What social 'class' am I?
Discuss issues that have a social and cultural impact, including but not limited to issues such as racism, teenage pregnancies, the social impact of religion, and the state of the education system.
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Re: What social 'class' am I?Wiki says this of lower middle: 'The British lower middle class primarily consists of white collar workers and their families living in less affluent suburbs. They are typically employed in white-collar but relatively unskilled service industry jobs such as retail sales, rail ticket agents, railway guards, airline stewardesses and ticket agents, travel agents, hotel clerks, shipping clerks, factory and other industrial building owners and low level civil service jobs in local and regional government. Prior to the expansion in higher education from the 1960s onwards, members of this class generally did not have a university education.'(Original post by Tahooper)
Other than voting for Labour *shudders* I'd say you're fairly middle class (probably slightly leaning towards lower-middle class).
Based on that I would say lower middle isn't really accurate. Also, there are labour voters of all classes, same goes for conservative, they're six of one and half a dozen of the other anyway, in my opinion
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Re: What social 'class' am I?I don't think you find many poor ethnic-minority immigrants voting for the Tories(Original post by abc:))
Wiki says this of lower middle: 'The British lower middle class primarily consists of white collar workers and their families living in less affluent suburbs. They are typically employed in white-collar but relatively unskilled service industry jobs such as retail sales, rail ticket agents, railway guards, airline stewardesses and ticket agents, travel agents, hotel clerks, shipping clerks, factory and other industrial building owners and low level civil service jobs in local and regional government. Prior to the expansion in higher education from the 1960s onwards, members of this class generally did not have a university education.'
Based on that I would say lower middle isn't really accurate. Also, there are labour voters of all classes, same goes for conservative, they're six of one and half a dozen of the other anyway, in my opinion
or rich white upperclassmen voting for Labour (unless they're champagne socialists) -
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Re: What social 'class' am I?I come from a working class background and I will be the first member of my family to go to university. I suppose I want a 'upper class' job as a doctor, but I think it will be funny for someone to take me seriously on a ward with my broad Yorkshire accent. 'Al right luv, how ya doin today? Dya want us t'remove t'drip t'nurse put in t'arm?'.
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Re: What social 'class' am I?Well that's a pretty bad way of determining social class.(Original post by ollie96)
Determining social class is easily identified by the size of your tv...
0-13" = Underclass
14"-42" = Working Class
43"-52" = Middle Class
53"+ = You have a relation to the queen
I have a 19" in my room and a 37" in the living room - I'm middle class. -
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Re: What social 'class' am I?You mean upper-middle class, right?(Original post by allthelove)
I come from a working class background and I will be the first member of my family to go to university. I suppose I want a 'upper class' job as a doctor, but I think it will be funny for someone to take me seriously on a ward with my broad Yorkshire accent. 'Al right luv, how ya doin today? Dya want us t'remove t'drip t'nurse put in t'arm?'.
The upper class do not typically work, per se. -
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Re: What social 'class' am I?Haha I would actually think it's the other way round i.e. bigger tv = lower social class(Original post by ollie96)
Determining social class is easily identified by the size of your tv...
0-13" = Underclass
14"-42" = Working Class
43"-52" = Middle Class
53"+ = You have a relation to the queen
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Re: What social 'class' am I?Most owning class people work now, they are pretend jobs like running an art gallery or pretend businesses, or even real big or small concerns.(Original post by Aspiringlawstudent)
You mean upper-middle class, right?
The upper class do not typically work, per se. -
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Re: What social 'class' am I?Well I on this forums topic I have done serval surveys on the Internet to determin my class. I generally acquired middle class or upper middle class (however the questions where observed at best) so I have dised to ask people's opions on this forum of my class so here we go.
My farther owns an advertising agency, we live in a three story town house built in the late 1800s. The area is a safe friendly nabourhood, I go to a state school, I would say that I use technical words most of the time. My mother is a banking consultant. I think I'am Upper Middle but not sure I know it is stupid in a way to even care about such matters but the school I go to has generally a lot of working class people, mainly because my parents wanted me to have a good education ( as this school is the best where I live) the reason for mentioning this is that I don't really fit in with most people there then again there is a group of people I get along with greatly and they are middle class.
A good question is can people from different classes mix, from my school expirences so far I would say no but there are people I know that talk to others but tend to not get on so this sort of has dissolved my question?
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Re: What social 'class' am I?How about those who have no job?(Original post by detinus)
class relates to your job, not how you act! -
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Re: What social 'class' am I?Your parent's occupations (and particularly the position your father has) obviously place you in either the middle- or upper-middle class. However, you didn't say how big the agency is? There is a difference - a small business employing, say, 5 staff, is a lot different to a large company. If your father owns and runs a large business with hundreds of employees and many millions in turnover, that might be a different story.(Original post by WilliamsQI)
Well I on this forums topic I have done serval surveys on the Internet to determin my class. I generally acquired middle class or upper middle class (however the questions where observed at best) so I have dised to ask people's opions on this forum of my class so here we go.
My farther owns an advertising agency, we live in a three story town house built in the late 1800s. The area is a safe friendly nabourhood, I go to a state school, I would say that I use technical words most of the time. My mother is a banking consultant. I think I'am Upper Middle but not sure I know it is stupid in a way to even care about such matters but the school I go to has generally a lot of working class people, mainly because my parents wanted me to have a good education ( as this school is the best where I live) the reason for mentioning this is that I don't really fit in with most people there then again there is a group of people I get along with greatly and they are middle class.
A good question is can people from different classes mix, from my school expirences so far I would say no but there are people I know that talk to others but tend to not get on so this sort of has dissolved my question?
The class that surrounds you at school I think can have a bearing on your own personal class story, as opposed to that of your parents. Children of parents from lower social backgrounds who become well off and who attend good private schools can rise in social class precisely because of the schools they attend. Most sociologists would argue that the effect is less marked the other way around, because the class position you have at home will "carry you through" the effect of being at a lesser state school, imbuing you with the ability to sustain a different class position than your school peers. However, you may "suffer" from developing an accent or some cultural aspects, manners and demeanour that do not quite fit your own personal class background. Most kids adopt the attitudes and manners of their peers, hence why many upper-middle and wealthy parents try to avoid exposing their children to state schools. -
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Re: What social 'class' am I?Its far more likely to be the other way around. Having a unnecessarily big tv is a proper chav status symbol, like wearing designer clothes.(Original post by ollie96)
Determining social class is easily identified by the size of your tv...
0-13" = Underclass
14"-42" = Working Class
43"-52" = Middle Class
53"+ = You have a relation to the queen
Middle class people would consider large tv's to be extremely vulgar and common. -
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Re: What social 'class' am I?Well to answer your question it is a small business, employs 12 people. Your right that most parents of the upper-middle try to avoid state schools for the reasons you said but me and my friends are in the school we are in to apparently keep our selves down to earth and as I said before because it is the best school where I live, apparently even better than the private school (questionable). However I do belive that mixing as I put it, is enevertibale due to Chester being 60% middle or higher and 40 being lower. Even the lower class here tend to have quite a bit of money so they can get into the privet schools too, mainly because there is a lack of manual jobs but they would still say they are working class.(Original post by Fires)
Your parent's occupations (and particularly the position your father has) obviously place you in either the middle- or upper-middle class. However, you didn't say how big the agency is? There is a difference - a small business employing, say, 5 staff, is a lot different to a large company. If your father owns and runs a large business with hundreds of employees and many millions in turnover, that might be a different story.
The class that surrounds you at school I think can have a bearing on your own personal class story, as opposed to that of your parents. Children of parents from lower social backgrounds who become well off and who attend good private schools can rise in social class precisely because of the schools they attend. Most sociologists would argue that the effect is less marked the other way around, because the class position you have at home will "carry you through" the effect of being at a lesser state school, imbuing you with the ability to sustain a different class position than your school peers. However, you may "suffer" from developing an accent or some cultural aspects, manners and demeanour that do not quite fit your own personal class background. Most kids adopt the attitudes and manners of their peers, hence why many upper-middle and wealthy parents try to avoid exposing their children to state schools. -
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Re: What social 'class' am I?Middle-middle(Original post by Torpedo Fish)
I know it's not particularly important in modern Britain but I am still a little curious to discover how other people would view me classwise. I think of myself as a bit of an inbetweener, not really fitting into any well defined social group.
Anyway.. a little of my background:
I live in a pretty affluent suburban town in the South East of England. My Father is an insurance underwriter and my Mother is a medical receptionist. I went to a comprehensive school (all-be-it an above average one) and then went on to my local six form college to do my A levels. I am now studying Chemistry at the University of Southampton. Meanwhile, I prefer football to rugby, I vote Labour, I enjoy a pint over a Pimms and I do not and shall never wear any Jack Wills garments.
So based on this what would you say my social class is likely to be? -
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Re: What social 'class' am I?Becoming a doctor wouldn't make you upper class!(Original post by allthelove)
I come from a working class background and I will be the first member of my family to go to university. I suppose I want a 'upper class' job as a doctor, but I think it will be funny for someone to take me seriously on a ward with my broad Yorkshire accent. 'Al right luv, how ya doin today? Dya want us t'remove t'drip t'nurse put in t'arm?'.
Also I honestly don't think patients would be fussed about accents, lol. Don't perpetuate class-job myths -
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Re: What social 'class' am I?Really? I thought that was the whole point of Blair's Labour?(Original post by Top Banana)
No self respecting member of the middle class votes labour. -
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Re: What social 'class' am I?Oh OK, you go to a state school with a strong record in a middle-class neighbourhood, some of the better ones do have comparable (in some cases better) achievement records than some private schools. Best of both worlds.(Original post by WilliamsQI)
Well to answer your question it is a small business, employs 12 people. Your right that most parents of the upper-middle try to avoid state schools for the reasons you said but me and my friends are in the school we are in to apparently keep our selves down to earth and as I said before because it is the best school where I live, apparently even better than the private school (questionable). However I do belive that mixing as I put it, is enevertibale due to Chester being 60% middle or higher and 40 being lower. Even the lower class here tend to have quite a bit of money so they can get into the privet schools too, mainly because there is a lack of manual jobs but they would still say they are working class.
Your father is a small businessman, so fixing your precise social class from a social scientific point of view will be complicated. If he is not a professional, eg, if he is self-made and not doing his job via an upper professional training, which is plausible, then you are not upper-middle - more likely middle-middle or (conceivably) lower-middle. In the standard classifications, you are either C1 or B, but right now I am scoring you as a C1, the lower-middle white-collars. In cultural terms though, your mother's occupation and the fact that he works in advertising, an upper-quartile occupation within the middle-classes, tilts you slightly towards B.
