Why do people from privileged class backgrounds often misidentify their origins as working class?

[brogdale]

Some gems in this BSA/ LSE paper:

We would therefore argue that these intergenerational understandings of class origin should also be read as having a performativedimension; as deflecting attention away from the structural privilege these individuals enjoy, both in their own eyes but also among those they communicate their ‘origin story’ to in everyday life.

It is also important to note that such misidentification is notably higher in two of our occupational case studies – acting and television (24 of 36 interviews). This is not coincidental; there is arguably a particular symbolic market for downplaying class privilege in these professions. Not only are these arenas disproportionately dominated by the privileged and class inequality an increasingly fiercely debated topic, but the uncertain and precarious nature of the work itself – often freelance, short-term, poorly paid, extremely competitive and reliant on informal networks – tilts career progression particularly in favour of those insulated by the ‘bank of mum and dad’

Any 'working class' folk got a view?

 

[Pickman's model]

Some gems in this BSA/ LSE paper:





Any 'working class' folk got a view?

'working class' or "working class" or working class?

 

[brogdale]

'working class' or "working class" or working class?

All are welcome!

 

[TopCat]

It was a stupid article designed to yet again deny and demean the existence of the working class in order to drive policy to at best ignore said class in allocating resources.

 

[brogdale]

It was a stupid article designed to yet again deny and demean the existence of the working class in order to drive policy to at best ignore said class in allocating resources.

Interesting take.
What particular aspects of the paper drew you to that view?

 

[TopCat]

Interesting take.
What particular aspects of the paper drew you to that view?

It's been a consistent theme in the Guardian since the early 80's.

 

[MickiQ]

Define membership of the "working class" income?, employment type?, wearing a flat cap and calling everyone luv? having a strong northern accent?

 

[andysays]

Some gems in this BSA/ LSE paper:





Any 'working class' folk got a view?

I've only read the first few paras, but do the authors actually explain what definition of middle class they are using? Are they equating professional and/or managerial with middle class?

 

[brogdale]

It's been a consistent theme in the Guardian since the early 80's.

Oh, sorry...is there a Guardian piece about the paper, then?
I was alerted to the original (linked) paper by Lisa McKenzie.

 

[krink]

It's long and boring. A little bit like life as a poor working class person.

 

[mauvais]

Interesting take.
What particular aspects of the paper drew you to that view?

I assume he's referring to this article which points at the paper.

Why do so many professional, middle-class Brits insist they're working class? | Sam Friedman

LSE’s new study shows how our fetishisation of meritocracy makes privileged people frame their lives as an uphill struggle, explains academic Sam Friedman

www.theguardian.com

It's an entirely identity-based take on class, with fuck all structural analysis on e.g. a Marxist basis.

Suprisingly, the comments on the Facebook Graun post were actually quite good at pointing this out to people.

 

[brogdale]

I had no idea that a sociological paper on class would be at all controversial.

 

[chilango]

Economic Position versus Cultural Identity and the whole spectrum of possibilities between them.

Various forms of capital and their inheritability.

 

[kebabking]

If I see something green and sloppy, and assume it's mushy peas rather than guacamole, does that make me working class?

 

[Pickman's model]

It's been a consistent theme in the Guardian since the early 80's.

1880s i think

 

[NoXion]

Define membership of the "working class" income?, employment type?, wearing a flat cap and calling everyone luv? having a strong northern accent?

This, so much. I never went to Uni and have never worked a "professional" job, but if I go anywhere north of Birmingham I get called "posh" because of my accent. I know that I'm a proletarian in the Marxist sense, but that's not the definition the media uses.

 

[chilango]

There's lots of twittering about it. Largely, and superficially, as "identity". Haven't read the paper yet, not the subsequent arguments though.

 

[DotCommunist]

If I see something green and sloppy, and assume it's mushy peas rather than guacamole, does that make me working class?

being an officer makes you automatically not, unless you are richard sharpe

 

[brogdale]

There's lots of twittering about it. Largely, and superficially, as "identity". Haven't read the paper yet, not the subsequent arguments though.

I think some of the academic traction is derived from the fairly self-referential (disciplinary) nature of conclusions like this:

This concept, we have shown, helps us understand that many Britons understand their class origins, and sense of self, as constituted in ways that elide the conventional conceptual lens of sociologists.

 

[VfromtheG]

Upper and middle classas are an annoyance within the working class movement. They are the problem. seem to spend a lot of time debating what class is in a transparent attempt to muddy waters ...see theory section .

Also they hate being called out on their privileged university warped neo-liberal perspective ... which is why I do it consistently.

Ok bit of a broad brush . As long as they check their obvious privalidge they are ok.

 

[Sue]

I've heard various people equate being 'Northern' with being working class. It's very strange.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

being an officer makes you automatically not, unless you are richard sharpe

'Fake working class basteds!'

 

[DotCommunist]

'Fake working class basteds!'

damn their eyes

 

[brogdale]

If I see something green and sloppy, and assume it's mushy peas rather than guacamole, does that make me working class?

Only if you're hanging out with the monkey hangers.

 

[Kevbad the Bad]

If I see something green and sloppy, and assume it's mushy peas rather than guacamole, does that make me working class?

Mushy peas? We used to dream of mushy peas...

 

[prunus]

I think some of the academic traction is derived from the fairly self-referential (disciplinary) nature of conclusions like this:

This concept, we have shown, helps us understand that many Britons understand their class origins, and sense of self, as constituted in ways that elide the conventional conceptual lens of sociologists.

Do they mean elude?

 

[tim]

If I see something green and sloppy, and assume it's mushy peas rather than guacamole, does that make me working class?

No, just Northern

 

[Pickman's model]

Do they mean elude?

tbh i am not sure either word quite works

 

[hitmouse]

Apparently the categories used are "employers, managers, professionals and higher supervisors (who may be regarded as the middle class), intermediate, small employers, own account workers, lower supervisory and lower technical workers (intermediate class) and routine and semi-routine workers (working class)." There doesn't seem to be much information given about how those categories are defined - is a nurse routine, semi-routine, lower technical or a professional? Oh, and they add that "working class occupations are usually thought to amount nowadays to only around a quarter of the population..., 60% still claim to be ‘working class’ when asked to express a class identity." So it seems like some of this is the study authors complaining that there are still too many people claiming to be working class when it should only be a quarter of the population.
There's a Principal Skinner meme to be had there - "am I so out of touch? No, it's the people identifying as working class who are wrong."
"Those who identify as working class are more likely than those who identify as middle class to say that there is a wide divide between social classes (82% compared with 70%). People who see society as divided between a large disadvantaged group and a small privileged elite feel more working class regardless of their actual class position." is another key finding - seems like them complaining about the fact that some people still have a structural/antagonistic class analysis.

EDIT: Oh wait lol that's what I get for following Guardian links - I was reading and responding to this Evans/Mellon British Social Attitudes study, which is linked in the Guardian article above, but seems to be a totally different piece of research to the Friedman/O'Brien/McDonald LSE study in the OP.

 

[Steel Icarus]

I remember Grace Dent saying as a kid she was working class by saying we didn't have any books