Lockdown is where middle-class people hide and working-class people bring them stuff

[havanacabana]

I’ve seen this quote on twitter a few times and realised there is actually a lot of truth to it. IRL most of the people I know who are truly able to ‘hide away’ are the middle-class, privileged ones who are currently on furlough or working from home. People I know on minimum wage are the ones having to go out and mix at work in supermarkets, takeaways, warehouses etc. to keep everything going.

According to another thread on here, "middle class" includes teachers, nurses, doctors, etc. They're definitely not "hiding" are they?

What about all the "working class" people, such as bar/restaurant staff, hotel cleaners, shop assistants (in closed shops) etc who can't work, so they'll be "hiding" and having their groceries delivered won't they??

All this class nonsense is pathetic really, with people pitting one class against another. Class is an outdated concept these days. It's only brought out as some kind of weird form of abuse.

In some ways yes.

Also, fines are there to keep the poorer people in line and let the rich do as they want.

@Tanith

In my experience, Communism is more often promoted by the middle classes. The idealistic among them want working class people to be as comfortably off as they are themselves, with access to the same privileges.

Funniest thing I've read for ages.

Rather than bringing people up, all that kind of thing does is drag everyone down to the lowest common denominator.

Equalisation never increases wealth/standards, it drags people down to a common level. Yes, it's "fair", just like it's "fair" when they cancel a train because there's no accessible toilet for the disabled - because they can't use the train, no one else can either!

Bollocks. It isn’t only working class people who are expected to be physically present in a workplace to be working. The Prime Minister is as far from working class as you can get, and he’s out and about all over the place (some would argue more than necessary, although only ever to appear from a Zoom call would equally play out badly)... along with most of the rest of the Cabinet. Also doctors, lawyers, teachers, scientists. And I don’t count the police as working class, or nurses, or higher ranks in the army, etc, etc. And it is not only middle class people who ever order anything whatsoever online and expect it to be delivered to them, who expect their rubbish to be collected, who expect their workplace to be cleaned by someone other than themselves, etc, etc.

@Wabola

In some ways yes.

Also, fines are there to keep the poorer people in line and let the rich do as they want.

But how does that work if the poorer people can’t afford to pay the fine [hmmm]

Well it wasn’t just the middle classes voting in a right wing government who have shown time and again they are not concerned with helping those most in need.

Save your ire for the ballot box.

I’m working class and on furlough

And yes, of course, also those far from working class airline pilots who still have jobs are incapable of working from home.

Lots of furloughed or now unemployed working class people who used to work in the hospitality industry or retail, too - many of those aren’t going out to work to keep things going, as much as they would like to.

I read this article yesterday and think that it picks up some of what you highlight.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/28/nursery-staff-work-covid-crisis-early-years-support

I was particularly inspired by this part and a call to work together to change things 'It’s all too easy for overstretched working parents to be pitted against underpaid childcare workers. This is why a coalition of parents, providers and childcare workers is calling for a new deal for childcare. In the short term, this means combining nursery closures with proper support to enable parents, workers and providers to weather them. In the longer term, it means reimagining early years provision as the essential service it is. If we want to safeguard lives and wellbeing, we need to care for all those who care for children – at work or at home, no matter who they are or where they’re from'.

@MusicalTrifleMonkey

Did this quiz for fun and apparently we are both working class.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.cambridge-news.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/working-middle-upper-class-quiz-14599753.amp

I assumed the markers for middle class were a lot lower. Ah well, either way I can’t say it affects me what class I’m in.

I got 33 - mainly due to marrying into my husbands savings and homeownership

@Lucienne1 I don't use a nursery I use a childminder.

I noticed how they are ignored like nannies.

Yes
I sort of hope people would go on strike to make this point but then they don't get paid.

That quiz is a bit mad.

Who is and is not working from home is far more complex than class, but class is a lovely little divisive description that brings resentment to society so thus the tweet.

It's not though if you drop MN class markers and just look at occupation.

For obvious reasons it's difficult to do manual jobs from home, and manual jobs tend to be more badly paid.

Perhaps 'middle class' and 'working class' are inaccurate - it would be better to look at income levels or social grades, but the sentiment behind the tweet - that some groups are being disproportionately affected - is evidenced in statistics.

@mysonsnose

My son however probably will be seen as a through and through middle class person because of how he will be brought up

You know once he finally jumps class he will be subject to hate by the likes of the OP and will be made to feel guilty for his 'privilege'?

@user1497207191

Rather than bringing people up, all that kind of thing does is drag everyone down to the lowest common denominator

Obviously, she's trying to be ironic I guess

You know once he finally jumps class he will be subject to hate by the likes of the OP and will be made to feel guilty for his 'privilege'?

There is no denying that someone who can comfortably call for longer stricter lockdowns & not see how that impacts others has privilege.

@catspider

Well, it makes a change from the middle classes working 70+ hour weeks, paying loads of tax so that others only have to work a 16/24 hour week and get their income topped up by tax credits and housing benefit.

It's not the fault of workers if employers pay them shit wages which have to be topped up with benefits.

@redsquirrelfan

For me, anyone who has to work for a living is working class by definition. How much you earn is immaterial, if you would starve and be homeless if you didn't work.

That might be your definition, but it doesn’t have any connection to any actual definitions of social class which I suggest you research. There’s quite a broad spectrum of people who work but would not immediately become homeless or starve if they stopped working for any reason

Obviously, she's trying to be ironic I guess

It's that, or the champagne socialist middle-class are really dumb (probably the latter)

We're very much wc but DH has wfh since the start of the pandemic (home being a tiny council flat with three adults in it and no outside space whatsoever, not a lovely airy 4 bed semi with a study and garden).

These ridiculous generalisations help nobody and just create more division and resentment.

Analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found people who earn higher hourly wages were more likely to be able to work remotely during the pandemic. This included chief executives and senior officials, whose median earnings were £44.08 an hour, and legal professionals at £39.48 per hour.
Marketing and sales directors were also likely to work from home with a median earning of £37 an hour.

According to its analysis, the ONS said professional occupations such as economists and actuaries alongside management, technical and administrative jobs were most likely to be done from home. This was primarily because the roles involved relatively little face-to-face contact, physical activity or the use of tools or equipment.

However, low-paid occupations including cleaners, waiting staff and security guards alongside frontline workers were least likely to be able to work from home because of the physical nature of their work.

@LunaHeather the quiz is stupid. I detest golf but happily watch other sports and I listen to a wide range of music.

The BBC researched and used this - www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2013/newsspec_5093/index.stm

"Not based on the practically illiterate midwives I’ve come across"

How offensive. 1. You need a degree to be a midwife and 2. Can they deliver a baby safely? Can they act to save the life of the mother if it all goes wrong? All mine could do those things and quite frankly, as I'm only able to write this now as midwives saved my life, I couldn't care less what their sentence structure is like.