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Am I so middle class?

I was on a weeks residential and returning home on the bus the youth worker that was travelling with me because he lives in approximately the same area said, 'You are so middle class?'
This got me thinking - why would he say this?
- was I displaying stereotypes of the middle class?
- what even are these stereotypes?


I have never really thought of class that much and it had never occurred to be that people are still really interested in it. To be hall nest this statement took me aback a bit, maybe someone hear can help me decipher this?


Phil


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Perhaps you should have arsked him old boy.....pip pip!
I did but he wouldn't say!


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Middle class stereotypes: goes to Waitrose, reads The Guardian, eats quinoa, children go to uni, has more than one car, goes on holiday every year, has dinner parties, drinks red wine, has cook books, not on benefits, posh voice, parents are still together
Original post by dinosaurdoodoo
posh voice, parents are still together


By posh voice, you mean well spoken? So it seems anyone from a functional family are middle class now. Seems like an odd description, but I suppose this is just the stereotype. My grandparents are exactly as you describe, but they call themselves working class because they earned everything they have now through hard labour before retirement.
Original post by 1427Phil
I was on a weeks residential and returning home on the bus the youth worker that was travelling with me because he lives in approximately the same area said, 'You are so middle class?'
This got me thinking - why would he say this?
- was I displaying stereotypes of the middle class?
- what even are these stereotypes?


I have never really thought of class that much and it had never occurred to be that people are still really interested in it. To be hall nest this statement took me aback a bit, maybe someone hear can help me decipher this?


Phil


Posted from TSR Mobile


I get called middle class or "posh" all the time purely because of my accent (and possibly because of my vocabulary which is daft, since being middle class does not necessarily equal being smart) If your accent is atypical of the local accent (especially if you have a more "BBC" way of talking) you may be labelled as middle class.

It used to bother me because it made me feel so different from everyone else but now I take it as a compliment. :lol:
Reply 6
Avatar for zKlown
zKlown
19
Should have said "thank you" OP

Why is being middle class something to be ashamed of anyway? (Not that you are).

Middle class is usually associated with white collar jobs isn't it?

Dunno

Original post by dinosaurdoodoo
Middle class stereotypes: goes to Waitrose, reads The Guardian, eats quinoa, children go to uni, has more than one car, goes on holiday every year, has dinner parties, drinks red wine, has cook books, not on benefits, posh voice, parents are still together


I went to Uni
We have more than one car (including mine)
We have cook books (lol at this)
We're not on benefits
My mum drinks red wine

I can assure you my family is not middle class
Middle class means different things depending on what part of the country you are from
Original post by SCIENCE :D
Middle class means different things depending on what part of the country you are from


Agreed. I also think it's your sense of identity. For example, I know people who call themselves working class, and people who call themselves middle class.

I heard the official definition was "parental occupation."
Original post by HigherMinion
By posh voice, you mean well spoken? So it seems anyone from a functional family are middle class now. Seems like an odd description, but I suppose this is just the stereotype. My grandparents are exactly as you describe, but they call themselves working class because they earned everything they have now through hard labour before retirement.



Yeah, I agree the stereotypes are silly. But I object to you saying a functional family has parents who are still together. I know plenty of functional families including single or step parents.
Original post by zKlown
Should have said "thank you" OP

Why is being middle class something to be ashamed of anyway? (Not that you are).

Middle class is usually associated with white collar jobs isn't it?

Dunno



I went to Uni
We have more than one car (including mine)
We have cook books (lol at this)
We're not on benefits
My mum drinks red wine

I can assure you my family is not middle class


hence the reason they are merely stereotypes.
Original post by dinosaurdoodoo
Yeah, I agree the stereotypes are silly. But I object to you saying a functional family has parents who are still together. I know plenty of functional families including single or step parents.


Whilst they may at a very basic level, "function", they are dysfunctional and not the most functional of family structure. Take issue all you like, it's a fact.
Reply 12
Avatar for zKlown
zKlown
19
Original post by dinosaurdoodoo
hence the reason they are merely stereotypes.


Ok see your point

So you stereotype people who own a cook book as middle class?
Do you call any place outside London "The Country"?
Original post by dinosaurdoodoo
Middle class stereotypes: goes to Waitrose, reads The Guardian, eats quinoa, children go to uni, has more than one car, goes on holiday every year, has dinner parties, drinks red wine, has cook books, not on benefits, posh voice, parents are still together


Any prole can send his children to university now
Half the country are middle class, its really nothing to be ashamed of.

In terms of how its defined, its partly cultural, partly economic.
I get called middle class because I'm from Yorkshire but I don't speak with the typical Yorkshire accent as my dad is from London. When I moved out of Yorkshire I didn't sound like I have a posh voice and people realised Im working class.
Recently BBC identified about 7 different classes rather than just the well-known 3.
Original post by dinosaurdoodoo
Middle class stereotypes:drinks red wine, has cook books

Ah, all those commoners drinking white wine, the peasants.
Original post by HigherMinion
Whilst they may at a very basic level, "function", they are dysfunctional and not the most functional of family structure. Take issue all you like, it's a fact.


I'm not particularly offended; I just think you're wrong and you're generalising. I don't know about you but I'd rather have step parents and a divorced set of parents who are happy than married parents who scream and fight all the time just because they feel they have to stay together. In my opinion the former is more functional.
Original post by zKlown
Ok see your point

So you stereotype people who own a cook book as middle class?



Of course not, I mean people who have shelves and shelves of cookbooks, especially posh ones. I don't personally stereotype them as I know lots of people who don't fit that stereotype.

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