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What, me? Middle class?

We Brits are famous for our obsession with class. In fact it's true in most countries (put an American socialite in the wrong part of America if you doubt this), but we have always been open about it. However, it is getting more and more difficult to distinguish between working class and middle class. I am not talking about sheer ignorance. At some point leading up to the recent royal wedding I heard some chinless wonder comment with great condescension that Kate Middleton had done so well for a working class person. (After all, she only attended Marlborough, my dear.) I mean that there's real confusion for many people.

Of course there are still obvious stereotypes. No one sane would describe Nick Clegg or David Cameron as working class, for example. But many, many people occupy what is, after all, a very broad borderline. Some would really like to be working class because it feels more authentic. Others enjoy the comfort of middle class values. Whatever our hopes and desires, it is useful to get a clear picture of our own class status. So here is the beginnings of a questionnaire designed to help place yourself. It's not a test. Simply for self identification. But I need more questions. All suggestions welcome.

1. You encounter a small bowl of green goo. Do you assume it is:
A) Guacamole
B) Mushy peas

2. You taste the green goo and it turns out to be guacamole. Are you:
A) Disappointed
B) Delighted

3. You are watching TV and a visitor calls round. Do you:
A) Switch the TV off
B) Turn the sound down a bit

4. Thinking of the main living room of the house are you more likely to call it:
A) Living room or lounge
B) Sitting room

5. And do you sit on a:
A) Couch
B) Sofa

6. When talking about TV at work do you discuss:
A) Soap operas and programmes about people from Essex
B) Documentaries and serious drama (even though you watched soap operas and programmes about people from Essex)

7. Do you think that opera is:
A) High art and worth supporting
B) A waste of public funds and boring

8. Do you think the Sun is a newspaper?
A) Yes
B) No

Score 1 point for each of the following and 0 points for the rest: 1 A), 2 B), 3 A), 4 B), 5 B), 6 B), 7 A), 8 B) - the higher your score, the more middle class you are.
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Comments

  1. cromercrox18 May 2011 at 09:50

    My feeling is that class is all about money - not that working-class people have less than middle-class people, because that's often not the case. More that working-class people tend to spend their money immediately, whereas middle-class people tend to save it for a rainy day. What with the difficulties of saving money nowadays, the poor returns on investments, and general insecurities, I suspect that class distinctions are blurring.

    ReplyDelete
  2. John Lowe18 May 2011 at 10:04

    Living room/lounge versus Sitting room? - No thanks, I go for Drawing room.

    ReplyDelete
  3. David Howkins18 May 2011 at 12:37

    Do you use the

    a) Toilet

    b) Loo/Lavatory

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brian Clegg18 May 2011 at 13:48

    John - add Drawing room to Sitting room

    Dave - that's an interesting one. I'm not sure it works as a diagnostic as many middle class people now use 'toilet' to avoid the twee euphemism. This applies to other similar ones too, though I think serviette/napkin still has some mileage.

    ReplyDelete
  5. GordonB18 May 2011 at 17:18

    In the words of Monty Python ... I know my place!

    ReplyDelete
  6. laurasdad18 May 2011 at 17:35

    I can't help thinking that some of this is North v South; I used to have dinner when we lived in Manchester, now I have lunch and then we had tea when I now have dinner. Supper was an unknown meal for us although if we recognised anything is was that we ate tea late!

    And I'm definitely middle class - at least I'm taller than Corbett and shorter than Cleese - if that helps.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Adam Creen18 May 2011 at 20:12

    SETTEE not sofa!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous3 November 2016 at 16:12

    I was wondering about settee too. As a kid from a working class background we used to call the toilet/loo the 'lav' which seems odd now considering that lavatory is the correct term - according to my very upper middle class (I imagine) headmistress of my all girl grammar school. I say it seems odd as I wouldn't have expected us working class families to use the correct, albeit shortened, word. I'm slightly confused these days as I veer between dinner and lunch at 'dinner time' but mostly still say tea for my meal at teatime - early evening. It's not that I want to change my terms just that I'm surrounded by people using different terms. :-/
    Anne Evans

    ReplyDelete

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