What class are you?

It is interesting and I think things have changed significantly. There are a few obvious questions.

Do you stay in the class band you are borne into?

If your parents' outlook improves / worsens as you grow up, does you class change accordingly?

When you leave home and start work, if your job prospects improve through promotions etc do you climb a class ladder?

If you inherit wealth or win the lottery and give up work has your class changed?

If you lose your job late on in working life, never recover and turn to benefits, possibly lose your home, have you become a member of the underclass?

If you do well in business what class are you? What class would Alan Sugar be for example?

If it is important to have a class system, there should be some way of measuring where you start and where you end up. Personally, I've managed to tread water.

This is all a bit oxymoronic .... In that a good proportion of the "Working Class" don't have a job ..... And pretty much all of the "Middle Class" do. And what is the "Underclass" all about? Does it mean they have no class? "Upper Middle" is almost a contradiction in terms .... as is "Lower Middle".
Having said all that it also depends on whether you classify yourself as to where you came from, the heights you rose to, or where you are now.
I started life in a working family living in a virtual slum with no bathroom and a loo at the bottom of the yard. But I won a place at a Grammar School eventually got a Masters Degree and worked my !!!! off to eventually become a Regional Manager in the NHS. Now in retirement I sit on a variety of National Committees .... But my income has dropped back to not far off the average wage.
I do own a nice 300 year old cottage in a hilltop village in the Ribble Valley two cars and most of the material possessions most people might ever want. The only thing I don't have much of is good health.

So I suppose I started off as Working Class ...... but even with an income reduced in retirement I guess most people would place me as Middle Class.

It's all a bit too subjective really!

:think:

stevemcol wrote: »

That's like saying a tory voter can never hold a trades union membership or a labour clause 4 supporter could never travel on a privatised railway.

No it isn't. Union membership is for the benefit of the workers, regardless of their political views, and it would be pretty difficult for anyone to travel on a railway which isn't privatised, since there aren't any.

Sending your children to an independent school is an active choice. Essentially you are saying I can afford the best for my children, sod the rest of you. It is the antithesis of socialism.

Class nowadays seems to be about how much money you have, be it inherited/earned or borrowed. However, I consider your views and actions to define your class.

I consider vulgar consumption of huge newly built £m's american style mansion type residence with 3 gas guzzling range rover sports on the driveway to be underclass or non class. This is usually people who have acquired huge wealth and do nothing with it than satisfy their egos. None of the money gets put to good use helping the community or your family.

Class is generally defined by interest and views.

Working class:
Hobbies are generally sports, mainly football, going to be pub, working club, bookies. Holidays taken are either local seaside resorts such as Blackpool or package euro sun holidays such as Benidorm, with little cultural interaction when on holiday. Newspapers read will be daily mail, sun, mirror or star. Political views either far right or Labour dependent on background. Most will have a sky/virgin account and have many expensive gadgets. working class can be very wealthy or very poor.

Middle class is generally an aspiring class and ironically is heavily influenced by fashion and trends, despite many middle class people pretending to be the exact opposite. An example is many middle class people are fashionably doing the austerity thing, not through necessity but because it is seen as the thing to do. Middle class lifestyle is assisted by, not not dependent on a reasonably high income. holidaying will be off the beaten track holidays, such as safari in Africa, treking in Peru, mountain biking in the lakes as budget allows. All will be highly cultural, ie immersing oneself in the local culture. Papers read will be the Times, Telegraph, Guardian and Independent. Political views will be centre left or centre right and green party dependent on background but political allegiance will be closely guarded except green party. Hobbies are food, wine, travel, gardening, opera/theatre. Radio will be R4 or classic FM. House will generally be Victorian/Georgian/1930s in a good neigbourhood with access to good state or independant schools. Car choice very important, not too flash but with just the right image, posh estate cars feature highly, but best to be 5-10 years old so as not to seem too expensive. Alternatively a toyota prius for the greens. Typical job white collar, eg banker, doctor, solicitor, engineer. Many business start ups to service the middle class, such as fancy coffee shops.

Upper class is inherited wealth or people from that background. Whether they actually have money or not is irrelevant. Upper class strongly believe in social superiority. Upper class don't care about image and enjoy having unpopular hobbies, such as fox hunting. All will aspire to a country pile, sending children to public school and partying with royal/nobility. I have met many upper class living on council estates.
Holidays will be south of france, scotland etc, and will want to indulge in upper class culture only.
Cars can be anything from 30 year old landrover to aston martin or Bentley. Upper class do not work in convectional sense, ie are financially independent based on inheritance or rental income from inherited property/land or manage an estate. wannabe upper class work for the upper classes but hold the same views.

Ultimately class classifications are ridiculous as is my descriptions of them above!!