Hobnobbing with the working classes

A vastly oversimplified definition.

Temporary jobs clearly don't count, else people would be changing their class every 5 minutes.

I'm VERY working class, let me tell you about me.

Swear sometimes yeah. (sometimes quite a lot, also use a fair bit of slang/socialect)
Don't watch TV often, unless it's doctor who or something good.
Don't drink.
Don't gamble.
Hate watching football, do play it though. Read the Guardian and the Economist and scientific papers.
Eat good my mum makes every day, around 5 times a day
No tattoos and no tan.
I don't think I have a Mancunian accent or any regional accent to be honest.
Wear whatever I like, sometimes it's Primark, sometimes it's designer and sometimes it has no label (sometimes hand made stuff )
Cheapish car, have a garden which my dad and sister like to keep in shape.

Most of my friends are working class and are very similar (admittedly these are not native Brits, most are immigrants, which I think will have an effect.)

Your anecdotal evidence has no value.

Posted from TSR Mobile

I'm not sure what point OP is trying to make, but his observations are reasonably accurate.

I spend about half my time with working class people on a council estate and half with middle class people in a posh english village.

The working class people

swear constantly
watch the telly
drink lager
gamble
watch football
read the sun
eat mainly takeaways
have tattoos and spray tan
talk in thick regional accents
wear clothes with labels
have expensive cars but no gardens

The middle class people
don't swear
listen to the radio/read books
drink red wine or real ale
watch rugby
read the times
eat homecooked food
talk in plummy RP
wear clothes without labels
have cheap cars, but big gardens


These are stereotypes, but theres a lot of truth to them to.

I'm sorry, find me a definition which can back up his claim he is middle class.

Let's not exaggerate this. Currently he is at the level of a working class person and no more.

Posted from TSR Mobile

I'm sorry, find me a definition which can back up his claim he is middle class.

Let's not exaggerate this. Currently he is at the level of a working class person and no more.

Posted from TSR Mobile

I do not entirely agree with that statement, employees at Waitrose are most definitely not working-class.

they are not called employees they are called partners

A middle class person does not become working class simply because he temporarily takes a waged job, in the same way that a working class person does not magically become upper class just because he won the lottery.

I could go on and on. It's just been such an eye opener to me, a BBC 2 viewing, non-Poundland frequenting, Russell Group educated lad from the leafy suburbs.

The definition I've given would imply they do.

Anyway, you have given some extremes. Fact is if you work for a wage you are working class by most definitions, at the time you are working. Ever heard of Social Mobility

Now if a working class person stops working after they have won the lottery while they may still have working class views and beliefs they are not working class themselves

Posted from TSR Mobile

But no definition says that if you work for a wage you are working class. They all say that if you come from the social class that works for a wage, you are working class, which is something completely different.

Your definition is not the academic definition used by sociologists. I think you just misunderstood wikipedia, that's why you're confused.

The definition I've given would imply they do.

Anyway, you have given some extremes. Fact is if you work for a wage you are working class by most definitions, at the time you are working. Ever heard of Social Mobility

Now if a working class person stops working after they have won the lottery while they may still have working class views and beliefs they are not working class themselves

Posted from TSR Mobile

But no definition says that if you work for a wage you are working class. They all say that if you come from the social class that works for a wage, you are working class, which is something completely different.

Your definition is not the academic definition used by sociologists. I think you just misunderstood wikipedia, that's why you're confused.