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 think I sound a lot more middle class than I actually am because of my accent, which is received pronunciation. Too much exposure to the beeb at an impressionable age.
But then I lived in a town whete the women especially were very middle class. I felt very out of place there, looked down on really, till I moved to a more working-class town. I found an artist group there, based in the inner city (of course) and someone else, also with a degree, and a teaching qualification, who has remained a good friend since, also came up against hidden class barriers.