What social class am i? :/

[user1499695642]

This is something that really bothers me. I feel like i'm slipping and not following my parents' example.

I wish class didn't but I've been made to feel out of place before. What social class would you guys say I 'fit into'? I know it's shallow to ask, please don't judge me for asking. I'd just like to know what you guys think based on some info.

Age: 23
Ethnicity: Mixed race
Occupation: Graduate officer in local government
Salary: £20K
Live: With parents in (owned) 4 bed detached house in home counties (average price in village - £1.5m)
Parents: Civil Service Director/Housewife - just one went to (Russell Group) Uni
Education: Non-selective, comprehensive academy then Oxbridge (2.1 (2015))
Accent: More standard south-eastern than 'posh' (e.g. Joanna Lumley)
Hobbies: Museums, art galleries, theatre, TV
Social: I only made a couple friends at uni so my social group is very small. I only know 1 or 2 people in influential/ 'elite' professions

Am I middle class or does the following make me working class?:
Non-private/grammar education
Low salary/career sector
Non-house ownership
Social group
Accent

Does my parent's social class affect mine a lot or not so much?

Again, please don't judge me for asking. I'm genuinely just curious to know what others might think.

You are middle class. Your education and occupation as well as your home environment make you so. State education isn't an indicator or less than 10% of society would be middle and upper class.
How old are you?

What did your grandparents do in life? And your Great-grandparents?

And how is this linked to relationships?

Very working class

And what meals do you eat throughout the day?
Do your parents have, and use fish knives at home?

There is a fantastic book called 'watching the English, which is written by an anthropologist and explains a lot of class indicators (e.g whether you eat tea/dinner/supper, sit on a sofa/settee in your lounge/living room/front room, your views on garden gnomes, etc)

I'm not British but have lived here for years and it is the only thing that has successfully explained the class differences to me. not that I think social class is a big deal

Social classes are in the past.

Middle class

But why are you bothered?

If you went to Oxbridge, you must have socialised with a wide range of people...

Watching the English is a very funny book, well worth reading, I agree.
Wonderfully written, and not heavy going at all.

Sorry I'm new and didn't quite know where this sort of post would fit! It's obv unusual. Is it more lifestyle?

I'm 23

Not judging but why are you so interested? No class has the monopoly on happiness or being interesting etc etc. I think you might be happier if you made more friends and socialised more but that will not be easy if you give the impression that you are obsessed with what class people are.

You're middle class

Fish knifes Lol we have fish knifes but who seriously uses them these days?! That sort of formality takes me back to uni

Welcome to Mumsnet!

Ah, now, only lmc (lower middle class) would have or use fish knives.
Umc and upper class wouldn't, upper wouldn't because their silverware has been passed down for generations, from long before fish knives were invented. And UMC wouldn't, to emulate the UC.
it's a minefield!

I've asked myself the same.

My parents came from working class families in a northern mill town, didn't go to uni or do very well at school.

However my dad struck lucky in a growing industry and managed to become fairly well paid, So I grew up in relative affluence in a nice detached house - probably would have gone to private school had we not had a good state grammar nearby.

But now I'm in my late twenties, have an entry level grad job paying in mid-twenties, renting a one bed flat, no assets, if I were to lose my job I could survive maybe a month on savings?

So I have no idea what I am. Perhaps the 'milennial' generation are something different altogether - we can be working in typically middle class professions but still have zero wealth or financial stability.

Your parents are middle class. You, based on your salary and job are working class. Not that any of this is remotely relevant in 2017.

It's not unusual at all, OP. There are lots of threads on Mn on social class, class markers, shibboleths like what you say if you don't hear what someone has just said to you. Are you saying you feel as though you're slipping down the class ladder? Or that Oxbridge made you feel a misfit?

You sound middle-middle to me. But then I am a prole who went to Oxford.

The Queen doesn't use fish knives. They're déclassé. You're lower middle class FWIW.

Do you own a salad bowl?

What do you call the meal you eat in the evening and at what time is it consumed?

Napkin or serviette?

I'm laughing at the idea that you would consider yourself working class.

No, you're not.

Swap your graduate job with prospects for minimum wage in a a warehouse, and you might be.

A civil service director father and a housewife mum? Nope - not seeing a working class background there.

Your reasons for asking are more important than any definition - but you really are not remotely what I think is generally understood by working class.

Dear Categoric

I'm not obsessed with class but I'm interested in it (I read Anthropology at Uni). I found I was often made to feel out of place at uni and have been at social events thereafter.

I found your last statement judgemental and mean. Thanks for the advice I make more friends. I have friends thank you (it's about quality, not quantity?). I'm not obsessed with class and it forms no part in my forming friendships.

Definitely middle class.

Job and salary have very little bearing on class (Coutts bankers, auctioneers, and art historians aside...)

Love the suggestion that Joanna Lumley's accent isn't posh

The traditional classes don't apply to the U.K. these days, but you certainly wouldn't have been considered working class.

To be fair - who cares ?

I have no idea what class I am.. and I come from a mixed bag. Some would say working class (parents originally from a poor inner London borough - who did good - own very nice house and retired in their 40's) and I had a child at 16 and rent .. But have two degrees, earn way above the national average and am considered to be in a professional role.

I'm proud of where I came from.