So many fascinating findings in this piece – the majority of the British public underestimate the average salary, most people say income is the biggest indicator of social class, BUT say people on high wages can be “middle class” or “working class” and people on low wages can be “upper class”.
Interesting that cycling, shopping at Ikea, using Uber and playing a musical instrument are seen is not indicative of class – but using public transport is seen as “working class”, going on multiple overseas holidays a year is seen as “upper class” and eating out at least once a week is seen as “middle class”.
I think the class distinctions are fascinating. A lot of respondents seem to have blurred class and wealth though. Purely anecdotally, the people whom I know are upper class tend not to go out to restaurants very often, because they live in the country and there aren’t any. They don’t go on luxury holidays, because they go to the tumbledown place they have in France, or some other property owned by a friend.
So in my limited experience, a characteristic I think the upper class have is spending very little money indeed. They leave that to the new money.
Class isnt about money, its about the morals and value system you had culturally indoctrinated into you as a youth.
This is all academic really.
The next class divide will be neatly divided into the ownership of property haves and have nots.
We are sleepwalking into a situation where even people on six figures will be priced out of property.
From what ive learnt on this sub, if you work in an office your middle class.
Those median salary categories were incredibly poorly chosen.
The true average is just over 30k, so giving two categories of 20-30 and 30-40 makes the data meaningless. All of those people could believe the salary lies in the range 28-32k and be quite accurate.
Or some could be as much as 10k out.
The upperclass wouldn’t see this post on Reddit,
The Middleclass would have the subscription to the New statesman and read the article and the lowerclass click the link, go huh and make statements like this!
Interesting to see that wealth / disposable income now appears to have become a class marker, following the US example rather than our traditional socially based ones.
It’s simple.
You are “working class” if you need to work to live, paycheck to paycheck.
You are “upper class” if you do not, and did not, need to work to live.
Everything else is a gradient between the two extremes. If your pension enables you to live without working, you’ve become more middle class. If you’re paid so much that your wife doesn’t need to work, you’ve become more middle class. If you get generous paid leave and holidays, you’ve become more middle class. Savings? Assets? More middle class.
I’m literally all over the place: Earn a good salary but always fly budget, enjoy opera & art but use public transport (climate change), have private health insurance but didn’t inherit anything, eat out multiple times a week but regularly visit my local.
Salary doesn’t make you rich. Assets make you rich. Salary almost never becomes assets. If you’re lucky your salary might might give your kids some assets. And that’s without mentioning how assets make you richer faster than salary. Or how assets increase you salary.
We’ll never make any progress on equality as long as people think income is wealth.
Do you sell your time for money? Yes. Do you need to work to live? Yes. you are working class it’s as simple as that.
Anything else is a myth perpetuated by the upper class to divide the workers. The middle class is a lie.
Simply diving people into 3 class systems is such an outdated trope.
I use £30K+ is middle class, 80K+ (or maybe 60 I dunno?) is upper class.
You’re anything class if you subscribe to the feudal social control system called “class” designed to distract us by turning us against each other.
The class definitions are unhelpful and in my opinion only aid to help people posture if they are in a good position or can cause deep frustration for those who have become class conscious and realise they are on the struggling side.
The divide is very simple, the workers and owners.
The majority are workers, a spectrum that goes from poor to extremely competent. They all must sell time doing something, often a specialisation otherwise they don’t get to partake in society without major sacrifices.
The owners are the minority who have power, influence and capital. They have businesses and or property portfolios and investments, they tend to decided who is in, who is out and they have more weight in the input of our society, especially powerful business magnates. As we can see our Government is easily swayed by bribery and the needs of the economy more than the needs of people.
We all hope to find a loop hole we can cope with. Some people are lucky and find a niche that lets them partake at life in a way that is balanced and good but for most of us have to endure an antagonistic relationship with work, having little control over the time, compensation for our work and the means of production. Wage theft and excess profits are siphoned to owners and it has left workers wages stagnant for decades.
No one should at any point stand with the status quo. No matter how well off you are, how smart and competent you have become, the owners are exploiting people and causing suffering because profit generation is priority. Most of the money is hoarded in off shore accounts and then spent lavishly on things beyond the running costs of our society. A thriving 1% never benefits the rest of us.
Hmm, it’s simple. If you need month/weekly pay to avoid starving, to be able to pay the bills and rent, you ain’t rich. If you don’t need to rely on it and have a fuck ton of cash, you are rich. Or a corrupt bastard in parliment.
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So many fascinating findings in this piece – the majority of the British public underestimate the average salary, most people say income is the biggest indicator of social class, BUT say people on high wages can be “middle class” or “working class” and people on low wages can be “upper class”.
Interesting that cycling, shopping at Ikea, using Uber and playing a musical instrument are seen is not indicative of class – but using public transport is seen as “working class”, going on multiple overseas holidays a year is seen as “upper class” and eating out at least once a week is seen as “middle class”.
I think the class distinctions are fascinating. A lot of respondents seem to have blurred class and wealth though. Purely anecdotally, the people whom I know are upper class tend not to go out to restaurants very often, because they live in the country and there aren’t any. They don’t go on luxury holidays, because they go to the tumbledown place they have in France, or some other property owned by a friend.
So in my limited experience, a characteristic I think the upper class have is spending very little money indeed. They leave that to the new money.
Class isnt about money, its about the morals and value system you had culturally indoctrinated into you as a youth.
This is all academic really.
The next class divide will be neatly divided into the ownership of property haves and have nots.
We are sleepwalking into a situation where even people on six figures will be priced out of property.
From what ive learnt on this sub, if you work in an office your middle class.
Those median salary categories were incredibly poorly chosen.
The true average is just over 30k, so giving two categories of 20-30 and 30-40 makes the data meaningless. All of those people could believe the salary lies in the range 28-32k and be quite accurate.
Or some could be as much as 10k out.
The upperclass wouldn’t see this post on Reddit,
The Middleclass would have the subscription to the New statesman and read the article and the lowerclass click the link, go huh and make statements like this!
Interesting to see that wealth / disposable income now appears to have become a class marker, following the US example rather than our traditional socially based ones.
It’s simple.
You are “working class” if you need to work to live, paycheck to paycheck.
You are “upper class” if you do not, and did not, need to work to live.
Everything else is a gradient between the two extremes. If your pension enables you to live without working, you’ve become more middle class. If you’re paid so much that your wife doesn’t need to work, you’ve become more middle class. If you get generous paid leave and holidays, you’ve become more middle class. Savings? Assets? More middle class.
I’m literally all over the place: Earn a good salary but always fly budget, enjoy opera & art but use public transport (climate change), have private health insurance but didn’t inherit anything, eat out multiple times a week but regularly visit my local.
Salary doesn’t make you rich. Assets make you rich. Salary almost never becomes assets. If you’re lucky your salary might might give your kids some assets. And that’s without mentioning how assets make you richer faster than salary. Or how assets increase you salary.
We’ll never make any progress on equality as long as people think income is wealth.
Do you sell your time for money? Yes. Do you need to work to live? Yes. you are working class it’s as simple as that.
Anything else is a myth perpetuated by the upper class to divide the workers. The middle class is a lie.
Simply diving people into 3 class systems is such an outdated trope.
I use £30K+ is middle class, 80K+ (or maybe 60 I dunno?) is upper class.
You’re anything class if you subscribe to the feudal social control system called “class” designed to distract us by turning us against each other.
The class definitions are unhelpful and in my opinion only aid to help people posture if they are in a good position or can cause deep frustration for those who have become class conscious and realise they are on the struggling side.
The divide is very simple, the workers and owners.
The majority are workers, a spectrum that goes from poor to extremely competent. They all must sell time doing something, often a specialisation otherwise they don’t get to partake in society without major sacrifices.
The owners are the minority who have power, influence and capital. They have businesses and or property portfolios and investments, they tend to decided who is in, who is out and they have more weight in the input of our society, especially powerful business magnates. As we can see our Government is easily swayed by bribery and the needs of the economy more than the needs of people.
We all hope to find a loop hole we can cope with. Some people are lucky and find a niche that lets them partake at life in a way that is balanced and good but for most of us have to endure an antagonistic relationship with work, having little control over the time, compensation for our work and the means of production. Wage theft and excess profits are siphoned to owners and it has left workers wages stagnant for decades.
No one should at any point stand with the status quo. No matter how well off you are, how smart and competent you have become, the owners are exploiting people and causing suffering because profit generation is priority. Most of the money is hoarded in off shore accounts and then spent lavishly on things beyond the running costs of our society. A thriving 1% never benefits the rest of us.
Hmm, it’s simple. If you need month/weekly pay to avoid starving, to be able to pay the bills and rent, you ain’t rich. If you don’t need to rely on it and have a fuck ton of cash, you are rich. Or a corrupt bastard in parliment.