tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post1181755486192796204..comments2024-01-26T10:20:37.836+00:00Comments on Diary of a Goldfish: A working class hero is something to beThe Goldfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15213378454070776331noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-32342059508730613972008-04-01T15:14:00.000+01:002008-04-01T15:14:00.000+01:00Howdy!I'm a younger American, and never really tho...Howdy!<BR/><BR/>I'm a younger American, and never really thought of class too much. My parents had split while I was younger, one had never gone for further education, while the other received a Masters in musical performance (or something similar, not sure what the exact was). But neither made much money; I lived with my mother who ended up entering into low level clerical work, and my father played the organ for a church with little money, earning only enough for many years for a small garage apartment. As my brothers and I grew up, we were told from the start to gain education we had to work ourselves through it. But we were always told that we were lower middle class (huh?).<BR/><BR/>There's so many things to take into consideration for class. For example, I work as a host and server for well below median wage, but I also live in Florida which is a higher class place to live (usually) but also in an semi-urban environment (larger city, but not New York or London size). I am hoping to enter higher education, but haven't yet. <BR/><BR/>With talk here of the middle class being squeezed out into mostly lower and a few upper class there's a lot of talk about this intangible idea that I just don't see much, seeming to blur more and more. I mostly just see people who are trying to make it or have already made it.Anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08204389725302053153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-28407619502602288202008-03-28T21:05:00.000+00:002008-03-28T21:05:00.000+00:00This is very entertaining and fascinating for an A...This is very entertaining and fascinating for an American to read.<BR/><BR/>Incidentally, in my family my sister, who is 10 years older than I, was mostly in the X group, but by the time I graduated high school I was firmly in the Y group. Yes, it was totally about money, which my father had once made enough of to pay for at least half my sister's education, but which was all gone by the time I came along to claim the same privilege.<BR/><BR/>Also incidentally, my parents liked to tell us that we were Americans and therefore had no class system. They had lots of pet ideas about America that it was pointless to argue with them; they were quite convinced. I honestly don't know the truth on this one. I think money has much to do with it here, but then we don't really think in terms of class as much as we have social circles built around things like financial status, race, and level of education or some combination of the three.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-36098391663789805352008-03-19T11:29:00.000+00:002008-03-19T11:29:00.000+00:00Where I came from... well, at first, my parents we...Where I came from... well, at first, my parents were probably lower-middle-class, both "educated", both working in financial services industry. I came along, my mum stayed home to look after the kiddies, my dad started his own business and was moderately successful for a time. Middle class.<BR/><BR/>Then when I was about 10 dad went bankrupt and my parents split up, and I became a kid from a benefits-dependent single-parent family living in a crumbly house in the dodgy end of town. Underclass but for the lack of a criminal record...<BR/><BR/>I'm Mary-class :) confusion reigns triumphant!Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11639094548415759560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-41939984869831963072008-03-19T08:17:00.000+00:002008-03-19T08:17:00.000+00:00The demographic would undoubtedly consinder me to ...The demographic would undoubtedly consinder me to be Middle-class. I'm a civil servant and a manager to boot. I own my own flat (although technically the bank own it for tne next 20 odd years) but here is the rub.<BR/><BR/>I have worked for 25 years and I can't afford to buy a property big enough to house me, Lily and Sybil. Does this make me 'working class'. I work after all.<BR/><BR/>I have no real truck with the class system. It has always been a way of 'the powers that be' to pigeon hole people and also a way of some to believe they were better than others by way of birth right. I have always failed to understand why someone should believe they are better than someone else because they went to a better school than me or had more money than me.I have therefore answered the above poll by associating myself with the proletariat. <BR/><BR/>Up the workers and down with the ruling classes ;-)marmiteboyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06727386811098683743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-83991755435478918152008-03-18T13:26:00.000+00:002008-03-18T13:26:00.000+00:00I think class is a relative concept. When I was a...I think class is a relative concept. When I was at school I was constantly labelled as "posh" because my Dad had a job and I wasn't entitled to free school meals. When I was at uni, I then suffered from being labelled "common" by the parents of my then boyfriend who thought a Brummie wasn't good enough for their son :( As an accountant I guess I'm now officially middle class, but I was brought up in a two bedroomed terrace and spent my summers visiting the Irish relatives of my immigrant mother, some of whom lived in cottages without sanitation....<BR/><BR/>I think these days even in Britain the class divides are much more blurred than they once were, and it is hopefully no longer so terribly important to which strata of society one belongs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-31587763453271772382008-03-18T12:56:00.000+00:002008-03-18T12:56:00.000+00:00Mary, I guess I tend to think about these things b...Mary, I guess I tend to think about these things being more about where you <I>came from</I>. The kind of circumstances, opportunities and attitudes you grew up with.<BR/><BR/>For example, I don't think you've ever mentioned going to university; whilst plenty of working class people go to university, few middle class people, especially of our generation, did not.<BR/><BR/>Donimo - it is strange how circumstances change people - and the way that circumstances can dramatically alter a person's perspective. Being unable to work because of a medical condition really does change everything.<BR/><BR/>I haven't seen any of the programmes, but judging by the advertising, the whole concept of the White Season seems to be about stirring up a sense of resentment. <BR/><BR/>Apologies for getting the name wrong, I was obviously thinking of the Bond Girl. ;-) I shall correct it next time I publish.The Goldfishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15213378454070776331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-28064834887979199342008-03-17T23:30:00.000+00:002008-03-17T23:30:00.000+00:00As with everything, a nuanced approach to identity...As with everything, a nuanced approach to identity politics is the most useful. Class does not equal income alone. Education, geography, job,family history and many other factors influence class status. My parents were both working class but they both worked hard to achieve middle class levels of income. But my dad remained the harder edged farm boy he always was while my mother cultivated a more refined style. My siblings and I went to University but now on disability pension, I live below the poverty line. It is certainly complex. <BR/><BR/>It seems like class stuff is even more complicated in England, as far as I can tell from over here!I don't know why the BBC header asks if white working class Britain is becoming invisible. It seems a bit inflammatory. <BR/><BR/>Oh, my name is Donimo and not Domino! :)D Phoenixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12525527107082626371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10557263.post-20283301815674493502008-03-17T19:31:00.000+00:002008-03-17T19:31:00.000+00:00I think I'd be anything from underclass to middle-...I think I'd be anything from underclass to middle-class depending on who was doing the considering and at exactly which point of my life of the last ten years they looked at.<BR/><BR/>I drink tea from a mug with milk and two sugars, I spent most of the last 3 years on benefit, I'm a divorcee, I have no criminal record, I want kids but not just yet, I have good literacy and reasonable manners but I use swear words sometimes, in appropriate company... any guesses?Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11639094548415759560noreply@blogger.com