[kaneboy]

(Original post by zara55)
I don't think that's at all accurate and it isn't how most people would see it. Most people would see "middle class" as meaning people who mainly do white-collar jobs and who have a degree or similar (doesn't have to be both parents) and who are distinguished from the working class by things like cultural and behavioural issues. Most people's definition of the "upper-middle" is what you call the "middle" - professional people like doctors, lawyers, professors, etc. Earnings have little to do with it.

The people rich in assets you describe like the owners of large companies are actually upper-class even though many people are confused on this point. Richard Branson for example is NOT upper-middle-class.

My mum is a doctor and my dad a businessman, both with postgraduate degrees. I am middle-class. Not upper middle-class. But that's just my take on it. But I do agree with you on the part about their 'culture and behavioural issues'.

On your next point. Richard Branson isn't exactly the owner of just a 'large company', is he? He's one of the richest men to have ever lived, and owns dozens of 'large companies'. Pretty bad example.

[zara55]

(Original post by kaneboy)
My mum is a doctor and my dad a businessman, both with postgraduate degrees. I am middle-class. Not upper middle-class. But that's just my take on it. But I do agree with you on the part about their 'culture and behavioural issues'.

On your next point. Richard Branson isn't exactly the owner of just a 'large company', is he? He's one of the richest men to have ever lived, and owns dozens of 'large companies'. Pretty bad example.

What makes you feel that you're not upper-middle out of interest? I would suggest that people bought up in a household where a parent is a doctor are going to be upper-middle, but maybe there are factors in your case that make you feel otherwise?

Perhaps Branson is an extreme example, but I was thinking of people like the board directors of large companies for example. I think I mentioned that the Sales Director of a household-name PLC would be in a different class to the sales manager of a medium-sized company.

[zara55]

(Original post by Smack)
Why the hell are you so interested in this social class nonsense? You have over four times as many posts in this thread as the next highest poster and seem to take great delight in telling people what class they "belong" to.

Just an interest really, curiosity about people and how we all fit in. A friend of mine shares my sociological interest and we play a game where we try to identify people we see in the street or a shop, guess their occupation and social class. Then we question them to see if we are right - pretty often we get it right, so must have some skills in this area.

[Fires]

(Original post by madders94)
I don't like the class system but I'm not going to deny it exists (if only in the minds of the upper and middle class who like to use it because it makes them feel superior or whatever), and by that I and my immediate family are "underclass" - parents can't work, I'm at college and haven't been able to get a job. I disagree that by going to uni I will immediately become middle class because I'm only able to go thanks to the high amount of loans and grants I'll get; my parents obviously can't give me any money and I wouldn't want them to. It's nigh on impossible to get a job round here at the moment and my parents are too ill to work/mom is my dad's full time carer so we can't be considered working class either, so yeah, I guess we're the "underclass". Too low for a class? Awesome

Class matters more I think when you're poor or in the working class - it's useful to look at how the system is organised to use the labour of the working class when needed, then to dump us in different ways and treat us as expendable. Maybe you don't feel like you're working class because of the "working" bit, but there are a bazillion working-class people who are thrown out of work or can't get jobs in the recessions fabricated by the capitalists to enrich themselves still further, as in this one, which was implemented by some hedge funds and banks to exploit ordinary people.

[DeathByBSOD]

In between this class and this class.

[BeccaAnne94]

I think my family are currently middle class, although when my Dad was growing up he would have been lower middle class (1 of 9 siblings, left home at 16 but now doing well )

[brooked93]

I find it interesting how 41 people consider themselves royalty.

[Thomas2]

(Original post by brooked93)
I find it interesting how 41 people consider themselves royalty.

I supposed it depends how you define royalty. Does being descended from a Maori chief count?

[zara55]

(Original post by Thomas2)
I supposed it depends how you define royalty. Does being descended from a Maori chief count?

All nationalities are welcome here. You might be Upper Class, do you feel Upper?

[Thomas2]

(Original post by zara55)
All nationalities are welcome here. You might be Upper Class, do you feel Upper?

Well, they don't really have a class system in NZ. But I've also got Norman blood...

[Smack]

(Original post by zara55)
Just an interest really, curiosity about people and how we all fit in. A friend of mine shares my sociological interest and we play a game where we try to identify people we see in the street or a shop, guess their occupation and social class. Then we question them to see if we are right - pretty often we get it right, so must have some skills in this area.

Wow...

Why are you so interested in the artificial divisions in society though? What happens if the people you ask don't believe in social class?

I must admit if someone was to come up to me in the street and and be all inquisitive about my occupation and social class I'd be strongly tempted to perform acts of violence on them.

[zara55]

(Original post by Smack)
Wow...

Why are you so interested in the artificial divisions in society though? What happens if the people you ask don't believe in social class?

I must admit if someone was to come up to me in the street and and be all inquisitive about my occupation and social class I'd be strongly tempted to perform acts of violence on them.

Well it's all about how you do it - we don't do it that way. It's called charm, tact and skill.

[Smack]

(Original post by zara55)
Well it's all about how you do it - we don't do it that way. It's called charm, tact and skill.

And what do you do if the people you ask don't believe in social class?

[Lord Jon]

(Original post by kristinaalovesu)
Royalty!
Attachment 147014

All hail Queen of Sacramento

[Spaz Man]

Lower-middle.

[Lord Jon]

Lower Middle Class

[zara55]

(Original post by Smack)
And what do you do if the people you ask don't believe in social class?

Ha, we don't just saunter up to people and jab a finger at them and demand "what social class are you exactly?" One asks clever questions posing as charming smalltalk that extract snippets of data that can only possibly class-score them without them even noticing.

Seriously, a lot of people in this country are fascinated by Class, I think it's a number one topic along with sex really and a lot of questions at Uni are basically hinting at class, those little probes about what your family are like, where you were brought up, what school you went to, where you holiday, what your parents drive, what you drive, etc, etc.

[Smack]

(Original post by zara55)
Seriously, a lot of people in this country are fascinated by Class, I think it's a number one topic along with sex really and a lot of questions at Uni are basically hinting at class, those little probes about what your family are like, where you were brought up, what school you went to, where you holiday, what your parents drive, what you drive, etc, etc.

I literally have never been asked anything like that...

[kristinaalovesu]

(Original post by Agent Smirnoff)
All hail Queen of Sacramento

Its you! Where you been all my life!

[paperclip]

(Original post by zara55)
Ha, we don't just saunter up to people and jab a finger at them and demand "what social class are you exactly?" One asks clever questions posing as charming smalltalk that extract snippets of data that can only possibly class-score them without them even noticing.

Seriously, a lot of people in this country are fascinated by Class, I think it's a number one topic along with sex really and a lot of questions at Uni are basically hinting at class, those little probes about what your family are like, where you were brought up, what school you went to, where you holiday, what your parents drive, what you drive, etc, etc.

Whilst "a lot of questions at at Uni are basically hinting at class" is true, they don't do it with random questions like what you drive, equal opportunities questionnaires tend to try to make meaningful associations rather than random ones like what your parents drive. For example, a rather typical one to test whether someone is working class is to ask whether their parents attended university, whilst this doesn't provide a catch all measure, it makes more sense than a bored sociologist assessing where you went on holiday and the car you drive to determine your class. This gives you more information than the car that someone drives, and is typically based on research. Alternatively, questionnaires typically uses whether a child was a recipient of free school meals to establish underclass.

Going up to people and trying to find out if their occupation/class matches your sterotypes isn't social research, it's just rude and nosy. If you were really interested, you could actually do some meaningful reading into it. For example, despite the NS-SEC trying to fit everyone into neat groups, many researchers argue that many typically middle-class have become routine and in effect similar to unskilled manual labour. What do you intend to prove/show from going up to people and establishing their class? Questionnaires don't try to establish what class someone is in so they can impose values/judgements of the person, but they try to establish a meaningful relationship. For example, if i were to be looking at ethnicity and it's relationship to educational outcomes, i might ask if individuals parents helped them read as a child, or ask about other involvement in basic academic development (which research i have done suggests may play a role).

I'm only making this post because you say you find class fascinating, but seem to have quite a superficial view of it. Social research isn't about standing outside tesco and seeing whether an unshaven bloke with long hair is working class because you sterotype him that way. Actually, most people would point out that Richard Branson looks working class but is far from it. Do some research, but give ethics a thought and use basic research skills, so have a hypothesis or research question guiding you. If you're really interested, pick up some books on class - it's a fascinating subject, and if you're interested in research use some basic research methods textbooks.