"I know my place" - Marxism and reinforcing class boundaries

[DMS test pilot]

I admitted nothing of the sort. I was pointing out the accepted conventions of class based mainly on job role and income, unless you are upper class of course, where its mainly inbreeding that counts.
I fail to see how that is betraying anything.

Mealtimes are my indicator of class status .

The barometer relates to whether your dinner is brought to you on a tray by a manservant or if you are reduced to scrabbling around at the base of your neighbours birdtable, like Morlocks

I am nearer to option B, which I believe places me amongst the eccentric aristocracy.

Money or income are not really the main determinant of class. I guess the best indicator is the group amongst which you feel most comfortable. Durham miners club or Northumberland shooting party for example. Your kids may be in a different group to you if their primary school required blazers.

 

[Cold_Collation]

Mealtimes are my indicator of class status .

The barometer relates to whether your dinner is brought to you on a tray by a manservant or if you are reduced to scrabbling around at the base of your neighbours birdtable, like Morlocks

I am nearer to option B, which I believe places me amongst the eccentric aristocracy.

Money or income are not really the main determinant of class. I guess the best indicator is the group amongst which you feel most comfortable. Durham miners club or Northumberland shooting party for example. Your kids may be in a different group to you if their primary school required blazers.

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[RedDinger]

Mealtimes are my indicator of class status .

The barometer relates to whether your dinner is brought to you on a tray by a manservant or if you are reduced to scrabbling around at the base of your neighbours birdtable, like Morlocks

I am nearer to option B, which I believe places me amongst the eccentric aristocracy.

Money or income are not really the main determinant of class. I guess the best indicator is the group amongst which you feel most comfortable. Durham miners club or Northumberland shooting party for example. Your kids may be in a different group to you if their primary school required blazers.

If you were in option A your manservant would be bringing you supper on a tray.

I would feel quite comfortable shooting Durham miners (though I believe they may be extinct).

 

[re-stilly]

If you were in option A your manservant would be bringing you supper on a tray.

I would feel quite comfortable shooting Durham miners (though I believe they may be extinct).

The remaining ones are a bit old and tough and only suitable for stews.

 

[Themanwho]

What exactly is there to feel "proud" about, being working class?

You can be proud of your achievements, of your family, but of your Grandad growing up in a tenement? I don't see it.

 

[Bob65]

But your tax now cannot travel back in time to pay for your education then.

Any form of investment or loan now expecting to be paid off in the future is an example of money traveling back in time. Spending money in the present day that hasn't been earned yet. This is a completely normal part of how the economy works and has worked for hundreds of years.

 

[Ninja_Turtle]

What exactly is there to feel "proud" about, being working class?

You can be proud of your achievements, of your family, but of your Grandad growing up in a tenement? I don't see it.

The pride comes from working hard and being proudly self sufficient, with problems being solved by more hard work or privation. A culture of anything that you had, you’d worked for.

 

[CptDanjou]

What exactly is there to feel "proud" about, being working class?

You can be proud of your achievements, of your family, but of your Grandad growing up in a tenement? I don't see it.

Starting out in life broke and working class is something you may not be able to control but finishing life in the same position is not much to be proud of.

 

[vvaannmmaann]

This is a completely normal part of how the economy works and has worked for hundreds of years.

Did you miss the financial crisis of 2007/2008?

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[A signaller]

Starting out in life broke and working class is something you may not be able to control but finishing life in the same position is not much to be proud of.

I started out working class, and still am, flat broke (Post war east end) raised a family, after 3 moves, always moving upward, bought the house, detached, 4 beds, bought and paid for, decent set of wheels, done my military service, owe nobody nothing, 3 pensions, retired, and consider myself well off. My brother and sisters ditto. We all grafted hard, and succeeded, failure was not an option, having been brought up by struggling parents, who found it hard to make ends meet, and remembering always being hungry, wearing second hand cloths, i made dam sure my kids did not have to suffer the same. I am proud of what i have achieved, not bad for a gobby east Ender, who left school with nothing.

 

[Dicky Ticker]

Mealtimes are my indicator of class status .

The barometer relates to whether your dinner is brought to you on a tray by a manservant or if you are reduced to scrabbling around at the base of your neighbours birdtable, like Morlocks

I am nearer to option B, which I believe places me amongst the eccentric aristocracy.

Money or income are not really the main determinant of class. I guess the best indicator is the group amongst which you feel most comfortable. Durham miners club or Northumberland shooting party for example. Your kids may be in a different group to you if their primary school required blazers.

Good point.

"Working class" is often interpreted as being based around those who conduct manual labour, so in that case we were not working class (old man was a sales rep, driving around the country visiting shops) so that made us just "poor" (sounds like a Monty Pytion sketch...).

I didn't have the grades to go to Uni, so I became a crab instead. I got a Uni degree later through the OU, but it bears no relation to what I currently do. In fact my last two jobs have been doing things I really had no formal qualifications in, but the company trained me and trusted me to do it.

Looking at my life now I am reminded that I've come a long way, worked very hard, and "done good". I don't like to label my politics or my class, but I would probably be happier in the company of a bunch of "working class" than a group of social elites. Saying that I have friends who are close to the cream at the top of the pile, and we enjoy each others company because we like who we are.

 

[dogmeat]

I started out working class, and still am, flat broke (Post war east end) raised a family, after 3 moves, always moving upward, bought the house, detached, 4 beds, bought and paid for, decent set of wheels, done my military service, owe nobody nothing, 3 pensions, retired, and consider myself well off. My brother and sisters ditto. We all grafted hard, and succeeded, failure was not an option, having been brought up by struggling parents, who found it hard to make ends meet, and remembering always being hungry, wearing second hand cloths, i made dam sure my kids did not have to suffer the same. I am proud of what i have achieved, not bad for a gobby east Ender, who left school with nothing.

The word for which you're blindly groping is "parvenu".

 

[Dicky Ticker]

The word for which you're blindly groping is "parvenu".

as opposed to "wannabe...."?

 

[rickshaw]

But surely the noble Lord Prescott said that “we are all middle class now”?
I couldn’t resist that. Mind you, if we are all middle class now, that must offend the Opposition front bench, voiding their cod-empathetic championing of the working class.

 

[Whining Civvy]

I'm a tradesman and move in working class circles, my mrs is a musician and moves amongst the type of people who like to refer to themselves as educated. As I get older I have less time for the latter and more time for the former simply because conversations at this end tend to revolve around the personal concrete issues that life throws up for all of us in one way or another whereas the middle class tossers like to pontificate about politics half a bloody world away. Who cares. Moving 'up' in the world isn't always an admirable or useful aspiration.

 

[A signaller]

I'm a tradesman and move in working class circles, my mrs is a musician and moves amongst the type of people who like to refer to themselves as educated. As I get older I have less time for the latter and more time for the former simply because conversations at this end tend to revolve around the personal concrete issues that life throws up for all of us in one way or another whereas the middle class tossers like to pontificate about politics half a bloody world away. Who cares. Moving 'up' in the world isn't always an admirable or useful aspiration.

As the late great spike milligan said" Money couldn't buy friends, but you get a better class of enemy"