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Original poster

What makes someone middle class?

283 replies

lilibet · 31/08/2006 17:03

Just had a conversation with a mate and a mutual freind has described themselves as middle class.

He works in a shop for a living, his parents work for a living, to me he is therefore working class.

I appreciate that a brain surgeon is obvioulsy a bit higher up the social strata than me ( I work in finance in the NHS), but to me if you have to work for a living you are working class.

Thoughts and opinions?

OP posts:
moondog · 31/08/2006 21:01

lol CD
My point is that a skiing student is pretty posh.

KM,I remember your holiday thread.Think your point re popular culture is interesting.

I make a huge effort to disassociate myself formpopular culture (as a sort of experiment with myself0 but it is so pervasive that even I know loads of useless crap like where Brangelina's kid was born and the chorus of Paris Hilton's single.

And that is as someone who doesn't watch tv or read stuff like 'Heat'
I find it terrifying that this crap has bored into my brain.

scotchick · 31/08/2006 21:02

I am surrounded by real middle class types and the one thing that they all have in common is intense competitiveness whether it's to do with children's achievements, clothes (in a subtle way), house sizes, previous careers etc.

Katymac · 31/08/2006 21:02

You see I don't even understand the useless crap references

moondog · 31/08/2006 21:02

I buy in Adams, George and (less often) Tesco and am as MC as they come.

I think George kids' stuff is lovely.

moondog · 31/08/2006 21:03

CD wot is a bifta??
A spliff??

Katymac · 31/08/2006 21:04

Tescos/charity shops/asda/bit of next & occasional M&S

Dislike Adsa girls clothes for DD as they are sometimes tarty

laughoutloud · 31/08/2006 21:13

I find this interesting.

I'm a doctor so earn a decent salary, good career propects, nice 4bed house.
My dad and both of my grandads were coalminers.

I define myself as working class, partly because of my family background but also because I feel that I personally worked bloody hard to get where I am in life.

PretendFriend · 31/08/2006 21:15

You can define yourself as working class as much as you like, lol - sadly the rest of the British world won't go along with it

PanicPants · 31/08/2006 21:21

This is all really interesting.

By definition of the general concensus, you are working class if you work (whether in a shop, teacher, lawyer, doctor etc)

Upperclass if you are landed gentry

Which leaves a huge gaping hole where the middle classes should be, as well as a huge % of the population that don't fit into any class due to circumstance or choice i.e., people on benefits etc etc.

I always felt that middle class was summed up by Margo and whatever her husbands name was from The Good Life.

Blondilocks · 31/08/2006 21:23

Before looking at the link I would have said that working class people were more those who do manual labour & possibly things like working in supermarkets - things whereby you don't HAVE to have much in the way of qualifications.

I guess the problem comes in inbetweeny jobs - like service technicians (aka mechanics) for example - they need to know lots & do a fair bit of study on the cars & engineering type stuff so where would that come in? Skilled working class I suppose?

OH & I consider ourselves to be middle class mainly because we do professional jobs (although according to the scale this could make us upper middle class!!) Our parents are middle class as well.

I think it's more a feeling than anything else perhaps.

Blondilocks · 31/08/2006 21:25

I don't think working leads to being working class. It's more the type of work.

southeastastra · 31/08/2006 21:29

i don't think you can base class on profession really

expatinscotland · 31/08/2006 21:30

He works in a shop for a living, his parents work for a living, to me he is therefore working class.

Is this for real? The Duke of Northumberland works for his living - he works mad hours drumming up business and visitors to his estate to keep the roof up.

Is he working class then ?

99% of people in the world have to work to live. So by OP definition, everyone's working class.

PMSL.

moondog · 31/08/2006 21:30

Supermarkets are now staffed entirely by Polish anaesthetist and university students though (although admittedly they are all studing for M.Phils in friendship bracelet design)

PandaG · 31/08/2006 21:31

A friend's definition of m class is second hand clothes but new shoes

expatinscotland · 31/08/2006 21:31

'why does it matter?

I'm not british and this class thing comes up time and time again! '

Yes, hana, I agree.

UnquietDad · 31/08/2006 22:13

Caitlin? I know a very middle-class Caitlin.

A Kate-lynne or a Kateleyne or a Kaitelenne, on the other hand, would probably make it on to Trisha.

LittleSarah · 31/08/2006 22:16

I don't think it matters but I think it exists. I still like the expensive food, Ikea table middle-class analogy, new shoes, second clothes is good too!

Wordsmith · 31/08/2006 22:22

Hana, Expat, I am British and I can't understand it either.

By the way advertisers gave up using AB C1 type classifications years ago. Campaigns are generally more targeted by the area you live in (ie urban/suburban) and the price of your house.

Class is something that people use to establish their superiority over others, whether they see themselves as traditionally socially superior or as superiror because they are 'lower down'. It's all a pile of poo and should mean nothing to intelligent people who like to find out a bit about others before judging them.

UnquietDad · 31/08/2006 22:25

Ah, so they all use Acorn... Last time I looked my area up on that it was wonderfully inaccurate!

CountessDracula · 31/08/2006 23:15

yes moondog bifta = spliff

lots of students ski real el cheapo trips are all over the place

I just happened to have vg swiss mates with parents with vast chalet in Villars who didn't mind a billion stoned pissed students in it (weird, huh?)

moondog · 31/08/2006 23:33

Ah sorry,you did say...
New one on me...

notasheep · 01/09/2006 00:09

I have an AGA

Linnet · 01/09/2006 00:26

I love Southeastastra's post. By her definition of classes I spend half my day at work being middle class and sitting on my bum and the other half of the day being Working class and standing up, lol

Tortington · 01/09/2006 01:16

when the working class and upper classes despise you for being well... erm. ..middle.

no history and little class culture. the middle classes being born our of the industrial revolution as better educated but never the less still proletariat - just didnt realise it.

middle, middling.

yes apt.

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