What social class would you put yourself into?

Toko Black

Economically and financially, I would be rated working class because of the position I find myself in re my health.

However, my attitude and perceptions of the world are essentially middle class. I prefer an art gallery or museum to an entertainment park, won't eat cheap meat cuts and rather go without and save up for a nice piece of beef once in a blue moon instead.
Collect books and enjoy modern art with a view to appreciating the idea of texture, thoughts, shape, feelings rather than purely the surface aesthetics.
But I also enjoy a McDonald's BigMac or a chip butty smothered in HP sauce.... because I enjoy it, not because I believe or am expected to like them or turn my nose up.

None of those things in and of themselves mark me out as a particular class, but cumulatively they tend to indicate a a particular set of tastes and/or attitude to taste(s).

There are other factors that effect how people react, but putting those aside, if you feel out of place or uncomfortable in a certain type of environment where the majority of the people are of a particular class due to the general conversation topics, attitudes etc, then it is quite possible you are of a different class.
If you are drinking a spritzer while listening to a bunch of blokes discuss football, the dog track or you are necking a bottle of beer while a bunch of blokes drink wine and talk about their current share portfolio and you feel like you have nothing to say and know little about what they are on about ....

Bl4ckGryph0n

Sounds to me a case of needing better friends with whom one has got more in common.

People love and hate opera and museums and ballet of all walks in life. Culture crosses any kind of boundary and I’d argue that it is more accessible than ever. And especially in the U.K. as so much of it doesn’t cost any money either.

IronGiant

Pull yourself together man, that hasn't affected your class status one jot. How on earth does not working make you working class . Unless you have fallen for the money makes class crap.

Take some Upper Class toff that falls on hard times, loses the family pile and ends up propping up a bar somewhere, they would still be recognised as Upper Class, just impoverished.

Toko Black

That is the point I was making - I consider myself middle class, but some people seem to think that class is more about (or fundamentally about) financial status, which I disagree with.

PS - you silly sausage !

Bl4ckGryph0n

Who are these people?

Why be so concerned with what others may or may or think stuff is about. None of that matters. People have a view and opinion regardless.

EarthRod

Agree with that.

The hard lines between the different old-fashioned social classes has blurred to such an extent it is near on impossible to distinguish.

My parents were working class but my father climbed up the ladder of success; started off as a labourer and ended up as a senior executive engineer.

His success enabled him to put me in a boarding school which gave me the necessary O-levels to get an apprenticeship.

I worked my way up the ladder like my father did but in a different line of business.

...But I, like my father, can act successfully in all the social classes, as required. Basically we are classless - although our roots are anchored in the working class.

Toko Black

It is not so much a concern about what people think about me individually in these circumstances, but rather what people think and perceive in generally about socio economic groups/classes of people ..... and how accurate or not those generalisations are.

why ?

Because we live in a democracy and what people think, perceive and believe about other social groups in society effects how they treat, react and behave towards those groups.
The less accurate peoples perceptions of others are, the more likely they are to make poor judgements and decisions regarding others.

If people are making generalisations about the top 10% or top 1% of earners and voting for political parties and policies based on those generalisations in an attempt to solve social and economic issues -  I am pretty sure you would agree that if those generalisations and perceptions are wildly inaccurate and based upon ignorance, misinformation and negative 'feelings', then policies based upon them will likely be both unfair and likely to simply cause more problems.

The same inaccuracies in perceptions and generalisations occur about and within all the social groups about themselves and each other.
It is especially noticable when you look at the the social bubbles that commonly exist in society where essentially each group lives in a different world.
Be it economically, ethnically or religiously, a significant proportion of the population tend to live their lives within seperate 'realities'.

The Dude

You mean like thinking you're a class above the other people on the bus?

justincase

Bus users are a separate class of their own

Toko Black

Only when I have heard them talk .... and base it on what drivel I have to listen to