Published on 12, July, 2020
I was brought up to believe that we are divided socially into classes:
1. Working class.
2. Middle class.
3. Aristocracy.
I also read decades ago that classes were less relevant and were disappearing.
I'm curious as to what others think so here are some questions:
1. What class were you born into?
2. What class are you now?
3. Do you believe in 1 and 2?
4. ie Do you think class exists?
5. Do you think you can move class?
Also, without Googlerating, I'd be curious as to how these classes are defined.
I've tended to think of them as not only to do with our financial situation, but also to do with tastes, interests and education.
With regard to me, I was born working class and ?probably? still am.
Accent is heavily tied to notions of class. I wondered what people thought about their accent and class? It's a massive part of my identity but I'm also good at doing other accents. There's more social mobility now but we cannot get away from how we speak. I love local dialect which is quite strong where I live, even travelling just a few miles down the road and people speak differently. We make assumptions about people and their class based on their accents. It was interesting listening to a local project, an autistic person there said they didn't have an accent because they talk in a particularly autistic way. I think one of the "uncanny" feelings I get is that I can be too articulate for some people in the language that i use but too broad in my accent for others.
Discuss!
I remember one autistic YouTuber talking about how his accent was much more BBC/RP than most people he grew up with - a a solitary child on a different wavelength he’d picked up more from television that local dialect. I think I might have a bit of that in my case. my Belfast accent is certainly discernible but maybe a little softer than many around. I notice that my father has a much more neutral accent too, despite having siblings with the broadest of Belfast accents. I have asked about it once or twice - did he consciously adjust it? He believes that being a teacher had some effect, but now I wonder..,