Is being middle class overrated?

I agree with almost all of what you say but i must disagree on the terms "working" and "lower" class. You have working classes in LEDCs and not in MEDCs (unless they're factory workers and farmers i guess, but the latter today would be middle class based on income, and even so use machinery mostly anyway :P, but you will always have "lower" classes regardless of where you go .

I don't really understand what you are trying to say?

We're society's dumping ground, really. Too rich to get support, but too poor to stop others getting support from us.

Go bourgeoisie!

I agree too, i personally despise people who look down on anothers class; thats the one of the most sad and infuriating things anyone can do. Nobody here is daring to de-value the work of any social class because all of us put in mammoth efforts into our lives at one point or another.

The reason there are tuition fees is because the government itself cannot realistically finance to send everyone to university (the Labour parties primary aim in the education system) - so instead of taxing more (a deeply unpopular and economically damaging move since higher taxes restrict growth anyway) they simply make universities a business; ie, we pay to go ourselves. Bit contradictory isnt it? On the one hand the government is encouraging more to go to university, yet on the other, the most financially troubled people simply cannot afford to go, its madness!

But you have just contradicted yourself, surely a council estate is not a representation of wider society either, and rather an individual experience?

Working class families are often alot more stable than middle class.

The majority of my middle class friends, have separated parents, or a mother addicted to anti-depressants, and a younger sibling who tries his/her hardest to act like the lower class kids anyway.

Maybe it is just a stereotype...

But in my experience working class families i have come across, including mine, are alot stronger. And what more incentive is their for a young kid to do well than starting at the bottom of the pile?

The "working" people aren't particularly useful to a tertiary economy where 20-40% of the GDP is produced by manufacturing (and that too mostly automated manufacturing requiring minimal labour), while the rest is almost all produced by services.

There's a reason the government wants them to go to university and be educated and not be stuck doing jobs that are much cheaper in a third world country.

Prison isn't a deterrent because people get out in half their sentences for the most henious of crimes.

If prison has to be a deterrent it must be somewhere people dread going - squalid living conditions, horrible treatment, etc. But that isn't humanitarian!

The death penalty when carried out often and effectively(ie, to sentence accurately, not to judge innocents wrongly) is a huge deterrent. But when is it carried out often?

If you can't deter people from committing crimes then you must provide enough incentives for them not to commit them them in the first place.

Because thats actually fair. If children are financed equally by the government we're therefore treated the same, regardless of our social, economic and ethnic background. Thats a good thing isnt it!

Problems arise when you draw lines. Where do you actually draw the line to determine someone is middle class and working class? Why should anyone draw the line that says: "you earn £29,999, therefore you are technically working class and your children will be fully supported for education" and "you are £30,001, therefore you are middle class and you're children are not entitled to receive financial aid."

That's what happens when you draw lines.

I think we're debating this a little too sensibly to be honest. So, time to descend into immature absurd arguments:

"Why do we have a clear inconsistency in our class labels (upper, middle, working) when 'lower' would be far more appropriate as a third class for two reasons: firstly, it fits in with the 'upper' and 'middle' echelons; secondly, none of the lower class actually do work, they just claim unemployment benefits and sponge off the elite sections of society? Discuss"

But then again, crime is a direct result of the society in which it is commited. So maybe it is society which has to change, because as long as there are flaws as big as those which exist in ours, there will be crime. It is sad but in the present day we exist to make money, and many are in a better position than others to do this. Crime is just a way for the lesser well off to make money fast.

Well i am for a start, though it was only a well off home once i was about 10.