Are you middle class?

Pricariat and proud. hugs

I am sure I have said this before on these threads. I recognise 3 classes of people.

1. People who neither work nor want and contribute nothing to society e.g. petty crooks, benefits cheats, pimps, drug dealers, fraudsters. Thankfully this is a small class of people.

2. People who work if/when they can, make ends meet, stand on their own two feet, pay taxes due, save if they can for a rainy day and to help their children, claim only benefits to which the are entitled, are carers, contribute spare cash, time and energy to improving society for all. Thankfully this is a huge class of people containing all the decent folk, whether they are happy with their lot or constantly grumble but get on with it anyway and includes those who have 'fallen on hard times' and are currently struggling.

3. People who neither work nor want but are rich e.g. tax dodgers, successful crooks and fraudsters, 'celebs', and those with inherited wealth who hoard and protect that wealth while making little contribution to society in general. This appears to be a growing class of people.

There is an argument that classes 1 & 3 could be combined as they are fairly similar but I believe that class 3 is different from 1 in terms of the disproportionate power and influence that they wield.

I have just done the test, and from having thought of myself as probably upper middle class all my life, I have been defined as "Traditional Working class" which sits well with me as we have worked for our living... there was nothing for the retired, whose income is necessarily smaller.
I don't "do" class, just people whose lives are similar to mine, whose education is similar [but not compulsorily so] and in whose company I am happy to be in!

But grandMattie, are you not concerned about class when you say 'just people whose lives are similar to mine '

Born definitely working class, youngest of 5, and DM often wasn't sure, on Thursday, where Friday's dinner (midday meal) was coming from. Worked all my life, except for when the children were small, having received higher education. Comfortable in retirement, reasonably cultured. Would still prefer to be considered working class, though I agree it doesn't really matter.

I have just taken the test and as I said believe myself to be working class it now says I'm established middle class on the basis that I like the opera, ballet and theatre. this 'test' doesn't look at your values, aspirations, voluntary work nothing of any importance just money and who you socialise with. You can take the girl out of the East End but you cant take the East End out of the girl.

Think this is an interesting way to look at it - don't exactly hold with it but understand it!:

THE difference between the classes is in their relationship with society's institutions. The working classes do what the system sets out for them. The middle classes invent, operate and belong to the system. The upper classes tolerate the system but know the right people to speak to if they feel the need to bypass any part of it.
J Nieman in the Guardian

www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-1257,00.html

hmmmmm just trying to work out why I might care what class I am..... nope.... I don't care :-)

Interesting Notspagetti, I think it is correct

Fed up with all this inverted snobbery, what does it matter? I'm middle class and not going to apologise either.

Well, according to the test I am Established Middle Class. My mum is Precariat and that's pretty much descriptive of my background. I married a member of the EMC, put myself through university as a mature student and grafted like billie-oh. This has ensured that I have 'enough and to share'. I am a typical example of 'embourgeoisement'.

Well born into a working class family lived in a council house in a nice street.Got married in the sixties we lived in a succession of rented flats, got a council house where my children were young.Bought that house 23 years later (oh dear) sold it bought a lovely flat have no mortage and both retired what does that us then.Oh and both worked

After decades of feeling that I fitted in nowhere I've finally found that it doesn't matter and anyway I no longer care. What a relief!!

I have long thought that real 'class' is about how you carry yourself through life. There are some very affluent and therefore apparently 'elite' people who behave like pigs and some with nothing who know how to treat others with respect and kindness.

Apparently I'm Elite, but consider myself working class and proud of it. I worked for a living, therefore.....working class!

Well said imperfect,

Treat everybody the way you would like them to treat you,that's always been my motto.In the main it's worked for me.I generally get on with most people.BUT,there's the big but again.The class system is very much still there.Which is fine by me,(I know my place) It's the many many people who believe themselves middle class,even worse than that is the ones who pretend they are working class,but inwardly look down their noses at you.Like the ones who say," what does it matter" ye right.It matters alright.
Me,one of the few( I fear on this site) genuine working class,and very proud of it.We had a good traditional upbringing.I still think of my dear mother every day.

Am I middle class? Do I care?

Mamark, sending you a hug. I live in an area which has aristocracy , middle class and working class, I have friends in all groups but I am working class . What amuses me is a statement such as 'I was born working class but I went to university ' or I was born on a council estate but now I own my own house' for me the values one was brought up with are what matters . I was taught - you are better than no man and no man is better than you.

Is it my imagination that some contributors almost feel embarrassed to say that they are middle class ? What's wrong with being working class, middle class or the aristocracy - we are what we are, human beings from all walks of life.

No, it's not your imagination NanKate - it is not acceptable to be middle class, unless it has been thrust on you unawares. It is especially BAD if you were born working class and through a good education (perhaps going to Uni) managed to 'better yourself' ie get a good job, with a pension, take out a mortgage with a view to owning your own home, have hopes and aspirations for your children/grandchildren and own a dog which is not a Staffie.

It might be acceptable to be middle class if you've only just discovered that through an online test, but you must express surprise ( and possibly horror) and maintain that in truth you are of good working-class stock and indeed maintain links only with working class friends (thus proving you're not 'posh' or a 'snob')

If you can lay claim to a pair of clogs, a flat cap and a whippet then you can redeem yourself

This whole thread is a load of cobblers!

Anya, so you sum up working class people as clogg, cloth cap wearing, staffing owning people who have no hopes and aspirations for their children, do not own their own home, do not get as far as university, are you a relative of Alan Duncan ?

Interestingly (to me) I did the test again just substituting one answer on income to a higher band and I have been re labelled as established middleclass from traditional working class . This would indicate that the test IS a load of cobblers or do people in retirement become classless as well as invisible .