 years ago.

This thread posters seem desperate make the working class category so ridiculously wide that it includes 99% of people.

Some of the same posters are at pains to point out that they themselves are middle class, but pretend to be embarrassed about it, when clearly they are insecure about their class status (as in, they need other people to not be considered MC, so they can be it).

It's an interesting phenomenon, which says so much about the people commenting that I don't think they realise.

I think a lot of people who claim not to care about class care very deeply about how they are perceived.

Hmm … but a lot of working class parents I’ve seen are delighted when their kids are academic, work hard at their studies and go to good unis.

ive seen a closed mind set among middle class parents - they force their kids to mix with posh kids from well educated backgrounds even through the kids aren’t at all compatible personality wise

the parents themselves won’t expand their social circle beyond a very narrow group

my mc top professional well educated mum made an insinuation that wc class people smell (yes I know!)

they force their kids to do well academically and insist they go to uni even though doing so isn’t compatible with their kid’s natural personality

if child under achieves academically they straight out LIE

Could you please elaborate on the 1st paragraph for the ones who were not here 15 years ago?

I told my husband he's not middle class as we wouldn't survive few years of unemployment and he strongly disagrees.

my Dad taught economics at a non RG uni, what class are we? 🤣

Someone I know is a research fellow at a top Uni but rents ex-council flat (for the full price), what it makes them? 😁

That’s cloth cap/ferret territory…

This is one of the funniest answers I have ever read.

They are both teachers. Despite their different routes into the profession.

Talk about tying yourself up in knots.

I worked with a woman who had a real stick up her arse about class. She made a big deal of where I lived (a more affluent town in south wales), having moved from England and would call me posh. I never told her I used to live in the Cotswolds hence we could afford to move where we did comfortably due to difference in house prices.

One day she was talking about someone else and said 'they're like you....you know middle class...with horses and stuff'.

How I laughed as she had such a bee in her bonnet about it. Her family were miners born in the Welsh valleys but she'd moved to a nice seaside town and husband had a good job. She was very into appearances, driving flash cars, had a big house and would holiday in exclusive areas. I really felt though she had a chip on her shoulder due to her roots rather than embracing her life now.

I’m a child of. Doctor and Oxbridge educated director live on council estate what makes me ? 🤣

Honestly, I find it ridiculous. A system that came about in the 1800s, when social mobility was alien and education limited to the rich.

I don't know anyone who talks about or tries to define their class in real life.

Interesting paper.

Class in Britain and Class in British Sociology Since 1945

Well, if you don't have to worry about house prices you are probably comfortably MC😁

Absolutely they are both teachers, and both professionals doing a hugely important job. However my point still stands that profession cannot be used as a blunt tool to identify class as there is such a spectrum of difference between individuals. Granted I used extreme opposite ends of the spectrum as examples, but I wouldn’t say I was tying myself up in knots, rather illustrating a point.

Why are they opposite ends of the spectrum?
The PE teacher wanted to teach sport. The English teacher wanted to teach English. They both chose appropriate routes to become teachers.

I don't see any difference between the two?

The PE teacher may own their house outright and have been middle class for generations. The English teacher may be the first in their family to go to university.

One or the other might be foreign and class could be an irrelevance

The PE teacher might love sailing and skiing and and the English teacher might spend every Friday at the Bingo.

There are so many ways they could be different, and have different class markers

It's never crossed my mind to think that which subject a teacher teaches determines their social class. How bonkers.

Many children aren't really welcome in their own homes - clubs are an excellent way for those who can afford it to farm out their children for hours.
Poorer kids in the same position lurk in playgrounds, parks or bus shelters.

I was working class (raised in council housing and poor) but now live in affluent village and we own three properties. I have a high income and professional job. No one would know I grew up where I did. But I do feel deep down I am working class still. My parents live on social welfare. My accent has changed as I live in a different country for 25 years (not deliberate). I’m proud of my roots and how hard I worked to get out of the background I lived in.

Man some of these replies are beyond offensive!
And complete nonsense.
My family is working class going back to being peasants! Working class as in all my grandmothers/ great grandmothers worked for a living. Working class as in nobody worried very much about what class they belonged in, as in we could equally have our tea on the sofa with the telly on, or have a big meal round the table, with family, friends or neighbours.
Working class as in my relatives sailed the entire world and my grandad went to Brazil and Japan for work not on a gap year (and brought back some fascinating artefacts)
Working class as in my dad knew art galleries were free, books were cheap and education was priceless ( and for the love of it not for the job opportunities).
Working class as in 2 languages were spoken not just English and appalling French.
Working class as in options for work were not limited to one set, narrow path of school, university, desk ( although some of us did that).
When I read (only on MN ) what people seem to think working class means it's almost as if the only experience of wc people they have is either Waynetta Slob or Vicky off Little Britain!
The only distinction to me really is middle class people have ready money, family wealth/ assets and a total terror of being judged by those they consider their betters.