UK 'now has seven social classes'
Apr 3rd 2013, 8:24 am
#16
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Apr 3rd 2013, 8:46 am
#17
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Re: UK 'now has seven social classes'
Elite apparently.
Class used to be defined by your social circle and or family, for example some of the aristocracy are poor as church mice but would still be classed as upper class. Now this seems to be entirely weighted on how much you earn. With social Standing and cultural activities being largely secondary. So now a middle class person with a wide range of cultural interests and friends who no longer has an income or savings / house moves down through the classes.
I would be interested to know what the movements within these classifications have been if we apply them historically. i.e. how many middle class people have become precariats since the economy went to shizzle, and more noteably how many people have become upwardly mobile? I think that might be quite telling.
Class used to be defined by your social circle and or family, for example some of the aristocracy are poor as church mice but would still be classed as upper class. Now this seems to be entirely weighted on how much you earn. With social Standing and cultural activities being largely secondary. So now a middle class person with a wide range of cultural interests and friends who no longer has an income or savings / house moves down through the classes.
I would be interested to know what the movements within these classifications have been if we apply them historically. i.e. how many middle class people have become precariats since the economy went to shizzle, and more noteably how many people have become upwardly mobile? I think that might be quite telling.
Apr 3rd 2013, 8:51 am
#18
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Re: UK 'now has seven social classes'
There is a much longer survey if anyone can be bothered to take it.
https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/class/
https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/class/
Apr 3rd 2013, 9:01 am
#19
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Re: UK 'now has seven social classes'
Elite too, its bollocks. I ticked rented house, less that 10k savings and I even know a lorry driver...........(though I wouldn't socialise with the peasant)
Apr 3rd 2013, 9:54 am
#20
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Re: UK 'now has seven social classes'
Im not going to even open the link because i know im working class and im damn proud of it.
Apr 3rd 2013, 9:59 am
#21
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Re: UK 'now has seven social classes'
I've nothing against any 'class' and it does not bother me which one I am perceived as fitting into, but why would you be proud of being in any particular class?
Apr 3rd 2013, 10:06 am
#22
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Re: UK 'now has seven social classes'
Interesting comment...I'm sure if I made the comment that I was middle/upper class and proud, the comments would be quite derogatory.
I've nothing against any 'class' and it does not bother me which one I am perceived as fitting into, but why would you be proud of being in any particular class?
I've nothing against any 'class' and it does not bother me which one I am perceived as fitting into, but why would you be proud of being in any particular class?
I'm definitely from a middle class background, but it's kind of stupid because I was brought up with a single mum, parents split when they went bankrupt, went to a comprehensive when we couldn't afford private school anymore and didn't go to uni.
Doesn't sound so middle class, but I can tell a different story to make it sound very different.
The key thing is, before they split and the business went pop, Mummy and Daddy Scamp were very well off and well to do. Mummy never lost that attitude, even when we had very little she maintained absolute decorum and we sailed through as if we were much better than we technically were, now she's back to classic middle class financial status, she's like a pig in shit.
Apr 3rd 2013, 10:29 am
#23
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Re: UK 'now has seven social classes'
Possibly, but I think it's how you hold and use your cutlery that matters most. Fish knives are a horrid petit bourgeois pretention too.
Of course, in this matter most Americans will fail miserably. I never cease to be amazed at how awkwardly many of them eat.
I should really to be commenting in the class thread on these issues.
Of course, in this matter most Americans will fail miserably. I never cease to be amazed at how awkwardly many of them eat.
I should really to be commenting in the class thread on these issues.
I hold my cutlery properly, I know that for sure. I definitely always hold both too. That was a stern look as first warning for a failure to comply.
Apr 3rd 2013, 10:33 am
#24
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Re: UK 'now has seven social classes'
Apr 3rd 2013, 10:48 am
#26
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Re: UK 'now has seven social classes'
Who cares eh? You are what you are...
I'm definitely from a middle class background, but it's kind of stupid because I was brought up with a single mum, parents split when they went bankrupt, went to a comprehensive when we couldn't afford private school anymore and didn't go to uni.
Doesn't sound so middle class, but I can tell a different story to make it sound very different.
I'm definitely from a middle class background, but it's kind of stupid because I was brought up with a single mum, parents split when they went bankrupt, went to a comprehensive when we couldn't afford private school anymore and didn't go to uni.
Doesn't sound so middle class, but I can tell a different story to make it sound very different.
Apr 3rd 2013, 11:06 am
#27
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Re: UK 'now has seven social classes'
Apr 3rd 2013, 11:18 am
#28
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Re: UK 'now has seven social classes'
There's no such thing as social class in Britain today, if we're using the old definitions of class. The dynamics of the modern economy and political system is fundamentally different from the previous landed, mercantilist and capitalist economic and political models that not only underpinned the old class systems but also provided a legitimate justification for it.
This obsession with class has traditionally been a British characteristic but is one that is thankfully dying out and we're probably in the last stages of it. Class loyalty and notions of classism is probably strongest among sectors of the old working classes because they see themselves being left behind in the continuing evolution of the modern British state - seemingly abandoned by the more affluent (including former working class people who've become more economically successful) and the leadership of the Labour Party who are now more closely aligned with the interest of a new breed of liberal, progressive urban voters.
But for most people we merely identify with socio-economic cultural groups rather than a 'class'. The political, social and cultural influences of each group over other groups is minimal.
That's all there is to it.
This obsession with class has traditionally been a British characteristic but is one that is thankfully dying out and we're probably in the last stages of it. Class loyalty and notions of classism is probably strongest among sectors of the old working classes because they see themselves being left behind in the continuing evolution of the modern British state - seemingly abandoned by the more affluent (including former working class people who've become more economically successful) and the leadership of the Labour Party who are now more closely aligned with the interest of a new breed of liberal, progressive urban voters.
But for most people we merely identify with socio-economic cultural groups rather than a 'class'. The political, social and cultural influences of each group over other groups is minimal.
That's all there is to it.
Apr 3rd 2013, 11:35 am
#30
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Re: UK 'now has seven social classes'
There's no such thing as social class in Britain today, if we're using the old definitions of class. The dynamics of the modern economy and political system is fundamentally different from the previous landed, mercantilist and capitalist economic and political models that not only underpinned the old class systems but also provided a legitimate justification for it.
This obsession with class has traditionally been a British characteristic but is one that is thankfully dying out and we're probably in the last stages of it. Class loyalty and notions of classism is probably strongest among sectors of the old working classes because they see themselves being left behind in the continuing evolution of the modern British state - seemingly abandoned by the more affluent (including former working class people who've become more economically successful) and the leadership of the Labour Party who are now more closely aligned with the interest of a new breed of liberal, progressive urban voters.
But for most people we merely identify with socio-economic cultural groups rather than a 'class'. The political, social and cultural influences of each group over other groups is minimal.
That's all there is to it.
This obsession with class has traditionally been a British characteristic but is one that is thankfully dying out and we're probably in the last stages of it. Class loyalty and notions of classism is probably strongest among sectors of the old working classes because they see themselves being left behind in the continuing evolution of the modern British state - seemingly abandoned by the more affluent (including former working class people who've become more economically successful) and the leadership of the Labour Party who are now more closely aligned with the interest of a new breed of liberal, progressive urban voters.
But for most people we merely identify with socio-economic cultural groups rather than a 'class'. The political, social and cultural influences of each group over other groups is minimal.
That's all there is to it.
