Nouveau riche
Nouveau riche are people from poorer backgrounds who have made money themselves, primarily in business, middle-class professions, or entertainment. They may retain the mannerisms of their original social group or may imitate the behaviour of the traditional upper class by, for instance, sending their children to public school or taking elocution lessons, but often in a way that is seen as gauche by the real upper class and middle classes. This group is characterized by ostentatious displays of conspicuous consumption. Premier League Footballers are typical of this group.
Lower middle class
The lower middle class in Britain consists of people in white collar jobs living in less prosperous suburbs. They would typically not have had a university education, at least before the 1980s expansion in higher education. These people would speak in local accents, although relatively mild. A shibboleth for people from this group is the use of the word pardon rather than sorry or say again when they have not been able to hear the other speaker. The Comedy character Hyacinth Bucket is a satirical stereotype for this social group. Votes in this area are split and minority parties will have a stronger proportion.
The working class
Skilled working class
These people would be in skilled blue collar jobs, traditionally in industry but in recent decades showing entrepreneurial development as the stereotypical white van man, or self employed contractors. These people would speak in local accents and have craft apprenticeships rather than university education. Typical Mosaic types for this group include White Van Culture or Affluent Blue Collar. More likely to vote conservative than the unskilled working class. The lifestyle they aspire to is that of nouveau-riche celebrities rather than the traditional upper and middle classes.
Unskilled working class
Terraced housing was originally built for the working classes.
Traditionally, these people would work in blue collar jobs with low incomes. They would typically have left school as soon as legally permissible and not value education. They are the mainstay of the Labour party vote, but there are also working class conservatives.
Language as a class indicator
- U and non-U English - Social Vocabulary from the 1950s compiled by Nancy Mitford. U represented Upper & Upper middle class vocabulary of the time and Non-U represented lower middle class vocabulary.
- Received Pronunciation, England's prestige accent used by Upper Class and Upper Middle class people. (No real equivalent in Scotland)
- Estuary English - Traditionally a lower middle class accent from Southeast England now more widely used and influencing RP
- Cockney – Traditionally the working class accent of London
Tasks:
Fill in the table with the information obtained from the text:
Class
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Place of living |
Occupation (professions, jobs) |
Working and leisure style (interests, hobbies)
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Education (type of school) Speech Clothes Food Values/Qualities Etc.
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The Upper Class
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The Middle Class
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The Lower/Working Class
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Match the names of the British and Russian classes:
T
he
upper class The working
class/workers/the proletariat
The middle class The peasantry/peasants/kolkhozniks/farmers
The lower/working class The intelligentsia
The bourgeoisie/the propertied class
The nobility
There exists the so-called “New Russians”. We may single them out as a special class. Name the features of the New Russians in appearance, life style, speech. Is there such a class in Britain?
Prepare a dialogue with your partner between the representatives of one class about their plans for the week-end and the former week.
Prepare mini-descriptions of a man for the others to guess his class.
There are a lot of multi-national states in the world. Scholars have chosen several metaphors to describe such countries. Choose one from the following and explain your choice:
Melting pot
salad
kaleidoscope
symphony
rainbow
mosaic
fireworks