New British Class System

We've just done it and nothing changed!

Came out as technical middle class (probably due to pathetic social life) . Sons came out as precariat. This research was done on 160,000 BBC audience volunteers. I think an awful lot of young people belong in the bottom category as they have no capital and if they have young families may have limited social and cultural lives and have not got on the housing ladder or have any savings.

The class system in Britain has always been much more nuanced than simply upper, middle and lower. The middle was – and, for those who care, probably still is – divided into upper middle, middle middle and lower middle. The upper classes have always regarded "old money" as socially superior to "new". Nouveau riche, of course, is different again. Money, however, was never the main criterion for how the British class system worked and people can be upper class or aristocratic and stony broke at the same time. Trade is another issue – George Osborne, for example, will never be fully accepted by the traditional upper classes because his money comes from wallpaper and paint. Class in Britain is an esoteric business and there are all sorts of subtle differences between Scotland and England.

Incidentally, observing that there is still a top and a bottom class doesn't require a PhD in sociology.

Who cares what anyone's class is. I certainly don't.

I recently did one of those odd surveys that the BBC runs. I think it was on attitudes to money. After ticking boxes for age, gender, income and profession, which is more than enough demographic information for such a survey, up popped a question about what class I considered myself to be.

There were about nine categories running from unskilled working class to aristocracy. Apart from not having a clue where I came in this detailed analysis I thought the question was so stupid, so, as an answer was required to progress with the questionnaire, I clicked 'unskilled working class' A stupid question demands a stupid answer.

I came out as Elite but I would say there is a lot of difference between me who lives in a £500k house and people who live in houses which are £3,000,000 2 miles away.

Frank

Do you count Strictly as watching dance? Is gardening an arts and crafts? What if you like the gardens of stately homes but have to be dragged kicking and screaming round the interiors? Do you listen to classical music if you like a very quick bit of radio 3 with your bath?

It matters. It seems. It can make a huge difference in fact.

The whole thing is rubbish. And makes me ask, why did they bother?

A friend of mine has just tried to work out what class he is in.
At present he falls in to Traditional Working Class.
He is widowed and his wife's occupational pension kicks in in November which will make him Elite.

I think the class system is crazy.

Frank

Exactly Frank.

I think our growing lack of opportunity and social mobility is of tremendous concern for the future. There is a steadily growing rift between rich and poor, old industrial areas and urban areas. This article is quite interesting:

www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/may/22/social-mobility-data-charts

Who on earth is interested I certainly am not,as long as we are financially secure which we are enjoy our live's which we do then I'm a happy person thank you very much.

I came out as ELITE, but I told a few fibs.

It is said that 75% of all statistics are "made up" one way or another.

Techncal middle class. The description fits me to a tee.
#takenwithapinch of salt.

And my father was Technical middle class at the end of his life.
He lived in a £500k house which was jointly owned by myself and him but had less than 10k in savings because he had enjoyed his retirement and was still doing that.
I subsidised him towards the end of his life so he could enjoy a standard of living as close as possible to mine ( private health insurance etc ).
I did not however give him any capital in case he had to go in to care.
Again I don't think the class system reflected his position in society.

Frank

This – socio-economic class business – is not new. I remember my father talking about it and he's been dead for twenty years.

I asked 'who cares'. I am amazed by how many people on Gransnet clearly do.

According to this, I'm a New Affluent Worker.
....I really don't think so! They've got this table wrong, I think!

I would have been Elite when I was just relying on my own pension so it makes no difference as to class.
I could have increased my income by taking my widows pension early when I was retired early.
I chose to leave it and took it when my wife would have been 60 the normal pension start date.
Obviously knowing you will get a few thousand £'s extra in say 2 years time makes a difference as you know you could use some of your savings now in anticipation of the future income.

Frank

I'm apparently new, affluent and a worker too, Marelli. I don't think I fit any of those

Flickety why is it stupid to click on 'unskilled working class'? Many people would come into that category.

I came out as Establed Middle which I find bloody insulting.

Why is that insulting, petallus?

Working class and proud!

I don't want to be middle class, that's for sure. I don't see why I should have to be, just because I managed to drag myself up by my bootstraps.

But it's only a stupid label. You don't have to believe in any of that bullshit or to accept that it is 'true'. Why feel insulted about something so silly? You could just laugh at it.

Class still informs much of British society. Look at the government front bench. Who you know rather what you know can still make a huge practical difference to people's lives – for example, think of the insidious growth of internships in this country. Lots of people, including many who are very influential, still think in terms of "people like us" even if they don't use those precise words. Many people feel that they validate their own social standing by looking down on others – not just Nancy Mitford's aristocrats casting a glance askance at fish knives and doilies, but also skilled workers looking down on unskilled workers and the attitude of high-powered professionals and business people to the "shop floor" workers, such as nurses, teachers and clerical workers. (Not all, of course.)

If you have some sort of grasp of how the class system works, you can play it to your advantage. You can also comprehensively undermine snobbery – which is great fun when you're bored.

Crickey Absent! Validate your own social position by looking down on others?! That's a sad thought. I don't think do that.

I think where you've come from rather than where you are now, makes the person what they are. And, to a large extent, extent, I think class is an inborn thing.

Must get off here now. Got two grandkids to drag round a stately home. #godhelpthestatelyhome