The Middle-class - "Sorry, we're a bit useless!"

torontoboy45

at least we don't agonize over 'class' in the way previous generations did -they lived in a world that was wholly defined by 'class', and one which most of us wouldn't recognise.

***thank God for the 1960's****

I read the broadsheets. I drink too much beer. I play golf. I eff and blind when things go wrong. I go tothe theatre. I eat kebabs. I read social/political history. I watch eastenders. I listen to the archers. I shop at m and s. I shop at aldi's.

someone categorize me, for God's sake.

Conrad

Torontoboy, I know exac tly how you feel.

In the car I flick between Radio 4 and Unknown FM (deep dark dance station).
Some Fridays I'm a British beer monster on the town, the next I'm attending a talk on the future of Humanism.

I don't get social appartheid and pigeon holing.

moggylover

torontoboy45 wrote: »

at least we don't agonize over 'class' in the way previous generations did -they lived in a world that was wholly defined by 'class', and one which most of us wouldn't recognise.

***thank God for the 1960's****

I read the broadsheets. I drink too much beer. I play golf. I eff and blind when things go wrong. I go tothe theatre. I eat kebabs. I read social/political history. I watch eastenders. I listen to the archers. I shop at m and s. I shop at aldi's.

someone categorize me, for God's sake.

"Confused Class":D

I suspect this really comes from the fact that one has to go back slightly before the 60's to really understand where the class divides were back then. For instance, a bank MANAGER would have been fairly low on the middle class scale really and a teacher (unless a head of a very good or private school) would have been as well. The vast majority of white collar workers who these days consider themselves "middle class" now, would not have done so then (and indeed would have been laughed at had they tried;) ) and money could not make one "middle class" anymore than it made you "upper class".

"Professionals" meant middle class in those days, it meant people that joined professional bodies, not a shorthand typist nor even a secretary. Nowadays, anyone who does not work manually or has even a very basic skill set, appears to think of themselves as middle class and it has become more a test of the income level you have than the standards and morals one holds dear.

Personally,since I was born to a factory worker (albeit a skilled one) and a mum who worked in shops before my birth and schools once I was at school, I consider myself working class. Probably because in my era you were still looked down on for your roots regardless of how high up the professional ladder you climbed.:D

I expect I am going to get sneered at as one of those with "false pride" in my working class roots because I am one of those who has a degree (well 2 actually:o ) and has worked at a senior professional level. I don't see it like that at all, all I see is that if I have to go to work to earn my living then I am working class:D. Also, I'm afraid that I tend to agree with my (late) dad, that the middle class jumped-up attitude to their "status" in this life is one of the reasons that the extremely wealthy manage to keep f**cking it all up for all of us:D . Very little that I have read on MSE has changed this opinion I'm afraid, just as very little that I have experienced in my work has:D

Therefore, perhaps a better new class system could be: non-working (which would have to be split between those that choose not to work and those who genuinely are unable to work as to tar all with the same brush is unreasonable) working-class, and I really do not know what we could call the "upper class" now as those who have extreme wealth (but no REAL class;) ) would be well t'd off at the thought of being called "working class":D

Quite honestly I suppose the clearest deliniator these days is between educated and uneducated (and they don't always come from the backgrounds that one would expect:D ) or another one perhaps wealthy and non-wealthy.

This was mostly written tongue in cheek:D Personally, I abhor the idea of "class" in any real sense and certainly wouldn't choose my friends on that basis:D

lostinrates

Conrad wrote: »

Torontoboy, I know exac tly how you feel.

In the car I flick between Radio 4 and Unknown FM (deep dark dance station).
Some Fridays I'm a British beer monster on the town, the next I'm attending a talk on the future of Humanism.

I don't get social appartheid and pigeon holing.

me too.

part from the beer monster bit.

Mr_Matey

Brits are still quite obsessed with class it seems. It's interesting as although class exists in Aus, it's not nearly as distinct.

People will jokingly call someone a westy or bogan, but it doesn't have the same venom used for "Chavs".

Piggles12345

ukcarper wrote: »

It's easy to criticise the so call underclass but if you were unfortunate enough to be born into it would you get out of it. A lot of your future is determined by where you’re born.

Absolute Objectivism in action!! :T

Sir_Humphrey

The middle class would rather spend their time regurgitating the day's Daily Mail on internet forums.

We still have pugilist politicians - whatever his faults, Prescott knew how to 'engage' with voters (so long as they had a mullet haircut).

StevieJ

carolt wrote: »

Sorry OP - I do agree we're a weedy lot - but not that the answer lies in a "lurch to the right".

Of course, if things get bad enough, that may be what happens, but personally I see the National Front as the problem, not the solution.

Although I am not sure they exist now, try BNP

ninky_2

ok i've got a class identity crisis.

which class am i?

i went to a mixed comprehesive secondary and chose a technical college for 'a' levels and poly (upgraded to uni) for degree although i had the grades to go to sixth from and top end uni (i was a bit of a politico rebel in my youth).

my parents didn't complete a levels and didn't do a degree (dad did open university in later life). my sister also didn't complete a levels and didn't do a degree.

my dad was low wage when i was young and i had free school meals, but it was in publishing not manual labour. they were offered a council house but took a greater london authority mortgage instead.

my mum is an immigrant (from india), and was a housewife when i was young.

my OH is an immigrant who's parents were villagers but now his dad works as a school caretaker. he's a welder. he completed his secondary education but his brothers didn't. his mum is illiterate and his dad has no qualifications. they own a small amount of rice land enough to feed the immediate family.

i work in telly as a director.

am i middle class? anything else that would make it definite? (grandparents?)

Sir_Humphrey

StevieJ wrote: »

Although I am not sure they exist now, try BNP

The apparent reveal of Amulescent's political preferences should surprise no-one IMHO. No wonder that MSE seems to want this board shifted into obscurity.