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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

The Class System - Where do you fall?

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by SithLordDarthRichie, Mar 30, 2010.

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  1. SithLordDarthRichie

    SithLordDarthRichie CR Emeritus: London star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2003
    During a conversation last week I mentioned that I knew someone who was "very middle-class". The person I was talking to laughed and said that I shouldn't talk as though they were different to me. I was met with further laughs when I said I considered myself working-class.

    I have always seen myself as working-class given my position in society and the minimal earning myself and other members of my family receive.
    Sure I'm well educated (mainly due to my parents not my schooling), but I went to ordinary public schools & live in a crappy town in greater London which contains mostly chavs and the surrounding places are hardly any better.

    I always viewed middle-class people as the big-business types who hold top company positions and earn £40,000+ salaries. They have nice detached houses and usually own two or more cars. Often private school educated. Often pay more for higher-class travel.

    I certainly don't fit that picture at all. I don't see why I would be seen to fit into that class either.


    Upper class people are not really relevant as they are just relics of a bygone time when titled people ruled the land. Now most of them have figurehead titles and lounge around on big estates (if they haven't sold off their big country houses to pay off debts).

    I would like to know where the rest of you see yourselves in the social order.
    Do you have different views on what someone of lower or higher-class is?
     
  2. halibut

    halibut Ex-Mod star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 27, 2000
    I don't believe in the "class" system. It's outdated and prejudiced

    However...

    <img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cKiU2w48PDs/Ro_yPNdMLCI/AAAAAAAABiE/zQiuHO6fTDg/s400/I_CASTES.jpg">
     
  3. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    I grew up in the US so there wasn't as much of a 'class' system. My dad was an ad agency VP so my parents were pretty well off. I guess by UK standards we'd have been middle class.
     
  4. SithLordDarthRichie

    SithLordDarthRichie CR Emeritus: London star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2003
    Certainly outside of the aristocracy there is little in terms of a true class system these days.
    I don't think the gulf between people is as much as it used to be. Certainly there doesn't seem to be the air of superiority over each other that there used to be.

    But there are different tiers of society where people lead different lifestyles due to position or income or other factors. There should be a way to distinguish yourself as being part of that group or another.
     
  5. emilsson

    emilsson Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Oct 5, 1998
    I'm pretty much middle-middle class since I'm a teacher with an academic background and raised by parents who ran their own small companies.


    I think it's possible to argue that from a sociological point of view that the class system still exists, but that the classical categorisation no longer holds. These days the majority belongs to the middle class, which now is divided into upper, middle and lower. Also, there are more opportunities to change class than before, which makes everything very fluid and include more factors than just income (such as aspirations, taste, political views, education etc).
     
  6. Mustafar_66

    Mustafar_66 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 20, 2005
    Lower middle class, most likely going to be middle class when I graduate.
     
  7. Winged_Jedi

    Winged_Jedi Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 28, 2003
    I guess I'm stereotypical middle class. Went to private school, dad's a doctor, mum's a dentist. But the catch is that they both came from very poor working class backgrounds, and they've never forgotten it. And we've had it drilled into us. So there's certainly no air of superiority. I agree with what emilsson said- these days it's easier to move from class to class, insofar as they exist.
     
  8. Sinrebirth

    Sinrebirth Mod-Emperor of the EUC, Lit, RPF and SWC star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 15, 2004
    Working class, will become middle class as my career proceeds, hopefully.
     
  9. SithLordDarthRichie

    SithLordDarthRichie CR Emeritus: London star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2003
    Certainly is easier for working/lower class people to prgress upwards to middle class jobs/lifestyle than it once was. That is encouraging for many people.
     
  10. Sauntaero

    Sauntaero Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 9, 2003
    The strength of the class system in the UK was definitely one of the things that really surprised me--there really isn't much of one in the states at all, comparatively. 'Middle class' is pretty all-encompassing over there. Here I'd probably be working class, growing up in a big family, hard to make ends meet...although both parents had advanced degrees. We were brought up to expect that anything we wanted we had to work for, but why not work for the best?

    I think as higher education becomes more available, it'll be even harder to differentiate classes. Quality of life really can't be measured by income or occupation anymore, or by material wealth. While I grew up in a low-income situation, I'd say my education gave a me manner and behaviours more middle- to upper-middle class.
     
  11. SithLordDarthRichie

    SithLordDarthRichie CR Emeritus: London star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2003
    I'm the same, I have a decent level of education and I would say I'm a lot more cultured then most of those who live around where I live.

    But given my social position, I'm still working class.
     
  12. Separatist101

    Separatist101 Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    May 11, 2010
    I'm in between Working and Middle-class, I'm not common as muck but I'm not a Doctor either
     
  13. Cobranaconda

    Cobranaconda Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2004
    Working class background, now sort of lost. Educated enough to be "over-educated" (and no work experience) to not have a chance at any normal workplace, not highly educated enough to be a graduate placement.

    Bloody HNDs...
     
  14. Space_Wolf

    Space_Wolf Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Mar 13, 2007
    I consider it these days to depend on what kind of job you have. What can be considered a "Professional" job i.e. Doctor, Lawyer, Scientist, Vet, Teacher and those who actually own their own business, but it isn't a big multi-national, those I see as middle-class - where you are in that, if it's lower or upper middle class depends on how much money you have. Working Class I consider to be a shop worker, factory worker, cleaner, ect who just gets enough money (or so we're told) to just get by. Upper Class - I consider those to have out-dated titles like the Royal Family or those who are so flithy rich they can buy themselves into it, even if otherwise they act like a twit. We mustn't forget that there's an under class of people as well these days (chavs and such...)
     
  15. SithLordDarthRichie

    SithLordDarthRichie CR Emeritus: London star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2003
    Chavs would be a class of their own :p
     
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