Classes in Britain

Class in Britain

British society has historically been divided into three main classes, the upper class, the middle class and the lower (or working) class, with further divisions within these groups. But although much has been written and said about class differences, they mean less today to most British people than they used to as society changes. It is also increasingly difficult to decide what factors determine a person's class. For some people it is money (or lack of it), for others it is family background or the job a person does. But although most rich people are generally regarded as belonging to the upper or middle classes, and poorer people to the lower class, class is not simply a matter of wealth. People may have very little money yet still belong to the upper class, or be very rich and still think of themselves as working-class.

Members of the upper class are sometimes accused of snobbery (= being too concerned with social status and showing contempt for people of lower status). At the same time people who criticize anything associated with high social status are said to be guilty of inverted snobbery. The fact is that although social climbing (trying to gain a higher social status) is quite common, most people are proud of their background and see no need to change. And while the idea of what is meant by ’working class’ and 'middle class' is different to what it was, say, fifty years ago, more people now claim to be working-class than did so then.

The classes

The upper class was traditionally composed of the aristocracy, with its close links with the monarchy, and owners of country houses and estates. These people were the richest members of society and passed on their wealth and social status to their children. Today, the increased cost of maintaining large houses has meant that many landowners are no longer rich and, in some cases, have had to sell their estates. They still keep their upper-class status because of their family history and the social circle they move in. Judges, who were formerly always members of the aristocracy, still have upper-class status although they now come from a wider social background. Some members of the upper class can be identified by the way they speak, described as Oxford English or as marked RP (= an extreme form of Received Pronunciation).

A typical view of the upper class is that they send their children to public schools such as Eton, and then to Oxford or Cambridge University. They traditionally enjoy field sports and horse-racing, go to fashionable social events like Henley, and tend to support the Conservative Party. Today, the upper class also includes many top professional people and wealthy business people. The upper class as a whole is sometimes accused of being concerned only with their own interests and not with the rest of society.

The middle class is the newest and largest of the three main classes and is sometimes divided into the upper middle class and the lower middle class according to income and seniority. The middle class has its origins in the 18th-century Industrial Revolution when entrepreneurs (= people with money who are willing to take risks to make more money) changed Britain from a village-based society in which goods were made by hand to an urban economy in which goods were made in large quantities in factories by machines. This led to a new class of factory managers and traders who hoc a me increasingly rich and important.

The middle class grew rapidly in the 20th century with the spread of education, giving more people access to colleges and universities. These people became doctors, teachers, etc. or white-collar workers (= people working in an office rather than operating machines in a factory), and formed a professional middle class based on education and money rather than on birth. More recently there has developed the idea of a meritocracy, a society in which people can succeed through their own abilities and efforts rather than because of their birth or background. Most middle-class people now own their own house and car, have a comfortable lifestyle, and encourage their children to go to university. They are sometimes called 'bourgeois', suggesting that they are too conventional and interested only in possessions and helping their own family, though many care deeply about the problems and injustices of society, and would like social conditions to be improved for everyone whose quality of life is not as good as theirs. For this reason many of them vote Labour or Liberal Democrat.

The lower class (now usually called the working class) consisted historically of poor people of low birth who became servants, farm labourers or market traders. Today it is generally understood to include factory workers, builders, cleaners and other blue-collar workers (= people doing practical Work or work that requires physical strength). But although many people take pride in their working-class origins, the term 'working class' has less relevance today than it did, especially among younger people who see less need to distinguish between manual work and other types of work. And because of increased social mobility (= changing one's social status), most ‘Working-class’ people enjoy what might have been regarded as a middle-class consumer lifestyle only a few years ago. It is still true, however, that unemployment is highest among 'working-class' people who have left school it at 16 and may not have the educational qualifications to enable them to get skilled work. Working-class people have traditionally tended to vote Labour, though this is less true today.

In addition to the three main classes people also now recognize an underclass in British society. This consists of people who are very poor, unemployed, often without a home, and unable to live without money and other help from the state.

Social grading

A different, alphabetical grading system is used by economists and sociologists to describe the layers of British society. The upper middle class (3% of the population) forms the A group, and the middle class (16%) the 8 group. C1 is the lower middle class (26%), and C2 the skilled lower class (26%). The semi-skilled and unskilled working class (17%) is group D, and occasional workers and people who do not work (13%) are group E. The letter Z is used to refer to the underclass.

The breakdown of the class system

Class differences in Britain today are less important than they once were. Because of social mobility people are less class-conscious and move easily in and out of groups with different social backgrounds. But although much is said, especially by politicians, about creating a classless society, there is strong evidence that most people think that this will never happen, though the majority do not see themselves as belonging to a particular class. The gap between rich and poor in Britain is still great - wider than it was and wider than in most other European countries - and many people see this as a force that divides society. The government has reformed the House of Lords and reduced the power and influence of hereditary peers, but the privileges that wealth brings can still be seen. Richer people may still choose to send their children to fee-paying schools because they see them as offering academic and other advantages, and private healthcare is also available to those who can afford it. Many people feel that society would be fairer if these choices were not there for them to make.

It is sometimes said that Britain is moving towards being a completely middle-class society. Old attitudes and old labels still persist, however. In 1995 John Prescott, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party who is the son of a railway worker and left school at 15, told an interviewer: ‘My roots, my background and the way I act are working-class, but it would be hypocritical to say that I’m anything else than middle-class now.’ But his 78-year-old mother disagreed. She told a journalist: ’John ... is a working-class man at heart and always will be.'

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