Class - Is it still relevant?

[paddyhasneeds]

Inspired and curious from some comments on the Thatcher thread, does "class" (whatever your notion of that is) actually matter these days?

From my own perspective it's not something I encounter in my daily life - do others?

If I had to put myself in a box I'd probably say I'm "middle class", though I'm not entirely sure why, but I sure as heck don't look at anyone as being beneath me, nor do I have an issue with people who might consider themselves "upper" class - though again I'm not entirely sure what that means these days.

[Digga]

If you have to ask the question, you won't understand the answer.

[Steffan]

The UK is still undoubtedly the most class ridden society.

But wealth is becoming the best class leveller.

Still a lot of class prejudice about in the UK.

But success monetarily is replacing it.

Another 50 years and wealth will be the only measure of success.

That's progress I think.

[Dracoro]

People confuse class with earnings/income.

For example, you can be *working* class but earn loads. You can be *upper* class but have no money.

Granted, in many/most cases working class people won't be rich and upper class people won't be poor but it's not a prerequisite.

[Puggit]

There have never been better opportunities to change your class (actually, it was probably easiest before 13 years of Labour widened the gap).

If someone born to poorer parents wants to better their lot, with hard work they can. That wasn't always the way!

[Cleckheatonlock]

Puggit said:

Actually, it is probably easiest after 13 years of Labour widened the gap.

If someone born to poorer parents wants to better their lot, with NO work they can. That wasn't always the way!

[paddyhasneeds]

Dracoro said:

People confuse class with earnings/income.

That's exactly my thinking, for example I wouldn't think of my CEO as being a different class to me, simply considerably better off.

It does sometimes seem that at the lower rungs of the workplace there is a bit of a "them and us" culture, sometimes it comes across as being a class thing but in reality I think it's just about money and in some cases chips on shoulders.

[Rude-boy]

As said money does not equal class, nor does class equal money.

[Justayellowbadge]

If Class were genuinely no longer an issue, Eton & Oxford educated prime ministers would not affect estuary accents.

It's still there.

[Fittster]

Class is fundamental.

We are all Marxist on PH, right?

"To Marx - though the idea was implicit in other classical economists such as Ricardo - class was not about lifestyle, but about one’s relationship to the economy. If your income comes from wages, you’re working class. If it comes from capital, you’re a capitalist."

There's more, class in this sense is correlated with power: capitalists have it, workers don‘t*. This is because economic power flows to scarce resources and capital is scarcer than labour".

[Dracoro]

So, what if you get some income from capital but also wages then what are you?

[Fittster]

Dracoro said:

So, what if you get some income from capital but also wages then what are you?

Can you support yourself via the returns on your capital?

[Ozzie Osmond]

If

any of

you oiks

had even

a hint of class

you'd have learnt

how to

punctuate.

Nowhere

is it

necessary

to have

each

tiny

idea

on

a separate

line.

[Phil1]

Steffan said:

The UK is still undoubtedly the most class ridden society.

Not really at all when compared to the Indian caste system.

[Puggit]

Phil1 said:

Steffan said:

The UK is still undoubtedly the most class ridden society.

Not really at all when compared to the Indian caste system.

How about the way the UAE treats the migrant workers?

[smegmore]

Puggit said:

How about the way the UAE treats the migrant workers?

They bus them to/from work, feed them, put a roof over their heads and securely store their passports.

Oh and pay them too.

What's wrong with that?

Edited by smegmore on Tuesday 20th December 18:33

[Dracoro]

Fittster said:

Dracoro said:

So, what if you get some income from capital but also wages then what are you?

Can you support yourself via the returns on your capital?

Probably not but maybe able to live a very limited life, in a hut in a forest living off the land

[crankedup]

Class cannot be acquired, it can only be bred.

[Daz68]

While we have a Parliament and a Monarchy of course it is.

[vonuber]

Daz68 said:

While we have a Parliament and a Monarchy of course it is.

You mean a Lords?