The link between income and class?

[_angel_]

At the expense of people's mental heath.

..and physical.

Poorer areas average life expectancy is lower than more affluent ones. That's about as clear as it gets, really. To be told it effectively doesn't matter is ridiculous.

 

[_float_]

I don't think income is the indicator for class.

Plumbers are considered working class as they do a manual job.
Civil servants as middle class cause they have supposidly cushy desk jobs.

Yet the majority of plumbers earn more than the majority of civil servants.

That's why I was asking people in the OP what their own personal opinion or definition of "working/middle/upper" was and also of "poor/rich".

To me it makes sense to talk about 'rich', 'doing OK' and 'poor' in a UK context, with my personal definition being linked to a certain lifestyle that I can imagine in my head but which I haven't costed out and put a figure on yet. It is useful to define groups in the context of asking how a certain public policy will help or harm different people, most obvious being tax and benefits, but ultimately almost any policy will have varying impacts on rich and poor, which is important to recognise IMO.

Switching to a global perspective my definition of 'rich', 'doing OK' and 'poor' changes. Again, this is important when considering the impact of various policies or deciding what the important issues are.

I don't subscribe to the concept of working/middle/upper class as a political analysis, but I support policies that benefit the global poor first and foremost, although there is a lot of controversy about what these are (eg aound trade, development, immigration and so forth).

I don't personally subscribe to working/middle/upper class as a cultural/social point of view it seems to me to be a mixture of prejudices, preference, regional and national identities, outdated views about the status of different occupations (white collar/blue collar/etc), people buying into an image or a group. I understand that (like "race") it is a concept that other people use, but I don't agree that there is a concrete underlying reality to this concept and in fact I think the concept itself is damaging and regressive.

@isitme: if you put some effort into your posts on this thread and I will put some effort into replying to them.

 

[Zapata]

That's why I was asking people in the OP what their own personal opinion or definition of "working/middle/upper" was and also of "poor/rich".

To me it makes sense to talk about 'rich', 'doing OK' and 'poor' in a UK context, with my personal definition being linked to a certain lifestyle that I can imagine in my head but which I haven't costed out and put a figure on yet. It is useful to define groups in the context of asking how a certain public policy will help or harm different people, most obvious being tax and benefits, but ultimately almost any policy will have varying impacts on rich and poor, which is important to recognise IMO.

Switching to a global perspective my definition of 'rich', 'doing OK' and 'poor' changes. Again, this is important when considering the impact of various policies or deciding what the important issues are.

I don't subscribe to the concept of working/middle/upper class as a political analysis, but I support policies that benefit the global poor first and foremost, although there is a lot of controversy about what these are (eg aound trade, development, immigration and so forth).

I don't personally subscribe to working/middle/upper class as a cultural/social point of view it seems to me to be a mixture of prejudices, preference, regional and national identities, outdated views about the status of different occupations (white collar/blue collar/etc), people buying into an image or a group. I understand that (like "race") it is a concept that other people use, but I don't agree that there is a concrete underlying reality to this concept and in fact I think the concept itself is damaging and regressive.

@isitme: if you put some effort into your posts on this thread and I will put some effort into replying to them.

Bloody hell, you should be thinking about your next shag, or beer or anything other than this "class" nonsense.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

 

[isitme]

..and physical.

Poorer areas average life expectancy is lower than more affluent ones. That's about as clear as it gets, really. To be told it effectively doesn't matter is ridiculous.

trees matter, but you don't constantly get endless circular discussions about trees on here

 

[_float_]

Because the definition of 'tree' is very straightforward and doesn't form the basis of any political philosophy.

 

[_angel_]

Because the definition of 'tree' is very straightforward and doesn't form the basis of any political philosophy.

What were you doing up at 4.30 in the morning writing that?

 

[danny la rouge]

The definition used to be.

Working class. All income is from working. Does not own any property.
Middle class. Owns some property, but also needs other income.
Upper class. Owns sufficient land to never have to work.

These days most of the working class think they are middle class because they pay a bank to own a house for them.

Except that land ownership hasn't been the main economic powerhouse for a very long time; it's about ownership of the means of production, and has been since the industrial revolution.

 

[trevhagl]

I think it's a lot more complicated than all this. For example a working class person who works their way up and has a nice house and it hasn't changed him/her, then they are still working class i reckon, but a person in that situation who now votes Tory, well they are a disgrace to the working class and in my eyes middle class

 

[_angel_]

I think it's a lot more complicated than all this. For example a working class person who works their way up and has a nice house and it hasn't changed him/her, then they are still working class i reckon, but a person in that situation who now votes Tory, well they are a disgrace to the working class and in my eyes middle class

you're as daft as isitme though.

 

[danny la rouge]

I think it's a lot more complicated than all this. For example a working class person who works their way up and has a nice house and it hasn't changed him/her, then they are still working class i reckon, but a person in that situation who now votes Tory, well they are a disgrace to the working class and in my eyes middle class

Good god man, get some politics.