To wonder what really is the majority social demographic on Mumsnet?

[CestNoel]

I see soooo many threads along the lines of:

• should I sack my au-pair?

• anybody know any good cleaners?

• my career is too important for me to go to my child's concert...

• can I get free transport to a private school?!?!?!?

• my dd has been given a non-organic fruit drink at nursery

• drats. My new Boden trousers are too short.

And then, everyone is up in arms at the idea of spending £10 on a present to take to a child's birthday party and we have all sorts of suggestions as to how to buy something suitably non-tack like for about £1.49

Is the beauty of Mumsnet I suppose.......

That was brave, abraid. You will have to duck a few bread rolls now, methinks.

Or maybe working class. Anyone comfortable and confident in their position and not caring too much about what others think - not always a definition of the middle classes.

"There's definitely a hardcore of people here who are very surprised when they come across anyone who regards 'right-wing' as not necessarily synonymous with fascism or 'religious' as not necessarily synonymous with 'gullible'."

That should be quote of the week, if we have such a thing.

Yeah. I've got my little suitcase packed for MN Gulag. And my Telegraph to read over the long, snowy years.

Middle class is surely as much a state of mind as anything, and the predominant class in the UK these days, statistically and economically speaking? (If that's not a contradiction).

I know it's not technically 'a demographic' but I think most Mumsnetters share a real interest in the welfare of (our) children. We might disagree how this manifests itself (private v state schools , SAHM V WM, nature v nurture etc...). But the tone is mainly concerned and supportive with a sense of humour thrown in.

It's not about income - although it might be about education in the broadest sense. Its about an attitude.

Georgi - "I would still participate in a food fight in the appropriate setting. confirms your middle class status.

No more about class! No more! I especially don't want to hear from anyone who says they are proud to be working class and would regard being called middle class as an insult, yet has a degree and works in a professional job.

My cheeky reading of middle class females:

Shops in Sainsbury and Waitrose (albeit not exclusively)
Wears M and S pants
Has a car that is clean on the inside and comparatively recent
Children give in their homework
Keeps her domestic appliances clean
Eats fruit and vegetables
Expects her house to have hot water
No peeling paint on the outside of the house

It is this sort of thing that made Britain great! (Especially the pants ...)

I've never understood why being called middle class is supposed to be an insult. I suppose I'm supposed to infer that I am uptight and hidebound by convention.

But I'm not working class anymore, I don't do a working class job.

We'll I'm stuffed with the clean car thing then

Apparently we are among "thousands of highly intelligent women let loose online to enjoy one of their favourite pastimes; caustic, no-holds-barred conversation"

I am all of those things VBM.
But am a Chav!

what if you have a degree but no career?

I score on about half. I am currently trying to look posher for some bizarre superficial reason I can't quite fathom, but on the posh front I am failing a bit.

I reckoned buying a tasteful old house built a long time ago instead of a crap estate house with gold taps would be a good start, and that my Xmas wreath would look a lot better on the front of something with a bit more gravitas.

Maybe I am having a fit of the Nigellas.

Can I ask Rempy, what is the A-E social class scale you speak of? I'd be interested to know where I'm supposed to fit in...

Mumsnet?s members tend to be educated to degree level, fall into a high-income bracket and be in their 30s

Carrie says: "Mumsnetters are the brand. They are educated, intelligent and early adopters; women who are brand-savvy and will readily discuss marketing, advertising and favourite or hated brands."

I'd best leave then . Must of wondered in from hunsrus by accident...

Mums net sometimes reminds me of the olden days when middle class women would go into the slums and do charity work, i.e instruct te lower classes on how to keep clean and how to deal with their drunken husbands and half-feral children.

I've also noticed a new breed of troll (middle class mummy) that pretends to be really ignorant, poor and trashy - this is obviously done for the snigger value.

A to E refers to a system developed by marketing bods. Based on jobs. A = professional therefore well-educated and likely to be comfortably off and down through the scales to D = unskilled manual labourers and E = unemployed, IIRC. Marketing tends to use more sophisticated categories now- look on UpMyStreet.Com for the Acorn system.

taking the VirginBoffin survey:

Shops in Sainsbury and Waitrose (albeit not exclusively)- nope, there's only a COOP locally

Wears M and S pants- too worn down for the brand to show on the label, but I suspect it may read Tesco's

Has a car that is clean on the inside and comparatively recent- no car at all, where does that place me?

Children give in their homework- yeah, probably

Keeps her domestic appliances clean- my domstic appliances?!? I thought those were dh's?

Eats fruit and vegetables- no, dcs always get to those first

Expects her house to have hot water- expecting is all very well, but we got conned over that boiler

No peeling paint on the outside of the house- hmm

educated to degree level, earning well below average and in my 40s

Apart from eating fruit and veg, I fail on all those fronts. I can't afford groceries from M&S or Waitrose, my car is filthy, and the cleaner keeps the domestic appliances clean.

I'd question the 'thousands' number wrt intelligence

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