Clinging On...the middle class declines on Tuesday 3rd Feb

[ardcarp]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2015/05/clinging-on-the-decline-of-the-middle-classes

[teamsaint]

the problems of buying a house on two Doctors salaries?
really?
even in London?

Hmmmmm.....

the problems of shifting income trends are very real, at various levels...

Perhaps another place to look might be with the proliferation of unpaid internships that only kids from upper middle class backgrounds can realistically undertake.

[french frank]

What happens to it on the 4th February?

[ardcarp]

Worrying, isn't it?

[french frank]

Well, this is it.

[Flosshilde]

Declines what?

[french frank]

Getting back to the programme: the hypothesis that the 'middle class' is declining and that there will be just a 'super rich elite' on one side and the rest of us on the other seems to focus exclusively (does it? predominantly?) on the economic factor. But I feel 'middle class' in spite of the fact that I have much less to live on than many of the 'working class' or even wealthy pensioners.

Just how important is culture in establishing 'class'? I always thought it the most important factor.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

What happens to it on the 4th February?

Some of it reaches 55


Still - better than the only available alternative.

[teamsaint]

There was a report somewhere recently , wish I could remember where, which suggested that a particularly significant development is the rise of an elite upper middle class.....Top BBC executives, directors of PLCs,folk on really big salaries say £200k plus, while wages for the rest of the middle classes stagnate.

Re culture, I would suggest that is changing. It probably reflects a desireable solid middle class status these days to have travelled widely when young, or be able to afford a season ticket at a PL ground, ( for example)as much as going to watch shakespeare, or being able to Whistle the best tunes from the Eroica.

nontheless, these things are hard to pin down, and there are stratas of society where attendance at particular universities is pretty much the sole criteria in class determination.......well there are round here, anyway.....

[gradus]

I frequently whistle the best tunes from the Eroica and much else besides, I am a member of the whistling middle classes. Does the working class whistle anymore? I hope not.

[teamsaint]

I frequently whistle the best tunes from the Eroica and much else besides, I am a member of the whistling middle classes. Does the working class whistle anymore? I hope not.

Oh, I thought that was a cunning trick, I put in there.

Surely the middle classes hum,and the working classes whistle? Perhaps the working classes are all too busy listening to very expensive portable devices to whistle? I will ask Beef Oven!, he knows about these things.

I whistle a lot, but very badly, and sometimes realise I am whistling things I dont think I like.

Somebody wolf whistled at Barbara Hannigan at the Rattle LSO concert the other week. i' m not sure where that leaves the theory.

[eighthobstruction]

I frequently whistle the best tunes from the Eroica and much else besides, I am a member of the whistling middle classes. Does the working class whistle anymore? I hope not.

I am a whistler (in my eyes/ears of some distinction)....improvisation on the scenes of vast landscape, with a touch of the smokey nightclub....specialising in the inaudible whistle....such a versatile mode....(not to mention the percussive whistle - oops I did)....well I might have been m/c if it had been the maverick class....

....football and tele + computer games are putting pay the m/c....luckily I never was a member on purpose <no matter how many proper novels/histories I have read>....having been dumbed down early on....

....<improvisation on
'What we need is a great big melting pot> .....SOUP anyone?....

[Anna]

I am lower middle class. I know my place.

Seriously, I'm with frenchie on this, I think class is defined by culture, not economics. Some of the 'elite,' the really wealthy (especially the nouveau-riche) are, to be honest, terrible oiks aren't they?

BBC test what class you are: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22000973

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

SOUP ... anyone?

kitchen is shut dear the cook's off ....

this is a good read about stratification and class

[richardfinegold]

Getting back to the programme: the hypothesis that the 'middle class' is declining and that there will be just a 'super rich elite' on one side and the rest of us on the other seems to focus exclusively (does it? predominantly?) on the economic factor. But I feel 'middle class' in spite of the fact that I have much less to live on than many of the 'working class' or even wealthy pensioners.

Just how important is culture in establishing 'class'? I always thought it the most important factor.

I don't think so , FF. When I think in these terms I think of the purely monetary issues. Many people in the lower socio economic sectors have valued Culture, particularly in the States, with our strong immigrant traditions. In my Parents Generation many Eastern European immigrants would be dirt poor but strongly appeciative of Classical Music and the other Humanities. Today Asian immigrants have continued that. Meanwhile, many very affluent People are Cultural nabobs.
The gap between the very rich and every one else has never been wider in this Country and I believe in Europe as well.
The best advice for young people now is to look for employment in a career in industries that cater to the needs of the 1 percent. Dog walking and Yacht Cleaning represent the Future.