To ask what class you think you are?

[IHate]

People always say everyone on MN is middle class, but are we?! I honestly think it’s a pretty socioeconomically diverse mix.

What class would you say you are? Curious how people map themselves when you take both background and current life into account.

These are the rough descriptions I’m working from (from Reddit - I didn’t write them, so please don’t come for me 🤣). Heritage first, income last.

Upper class
Old families, land, inherited wealth, public schools, Oxbridge, connections that run through generations. Sparse vowels, quiet confidence, and a sense that everything important happens in drawing rooms you will never see.

Typical household income: irrelevant, wealth is inherited.

Likelihood of two parent families: very high.

Age at first child: early thirties.

Upper middle class
Professionals with long-standing pedigree. Parents and grandparents were doctors, civil servants, academics, barristers, consultants, senior military. Private or grammar schooling, strong cultural capital, instinctive ease in elite spaces. This is the group most people mean when they say “middle class”.

Typical household income: often £150k plus.

Likelihood of two parent families: high. Age at first child: early to mid thirties.

Middle class
Educated, comfortable, but not posh. Teachers, mid-level civil servants, senior nurses, managers, small business owners. Cultural capital is mixed. Grandparents may have been skilled workers. Big on gardens, National Trust, and well-behaved children.

Typical household income: around £90k to £150k.

Likelihood of two parent families: moderate to high.

Age at first child: late twenties to early thirties.

Lower middle class
Clerical, admin, retail management, entry-level professional families. Polite, aspirational, very aware of class boundaries. Parents or grandparents often from working class backgrounds. Transitional rather than settled.

Typical household income: around £60k to £90k.

Likelihood of two parent families: mixed.

Age at first child: mid to late twenties.

Working class
Manual trades, industrial work, care work, service work. Strong community identity, distinctive humour, bluntness valued over polish. Heritage is key. You can earn millions and remain working class because class is about where you come from, not what you now earn.

Typical household income: usually under £60k, though can be higher.

Likelihood of two parent families: lower than middle groups.

Age at first child: late teens to mid twenties.

Precariat
Insecure work, unstable housing, gig economy. Identity varies, but the instability itself defines the experience.

Typical household income: under £25k.

Likelihood of two parent families: low.

Age at first child: late teens to mid twenties.

I’m solidly working class. Also, if discussions about class make you cross, this is probably not the thread for you.

You don’t need to. It’s a Mumsnet thread, not a summons. 🤣

I honestly don’t know. I suspect it’s because that was the prevailing demographic initially and the reputation stuck?

I was class 4D, but it was 50 years ago so I'm not sure it still counts.

I have met very upper class Africans from generational wealth spanning hundreds of years. They have all been Nigerian, though. Is there no similar North African demographic?

My parents were middle class. Mum was a band 7 nurse and dad owned a small construction company. I was sent to private school for a few years until it started failing and shut down a year after I left.

However I was born disabled and have never been able to work myself so I live a precariat lifestyle myself.

I don't think the old "class system" means much anymore, and quite honestly all that matters to me is that people try to treat each other with respect and consideration no matter what background they're from. Theres little enough of that in the world without hankering after some league table of old. This feels a bit like a thread for a research project.

I don’t get comments like this. The content of the thread was really clear from the title. If it’s not a subject that interests you, why click? Genuine question, as it’s a mindset I don’t understand.

Re the research project - you can Advance search my username, if you’re so inclined. I’ve been around for a while. Clearly biding my time, laying the groundwork for the great MN class deep dive.

It is a subject that interests me because it just has no real relevance these days. Which is why my "mindset" led me to click on it- MN is about opinion. I don't think I need to do a username search to state that it feels like a research project, that is also my opinion- it is how it reads to me. Identifying which class people feel they are from just doesn't seem very important anymore.

This!

There is nobody above me and nobody below me. Why you would want to continue to perpetuate a such a system is beyond me.

I was born into a very middle class family.

DH and I are decidedly working-class in terms of our income and lifestyle though, and I'm honestly much happier than I ever was.

i work - so I must be working class

Lower middle. First child age 29. DH is an engineer on close to 50k.
I’m in finance admin on £34k.
Parents were working class.

”I like to complain about people discussing things that I don’t consider worthy of discussion. I needed to tell you that this subject that interests you isn’t important to me.”

Gotcha. Thank you for your input.

I grew up lower end of working class, i would say we are lower middle class now but i still feel working class. We live in a fairly deprived area, in a posher area i would probably seem working class.

Fortunately I live in a country where most people don't care about this sort of nonsense so I don't have to give it a second thought.

Poor middle maybe? As in brought up middle, people say I talk like I’m from a certain area, I do middle class stuff (apparently because I read certain papers and listen to certain stations etc!) but since kids mw job, and just on/ over the breadline. So I don’t know. (I don’t care either really!!)

In the hope that someone learns something about why it is so incredibly damaging? If you don't get why it makes people cross then honestly do some research into why it's so damaging - there is plenty of information out there. Idly asking people "Oooh are you X or Y?" is perpetuating the damage.

I don't find it masochistic to comment - I hope people open their eyes and stop being complicit in one of the most systemically damaging conceits that has ever existed. Do you think the caste system is equally a cool thing to pontificate on?

I'm always extra fascinated what class people are who say they don't give a toss. In one sense, it is of course cringe to obsess over your social status. On the other - almost every facet of our lives is to some extent determined by our class.

Definitely upper middle class.

This!

Oh, Lord. The po faced, pearl clutching condescension. How utterly exhausting.

I wonder if this is what missionaries are like.

I'd say one of my parents is working class and one middle class, so as a couple they don't fit in a box. My sibling has a career that would come under upper class. According to the age I had my child I'm working/precariat (never heard that before) although I'm still with his father and managed to get a degree so maybe that bumps me up a bit.

Load of tosh.

I'm interested in all the other failsons and daughters who have slid perilously down the status scale compared to their parents/grandparents

Working class with the household income of a precariat