How should we define working class, middle class and upper class? | Notes and Queries

ETHICAL CONUNDRUMS

How should we define working class, middle class and upper class?

PAID by the week, rent your house - working class. Paid by the month, own your own house - middle class. Don't have to work, inherited your house, plus estate - upper class.

Eric Robbie, Stroud, Glos.

THE difference between the classes is in their relationship with society's institutions. The working classes do what the system sets out for them. The middle classes invent, operate and belong to the system. The upper classes tolerate the system but know the right people to speak to if they feel the need to bypass any part of it. The underclass (often overlooked) don't have any relationship with the system at all. Similarly, for example, working-class attitudes on school are: "Keep your head down and your mouth shut - if they don't notice you, then you can't get into trouble." Middle class on school: "Your school is there to help you learn, and teachers are there to answer your questions." Upper class on school: "It's a pity you have to spend your time with second-rate people but you'll get the real lessons of life here, when you come home for the hols."

J Nieman, Muswell Hill, London N10.

THE last two of these three terms are confusing. The important division is between working class and owning class. Members of the owning class own enough so that they do not have to work to stay alive, while members of the working class have to sell their work to survive. The point about the owning class is not that they are richer than the rest of us, but that they own the things that generate wealth without them having to work: essentially, land and buildings (giving them income from rent) and businesses (giving them income from the sale of goods or services). The only sure way to ensure your place in the owning class is to choose your parents carefully.

Raphael Salkie, Brighton.

RICH HALL, a US stand-up comic, explained: when you go to work in the morning, if your name is on the front of the building, you're upper class; if your name is on your desk, you're middle class; and if your name is on your shirt, you're working class.

Bill Harvey, Edinburgh.

I grew up living in council houses, I went to the local comprehensive and now I am a groundworker for a building firm. I get paid weekly and I live in rented accomodation. This should, in most peoples' opinion, make me Working Class. However, I am well educated, well read and enjoy classical music and fine art. I speak with what would be called a "posh" accent and I have a double-barrelled surname. Indeed, all my fellow builders consider me to be Upper Middle Class (and therefore not one of them). This shows me how utterly pointless defining people by Class is.

Douglas Mitchell-Burns, Gillingham

People belong to that class which they FEEL they belong to. Some may feel they belong to no class - as with ethnicity.

Reg Jenkins, Hove, E Sussex

I agree with Reg Jenkins. I'm always being told that I have no class.

Tim, Leicester, UK

There only can be one class, the class of humanity. We are all different but equal of worth as living human beings. It's time you Brits get that in your head!

Haldun Musazlioglu, London, UK

Not only missing the point but also accusing 'you Brits' of only having the one head between us. Which would put us all in the same class, probably.

Paul Tracy, Hull UK

If you can walk into work in the morning and be told your labour will no longer be paid for, so you are out of a job AND have no other meaningful way to get money to live off then you are working class. You may have been under the impression you are middle class, because of education, participation on managing institutions and systems, because you have disposable income, liking classical music, etc. But the bottom line is no means of survival but the job you are employed to do, then you are functionally working class!!!

Val Knight, Brighton East Sussex

10 minutes ago, I watched my mom serve up tuscan bean soup to my dad. He got up from the table and made himself a jam sandwich. There's a clue in that somewhere?

Leo Lawrence, Preston, UK

I agree with Frances. It has everything to do with children and tattoos.

Billy Sugar, London UK

I was born in the slums of Derptown, but I dont work for anyone, I use my brain to make money, I answer to no one and I own my own house. What class am I? Top Class. Human race is pathetic with its class systems. Society is a house of cards and we are all just animals on an insignificant rock.

derp derpington, derptown derpland

If your dad was a lord and your mum a servant, what's your class? I belong to no class.

Mike Berry, Belfast

If you buy the biggest television you can possibly afford, despite the size of your living room, you are working class. If you buy an adequate television, you are middle class. Im not sure what sort of television an upper class person has, possibly it is inherited at some point.

Big P, Hertford England

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