I know it is probable a bizarre definition but how do you know if you are middle class or not. I thought I was working class like my parents but my friends say I am middle class since I went to uni and earn a good salary and have a mortgage. I tell them that i cant be middle class because I dont have any children and send them to private school amd I dont drink wine.
The question is only really a bit of fun but does anyone have a definition or a link to a site on the UK class system.
Skilled Manual (i.e. hand) workers - high grade e.g. Master Builders, Carpenters, Shop Assistants, Nurses.
Skilled Manual - low grade e.g. electricians, plumbers.
GROUP D -
Semi-Skilled Manual e.g. bus drivers, lorry drivers, fitters.
GROUP E -
Unskilled Manual e.g. general labourers, barmen, porters
By birth I'd say I was group B on my mothers side and C1 on my father's side, however, I've been to university, got myself a degree and now working as a professional so from a classification point of view, I am group A. However, taking it from where I live I am classed as a group B, C1 and C2 according to the
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website which gives the social classification based on your postcode and comparing the types of housing in the local vicinity.
Many of the old differences have gone, e.g. weekly vs monthly pay, posession of a bank account, university education, owned house vs. council house etc. However, I think a lot of the cultural differences are intact. Traditional middle class cultural values would be things like valuing education for its own sake (e.g. university subjects like history or classics rather than engineering), public service (being a magistrate, doing voluntary work, giving old clothes to Oxfam rather than doing stunts for Comic Relief), enjoying theatre and classical music, concealing your feelings under a layer of artificial politeness, living for tomorrow rather than today (e.g. saving rather than borrowing, mortgages aside) ... I think those things are still there to a large extent. I don't personally think that posting to uk.finance is an indication of being middle class (money is vulgar), but rec.arts.theatre.* or uk.media.radio.archers probably are ... likewise knowing (or indeed caring) who's on the Booker prize shortlist.
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