What does it mean to be middle class?

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.

Reply to
Jacob Rosse
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Do you like Dire Straits and think "Brothers in Arms" is one of the best albums ever made?

Did you have a BBC micro when you were at school when all the other kids had C64s and Spectrums?

Do you own a tuxedo which you have worn more than once?

If you answer yes to at least 2 of the above then you are soooooo middle class ;-)

Cubik.

Reply to
Cubik

What's C2?

Reply to
Peter Saxton

If, in marketing terms, you are A or B you are middle class. E, D, and C1 are working class.

Reply to
robert

Just get worried when they class you as C4 , that when things start to get very explosive.

C5 really is some way down the ranks , even a Robin owner is higher than that.

Reply to
Paul

By occupation, you can usually allocate the groups as follows:

GROUP A - Professional Workers (lawyers, doctors etc.), Scientists, Managers of large scale organisations.

GROUP B -

Shopkeepers, Farmers, Teachers, White-Collar workers.

GROUP C -

  1. Skilled Manual (i.e. hand) workers - high grade e.g. Master Builders, Carpenters, Shop Assistants, Nurses.

  1. 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.

Reply to
Dudley

In message , Jacob Rosse writes

I know it was a joke but anyone who defines themselves or others as being part of a 'class' worries me.

Reply to
john boyle

Participating in this newsgroup is probably as good an indicator as any !

Daytona

Reply to
Daytona

That suits me. I participate in this newsgroup so am I middle class or not?

Reply to
Peter Saxton

Rats! Of Course! I'd forgotten that!

Reply to
john boyle

Having only two categories is ridiculous. The ABC1C2DE only relates to employment. If you want to consider activities as well then it gets very silly.

Reply to
Peter Saxton

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.

Reply to
Stephen Burke

But not, of course, by working for it (being a professional not counting as work, that's public service).

Anyone who's middle class, obviously :)

Reply to
Stephen Burke

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