Social class in the

United Kingdom
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The social structure of the United Kingdom has historically

been highly influenced by the concept of social class, which
continues to affect British society today.[1][2] The biggest current
study of social class in the United Kingdom is the Great British
Class Survey.[3]

British society, like its European neighbours and most societies in

world history, was traditionally (before the Industrial Revolution)
divided hierarchically within a system that involved the hereditary
transmission of occupation, social status and political influence.[4]
Since the advent of industrialisation, this system has been in a
constant state of revision, and new factors other than birth (for
example, education) are now a greater part of creating identity in
Britain.

Although definitions of social class in the United Kingdom vary

and are highly controversial, most are influenced by factors of
wealth, occupation, and education. Until the Life Peerages Act
1958, the Parliament of the United Kingdom was organised on a
class basis, with the House of Lords representing the hereditary
upper class and the House of Commons representing everybody
else. The British monarch is usually viewed as being at the top of
the social class structure.

British society has experienced significant change since the

Second World War, including an expansion of higher education
and home ownership, a shift towards a service-dominated
economy, mass immigration, a changing role for women and a
more individualistic culture. These changes have had a
considerable impact on the social landscape.[5] However, claims
that the UK has become a classless society have frequently been
met with skepticism.[6][7][8] Research has shown that social status
in the United Kingdom is influenced by, although separate from,
social class.[9]

This change in terminology corresponded to a general decrease

in significance ascribed to hereditary characteristics, and
increase in the significance of wealth and income as indicators of
position in the social hierarchy.[10][11]

The "class system" in the United Kingdom is widely studied in

academia but no definition of the word class is universally agreed
to. Some scholars may adopt the Marxist view of class where
persons are classified by their relationship to means of
production, as owners or as workers, which is the most important
factor in that person's social rank. Alternatively, Max Weber
developed a three-component theory of stratification under which
"a person’s power can be shown in the social order through their
status, in the economic order through their class, and in the
political order through their party.[12] Besides these academic
models, there are myriad popular explanations of class in Britain.
In the work Class, Jilly Cooper quotes a shopkeeper on the
subject of bacon: "When a woman asks for back I call her
'madam'; when she asks for streaky I call her 'dear'."[13]

Contents

● 1
● History
●
● 2
● Formal classifications
○ 2.1
○ Early modern
○
○ 2.2
○ 20th century
○
○ 2.3
○ 21st century
○
○ 2.4
○ Great British Class Survey
■ 2.4.1
■ Results
■ 2.4.1.1
■ Elite
■
■ 2.4.1.2
■ Established middle class
■
■ 2.4.1.3
■ Technical middle class
■
■ 2.4.1.4
■ New affluent workers
■
■ 2.4.1.5
■ Traditional working class
■
■ 2.4.1.6
■ Emergent service sector
■
■ 2.4.1.7
■ Precariat
■
● 3
● Informal classifications and stereotypes
○ 3.1
○ Underclass
○
○ 3.2
○ Working class
■ 3.2.1
■ Unskilled and semi-skilled working class
■
■ 3.2.2
■ Skilled working class
■
○ 3.3
○ Middle class
■ 3.3.1
■ Lower middle class
■
■ 3.3.2
■ Middle class
■
■ 3.3.3
■ Upper middle class
■
○ 3.4
○ Upper class
○
● 4
● Accent and language and social class
○ 4.1
○ Received Pronunciation
○
○ 4.2
○ U and non-U
○
○ 4.3
○ English regional dialect
○
● 5
● Heraldry and social class
●
● 6
● Criticisms
●
● 7
● See also
○ 7.1
○ UK social stereotypes
○
● 8
 ● References
●
● 9
● Bibliography
●
● 10
● Further reading
●
● 11
● External links
●

History[edit]
The United Kingdom never experienced the sudden
dispossession of the estates of the nobility, which occurred in
much of Europe after the French Revolution or in the early 20th
century, and the British nobility, in so far as it existed as a distinct
social class, integrated itself with those with new wealth derived
from commercial and industrial sources more comfortably than in
most of Europe. Opportunities resulting from consistent
economic growth and the expanding British Empire also enabled
some from much poorer backgrounds (generally men who had
managed to acquire some education) to rise through the class
system.

The historian David Cannadine sees the period around 1880 as a

peak after which the position of the old powerful families declined
rapidly, from a number of causes, reaching a nadir in the years
after World War II, symbolised by the widespread destruction of
country houses. However their wealth, if not their political power,
has rebounded strongly since the 1980s, benefiting from greatly
increased values of the land and fine art which many owned in
quantity.
Meanwhile, the complex British middle classes had also been
enjoying a long period of growth and increasing prosperity, and
achieving political power at the national level to a degree unusual
in Europe. They avoided the strict stratification of many
Continental middle classes, and formed a large and amorphous
group closely connected at their edges with both the gentry and
aristocracy and the labouring classes. In particular the great
financial centre of the City of London was open to outsiders to an
unusual degree, and continually expanding and creating new
employment.

The British working class, on the other hand, was not notable in
Europe for prosperity,[14] and early modern British travellers often
remarked on the high standard of living of the farmworkers and
artisans of the Netherlands, though the peasantry in other
countries such as France were remarked on as poorer than their
English equivalents. Living standards certainly improved greatly
over the period, more so in England than other parts of the
United Kingdom, but the Industrial Revolution was marked by
extremely harsh working conditions and poor housing until about
the middle of the 19th century.

Formal classifications[edit]

Early modern[edit]
At the time of the formation of Great Britain in 1707, England and
Scotland had similar class-based social structures. Some basic
categories covering most of the British population around 1500 to
1700 are as follows.[15][16]
C Chara
l cteris
a tics
s
s

C Cottag
o ers
t were
t a step
a below
g husba
e ndme
r n, in
o that
r they
l had to
a work
b for
o others
u for
r wages
e .
r Lowes
; t order
s of the
e workin
r g
v castes
a ;
n perha
t ps
vagab
onds,
drifter
s,
crimin
als or
other
outcas
ts
would
be
lower.
Slaver
y in
Engla
nd
died
out by
1200
AD.
Most
young
wome
n of
middle
and
lower
ranks
beca
me
serva
nts to
neigh
boring
familie
s for a
few
years
before
marria
ge.
Serva
nts in
husba
ndry
were
unmar
ried
men
hired
on
annua
l
contra
cts as
farm
 worke
[17]
rs.

H A
u trades
s man
b or
a farmer
n who
d either
m rented
a a
n home
( or
o owned
r very
o little
t land
h was a
e husba
r ndma
t n. In
r feudal
a times,
d this
e perso
s n
m likely
e would
n have
) been
a serf,
and
paid a
large
portio
n of
his
work
or
produ
ce to
the
land-h
 olding
lord.

Y The
e yeom
o an
m class
a gener
n ally
includ
ed
small
farmer
s who
held a
reaso
nable
amou
nt of
land
and
were
able
to
protec
t
thems
elves
from
neigh
bourin
g
lords
et
cetera
. They
played
a
militar
y role
as
longb
owme
n
before
 1500.
The
village
shopk
eeper
was
placed
betwe
en
yeom
an
and
gentry
in the
moder
n
social
hierar
[18
chy.
]

C Clergy
l were
e mostly
r locate
g d in
y rural
areas,
where
they
were
under
the
directi
on of
the
gentry.
[19]
A
bishop
had
the
status
of
nobilit
 y, and
sat in
the
House
of
Lords,
but his
son
did
not
inherit
the
[20
title.
]

G The
e gentry
n by
t definiti
r on
y held
/ enoug
g h
e assets
n to live
t on
l land
e rents
m withou
a t
n workin
g, and
so
could
be
well-e
ducat
ed. If
they
worke
d it
was in
law,
as
priests
, in
politic
s, or
in
other
educa
ted
pursui
ts
withou
t
manu
al
labour
. The
term
Esquir
e was
used
for
lando
wners
who
were
not
knight
ed, a
term
which
later
beca
me
Squire
and
referre
d to
as the
Squira
rchy.
They
typical
ly
posse
ssed
estate
 s
worke
d by
tenant
s and
labore
rs. It
was
presti
gious
to
purch
ase a
militar
y or
naval
commi
ssion
for a
likely
[2
son.
1]

P Urban
r profes
o sional
f s
e includ
s ed
s lawyer
i s, with
o the
n highes
a t
l status
a going
n to the
d Londo
b n
u barrist
s ers
i and
n the
e Inns
s of
s Court.
m Physic
a ians
n were
rising
in
status
as
profes
sionali
sation
and
educa
tion
built
upon
rapidly
increa
sing
knowl
edge
bases.
Merch
ants
and
busine
ssmen
could
range
in
status
from
middle
to
high,
depen
ding
on
their
wealth
and
import
ance.
For
higher
 social
presti
ge,
they
would
buy a
lande
d
estate
or
negoti
ate for
a
knight
hood
or a
baron
[2
etcy.
2][23][2

4]

K The
n role of
i knight
g hood
h was
t very
import
ant in
the
medie
val
period
, with
the
role of
organi
sing
local
militar
y
forces
on
behalf
 of a
senior
noble.
Howe
ver, by
1600
the
title
was
an
honori
fic
one,
often
grante
d to
outsta
nding
comb
at
soldier
s in
the
king's
[
army.
25]

B A
a baron
r et
o held a
n heredi
e tary
t style
( of
h knight
e hood,
r giving
e the
d highes
i t rank
t below
a a
r
y peera
, ge.
n
o
n
-
p
e
e
r
)

A The
r ranks
i range
s d from
t baron
o to
c duke.
r The
a rules
c of
y succe
: ssion
P were
e elabor
e ate;
r usuall
( y,
N howev
o er, the
b eldest
l son
e inherit
) ed the
title
and
the
wealth
.
When
the
male
line
expire
d, so
too
did
the
title
(but
the
family
kept
the
land).
The
peers
were
gener
ally
large
land
holder
s,
often
also
ownin
ga
house
in
Londo
n.
They
sat in
the
House
of
Lords
and
often
played
a role
in
[
court.
26]

Irelan
d and
Scotla
nd
 had
entirel
y
separ
ate
aristoc
racies;
their
nobles
sat in
their
own
parlia
ments
but
not in
the
Englis
h
House
of
Lords.
[27][28]

R A
o memb
y er of
a the
l royal
family,
a
prince
, or a
close
relativ
e of
the
queen
or the
king.

20th century[edit]
Main article: NRS social grade
The social grade classification created by the National
Readership Survey over 50 years ago achieved widespread
usage during the 20th century in marketing and government
reports and statistics.

Occupation

Higher managerial,
administrative or
professional

Intermediate managerial,
administrative or
professional

Supervisory or clerical
and junior managerial,
administrative or
professional

Skilled manual workers

Semi and unskilled

manual workers

Casual or lowest grade

workers, pensioners and
others who depend on
the state for their income

21st century[edit]
Main article: National Statistics Socio-economic Classification

The UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) produced a new

socio-economic classification in 2001.[29] The reason was to
provide a more comprehensive and detailed classification to take
newer employment patterns into account.

Descrip
tion

Higher
professi
onal and
manage
rial
occupati
ons

Lower
manage
rial and
professi
onal
occupati
ons

Interme
diate
 occupati
ons

Small
employe
rs and
own
account
workers

Lower
supervis
ory and
technica
l
occupati
ons

Semi-ro
utine
occupati
ons

Routine
occupati
ons

Never
worked
and
long-ter
m
unemplo
yed

Great British Class Survey[edit]

Main article: Great British Class Survey
On 2 April 2013 analysis of the results of a survey, [30] which was
conducted by the BBC in 2011 and developed in collaboration
with academic experts, was published online in the journal
Sociology.[31][32][33][34][35] The results released were based on a
survey of 160,000 residents of the United Kingdom most of
whom lived in England and described themselves as "white."
Class was defined and measured according to the amount and
kind of economic, cultural, and social resources, "capitals",
reported. Economic capital was defined as income and assets;
cultural capital as amount and type of cultural interests and
activities, and social capital as the quantity and social status of
their friends, family and personal and business contacts.[34] This
theoretical framework was inspired by that of Pierre Bourdieu,
who published his theory of social distinction in 1979.

Results[edit]

Analysis of the survey revealed seven classes: a wealthy "elite;"

a prosperous salaried "middle class" consisting of professionals
and managers; a class of technical experts; a class of ‘new
affluent’ workers, and at the lower levels of the class structure, in
addition to an ageing traditional working class, a ‘precariat’
characterised by very low levels of capital, and a group of
emergent service workers. The fracturing of the middle sectors of
the social structure into distinguishable factions separated by
generational, economic, cultural, and social characteristics was
considered notable by the authors of the research.[36][37]

Elite[edit]
Members of the elite class are the top 6% of British society with
very high economic capital (particularly savings), high social
capital, and very 'highbrow' cultural capital. Occupations such as
chief executive officers, IT and telecommunications directors,
marketing and sales directors; functional managers and
directors, solicitors, barristers and judges, financial managers,
higher education teachers,[38] dentists, doctors and advertising

and public relations directors were strongly represented.[39]

However, those in the established and 'acceptable' professions,
such as academia, law and medicine are more traditional upper
middle class identifiers, with IT and sales being the preserve of
the economic if not social middle class.

Established middle class[edit]

Members of the established middle class, about 25% of British

society, reported high economic capital, high status of mean
social contacts, and both high highbrow and high emerging
cultural capital. Well-represented occupations included electrical
engineers, occupational therapists, social workers, midwives,
environmental professionals, quality assurance and regulatory
professionals, town planning officials, and special needs teaching
professionals.[40]

Technical middle class[edit]

The technical middle class, about 6% of British society, shows

high economic capital, very high status of social contacts, but
relatively few contacts reported, and moderate cultural capital.
Occupations represented include medical radiographers, aircraft
pilots, pharmacists, natural and social science professionals and
physical scientists, and business, research, and administrative
positions.[41]

New affluent workers[edit]

New affluent workers, about 15% of British society, show

moderately good economic capital, relatively poor status of social
contacts, though highly varied, and moderate highbrow but good
emerging cultural capital. Occupations include electricians and
electrical fitters; postal workers; retail cashiers and checkout
operatives; plumbers and heating and ventilation technicians;
sales and retail assistants; housing officers; kitchen and catering
assistants; quality assurance technicians.[41]

Traditional working class[edit]

The traditional working class, about 14% of British society, shows

relatively poor economic capital, but some housing assets, few
social contacts, and low highbrow and emerging cultural capital.
Typical occupations include electrical and electronics
technicians; care workers; cleaners; van drivers; electricians;
residential, day, and domiciliary care [41]

Emergent service sector[edit]

The emergent service sector, about 19% of British society, shows

relatively poor economic capital, but reasonable household
income, moderate social contacts, high emerging (but low
highbrow) cultural capital. Typical occupations include bar staff,
chefs, nursing auxiliaries and assistants, assemblers and routine
operatives, care workers, elementary storage occupations,
customer service occupations, and musicians.[41]
Precariat[edit]

The precariat, about 15% of British society, shows poor

economic capital, and the lowest scores on every other criterion.
Although some members of this class are unemployed, many
hold jobs.[42] Members of this class include about 6% of all
cleaners, 5% of all van drivers, 4% of all care workers, 4% of all
carpenters and joiners, 3% of all caretakers, 3% of all leisure and
travel service occupations, 3% of all shopkeepers and
proprietors, and 2% of all retail cashiers.[43][44]

Informal classifications and stereotypes[edit]

Underclass[edit]

Many unemployed people rely on Universal Credit and are housed in social
housing, such as council estates

See also: Underclass

The term "underclass" is used to refer to those people who are

"chronically unemployed", and in many instances have been for
generations.[45]

There is a contention that there are homologies between the

meaning context and tenor of the abusive word "chav" and the
term "underclass" in media discourses: the obvious difference
being the former relates to supposed dispositions of a social
class in consumption and the later to difficulties of a social class
in productive labour relations.[46] The educational special adviser,
Charlie Taylor follows Michael Gove in conceiving of an
"educational underclass", and felt the majority of those involved
in the 2011 England riots could be considered to be members.[47]
The BBC journalist, Mark Easton, felt that, in the justificatory
responses he heard in the aftermath of those riots, it would be
easy to concur with the politician Iain Duncan Smith's 2008
theory of "an underclass" that exhibited "creeping
expansion".[48][49][50]

Working class[edit]

Unskilled and semi-skilled working class[edit]

Traditionally, these people would have worked as manual

labourers. They would typically have left school as soon as
legally permissible and not have been able to take part in higher
education.[51]

Many would go on to work in semi-skilled and unskilled jobs in

raw materials extraction/processing, in assembly and in machine
shops of Britain's major car factories, steel mills, coal mines,
foundries and textile mills in the highly industrialised cities and pit
towns and villages in the West Midlands, North of England,
South Wales and the Scottish Lowlands. However, since the
mid-1970s and early-1980s, de-industrialisation has shattered
many of these communities, resulting in a complete deterioration
in quality of life and a reversal in rising living standards for the
industrial working class. Many either dropped in status to the
working poor or fell into permanent reliance on welfare
dependence. Some dropped out altogether and joined the black
market economy, while a few managed, often through
geographic fortune of other industries in the local area, to ascend
to the lower middle class.

It has been argued[52] that with the decline in manufacturing and

increase in the service sector, lower-paid office workers are
effectively working-class. Call centres in particular, have sprung
up in former centres of industry. However, since the early-2000s;
there has been a trend for many call centres to close down in the
UK and outsource their jobs to India and other jurisdictions, as
part of cost-cutting measures.[53][54]

The Mosaic 2010 groups where the proportion of residents in

NRS social grade D was rated "high" in the 2010 Mosaic Index
are "Residents with sufficient incomes in right-to-buy social
housing" and "Families in low-rise social housing with high levels
of benefit need".

Fictional stereotypes include: Andy Capp and Albert Steptoe; the

latter is not only unaspirational himself but also crushes the
aspirations of his son Harold.

Terraced housing in Loughborough, built for the Victorian working classes.

During the post-war era, White working-class Britons witnessed a
big rise in their standard of living. As noted by Denys Blakeway in
2008:

"The White working-class have prospered hugely since the war.

They have experienced unparalleled growth in disposable
income and today they are now richer than their parents and
grandparents could ever have imagined. There are shared
values in White working-class culture but I think it is incredibly
difficult to put your finger on exactly what it is that defines "White
working-class" because a lot of them are shared by the middle
class, such as football and the pub."[55]

Skilled working class[edit]

This class of people would be in skilled industrial jobs or

tradesmen, traditionally in the construction and manufacturing
industry, but in recent decades showing entrepreneurial
development as the stereotypical white van man, or
self-employed contractors.[56] These people would speak in
regional accents and have completed craft apprenticeships
rather than a university education. The only Mosaic 2010 group
where the proportion of residents in NRS social grade C2 was
rated "high" in the 2010 Mosaic Index is "Residents with sufficient
incomes in right-to-buy social housing".[57]

Middle class[edit]
 A suburban street in Mill Hill, London, built for the middle classes

Lower middle class[edit]

See also: Middle England

The British lower middle class primarily consists of office

workers. In the nineteenth century, the middle and lower middle
classes were able to live in suburbs due to the development of
horse-drawn omnibuses and railways.[58] One radical Liberal
politician (Charles Masterman), writing in 1909 used "the Middle
Classes" and "the suburbans" synonymously.[58] In the early
twenty-first century, there were no Mosaic 2010 geodemographic
groups where the proportion of residents in NRS social grade C1
was rated as "high" or "low" in the 2010 Index; it was rated as
"average" in all Mosaic groups,[59] whether these were of a
suburban, rural, city or small-town nature.

They are typically employed in relatively unskilled service sector

jobs (such as in retail sales or travel agents), or work in local
government or are factory and other industrial building
owners.[dubious – discuss] Prior to the expansion in higher education
from the 1960s onwards, members of this class generally did not
have a university education.
Members of the lower middle class typically speak in local
accents, although relatively mild. Votes in this area are split and
minority parties will have a stronger proportion. The comedy
character Hyacinth Bucket is a satirical stereotype for this social
group.

Middle class[edit]

The middle class in Britain often consists of people with tertiary

education and may have been educated at either state or private
schools.[56]

Typical jobs include: accountants, architects, solicitors,

surveyors, social workers, teachers, managers, specialist IT
workers, engineers, doctors, university-educated nurses and civil
servants. Displays of conspicuous consumption are considered
vulgar by them; instead they prefer to channel excess income
into investments, especially property.

Members of the middle class are often politically and socially

engaged (a Mori poll in 2005 found 70% of grades AB voted at
the 2005 general election compared to 54% of grades DE) and
might be regular churchgoers (a YouGov poll in 2014 found 62%
of those attending church at least once a month were NRS
grades ABC1), [60][61] might sit on local committees and governing
boards or stand for political office. Education is greatly valued by
the middle classes: they will make every effort to ensure their
children get offered a place at university; they may send their
children to a private school, hire a home tutor for out of school
hours so their child learns at a faster rate, or go to great lengths
to get their children enrolled into good state or selective grammar
schools; such as moving house into the catchment area.[62]
They also value culture and make up a significant proportion of
the book-buying and theatre-going public. They typically read
broadsheet newspapers rather than tabloids. The only Mosaic
2010 geodemographic type where the proportion of residents in
NRS social grade B was rated as "high" in the 2010 index was
"People living in brand new residential developments".[59] The
middle classes particularly of England and Wales are often
popularly referred to as "Middle England".[63]

The comedy character Margo Leadbetter is a satirical stereotype

for this group, as is Jilly Cooper's Howard Weybridge.[51]

Upper middle class[edit]

Harrow School. The public school is traditionally one of the key institutions of
[64]
the upper middle class in Britain.

The upper middle class in Britain broadly consists of people who

were born into families which have traditionally possessed high
incomes, although this group is defined more by family
background than by job or income. This stratum, in England, are
traditionally well-spoken using the Received Pronunciation
dialect natively.[citation needed]
The upper middle class are traditionally educated at independent
schools, preferably one of the "major" or "minor" "public
schools"[65][66] which themselves often have pedigrees going
back for hundreds of years and charge fees of as much as
£33,000 per year per pupil (as of 2014).[64][67]

A minority of upper-middle-class families may also have ancestry

that directly connects them to the upper classes. Armorial
bearings in the form of an escutcheon may denote such past
status. A lesser status historically directly relevant to the upper
middle class is that of squire or lord of the manor, however, these
property rights are no longer [68] prevalent.

Although such categorisations are not precise, popular

contemporary examples of upper-middle-class people may
include Boris Johnson,[69] Catherine, Duchess of

Cambridge,[70][71][72][73] David Cameron,[72][74] and Matthew

Pinsent (athlete).

Upper class[edit]
Main article: Upper class

Woburn Abbey, family seat of the Duke of Bedford

The British "upper class" is statistically very small and consists of
the peerage, gentry and hereditary landowners, among others.
Those in possession of a hereditary title; for example, a
dukedom, a marquessate, an earldom, a viscounty, a barony, a
baronetcy, or a Scottish lord of parliament are typically members
of the upper class.[citation needed]

Traditionally, upper class children were brought up at home by a

nanny for the first few years of their lives, and then home
schooled by private tutors. From the late-nineteenth century, it
became increasingly popular for upper-class families to mimic
the middle classes in sending their children to public schools,
which had been predominantly founded to serve the educational
needs of the middle class.[citation needed]

Nowadays, when children are old enough, they may attend a

prep school or pre-preparatory school. Moving into secondary
education, it is still commonplace for upper-class children to
attend a public school, although it is not unheard of for certain
families to send their children to state schools.[75] Continuing
education goals can vary from family to family; it may, in part, be
based on the educational history of the family. In the past, both
the British Army and Royal Navy have been the institutions of
choice. Equally, the clergy, as well as academia, particularly
within the arts and humanities divisions of Britain's oldest and
most prestigious universities (Oxbridge), have been traditional
career paths amongst the upper class - indeed until 1840 the
majority of Oxbridge graduates were destined for ordination.[76]

Accent and language and social class[edit]

Received Pronunciation[edit]
Received Pronunciation, also known as RP or BBC English, was
a term introduced as way of defining standard English, but the
accent has acquired a certain prestige from being associated
with the middle (and above) classes in the South East, the
wealthiest part of England. Use of RP by people from the
"regions" outside the South East can be indicative of a certain
educational background, such as public school or elocution
lessons.

"The Queen's English" was once a synonym for RP. However,

the Queen and some other older members of the aristocracy are
now perceived as speaking in a way that is both more
old-fashioned and higher class than "general" RP. Phoneticians
call this accent "Conservative Received Pronunciation". The
Queen's pronunciation has, however, also changed over the
years. The results of the Harrington & al. study[77] can be
interpreted either as a change, in a range not normally
perceptible, in the direction of the mainstream RP of a reference
corpus of 1980s newsreaders,[78] or showing subtle changes that
might well have been influenced by the vowels of Estuary
English.[79]

BBC English was also a synonym for RP; people seeking a

career in acting or broadcasting once learnt RP as a matter of
course if they did not speak it already. However, the BBC and
other broadcasters are now much more willing to use (indeed
desire to use) regional accents.[79]
U and non-U[edit]
Language and writing style have consistently been one of the
most reliable indicators of class, although pronunciation did not
become such an indicator until the late-nineteenth century. The
variations between the language employed by the upper classes
and non-upper classes has, perhaps, been best documented by
linguistics Professor Alan Ross's 1954 article on U and non-U
English usage, with "U" representing upper and upper middle
class vocabulary of the time, and "Non-U" representing lower
middle class vocabulary. The discussion was furthered in
Noblesse Oblige and featured contributions from, among others,
Nancy Mitford. The debate was revisited in the mid-1970s, in a
publication by Debrett's called U and Non-U Revisited. Ross also
contributed to this volume, and it is remarkable to notice how little
the language (amongst other factors) changed in the passing of a
quarter of a century.
English regional dialect[edit]
Main article: Regional accents of English

In England, the upper class or prestige dialect is almost always a

form of RP; however, some areas have their "own" prestige
dialect, distinct from both RP and the working-class dialect of the
region.

England has a wider variety of regional dialects than larger

English-speaking countries such as Australia or the United
States, and many of England's dialect have working class or
lower middle class connotations. However, there is a tradition of
linguistic study of dialects in England and many members of the
middle classes, such as Alexander John Ellis and Harold Orton,
were fascinated by the linguistics of working-class speech. Arthur
Balfour, a 19th-century politician and an aristocrat, gave a large
financial donation for the production of the English Dialect
Dictionary, compiled by the working-class Joseph Wright.[80]

● Yorkshire dialect the accent of Yorkshire with some

considerable variation between the north, south, east
and west of the region.
● Manchester dialect the accent and dialect of
Manchester and the surrounding area.
● Scouse – The accent and dialect of Liverpool,
especially strong in Merseyside's working-class
population.
● Barrovian, the dialect spoken in Barrow-in-Furness in
Cumbria.
● Lancashire dialect refers to the dialect in the traditional
county of Lancashire, outside Manchester, Liverpool
and Barrow.
● Brummie – The accent and dialect of Birmingham.
● Potteries dialect the accent and dialect of
Stoke-on-Trent and surround Potteries area.
● The Black Country dialect of the West Midlands, which
is similar to but distinctive from Brummie.
● Geordie – An accent and dialect of North-East
England, particularly the Tyneside area.
● Mackem – An accent and dialect of Sunderland and
surrounding areas.
● West Country dialects - a variety of similar, yet
noticeably different accents and dialects in the South
West of England, such as the Bristolian dialect
● Cockney is traditionally the working-class accent of
East London. It also has distinct variations in grammar
and vocabulary.
● The London accent is a more broadly defined working
and lower middle class accent than Cockney.
● Estuary English – A working-class and lower middle
class accent from South-East England, basically a
milder (closer to R.P.) form of the London accent. The
term was commonly used in the media in the 1990s,
although the media depiction was criticised by
academics such as Peter Roach[81] and Peter
Trudgill[82] and the term is now less common. In this
region, there was previously Essex dialect, Kentish
dialect, Sussex dialect and Surrey dialect, but these
are now rarely heard except amongst very elderly
residents.
● Mockney is a term used in popular media for a
deliberate affectation of the working-class London
(Cockney) accent by middle-class people to gain
"street credibility". However, phoneticians regard the
infusion of Cockney features into Received
Pronunciation among younger speakers to be a
natural process.
● Multicultural London English (abbreviated MLE),
colloquially called Jafaican, is a dialect (and/or
sociolect) of English that emerged in the late-twentieth
century, and is used mainly by young, inner-city,
working-class people in inner London. It is said to
contain many elements from the languages of the
Caribbean (Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago), South
 Asia (Indian subcontinent), and West Africa,[83] as well
as remnants of traditional Cockney.[83]
● Norfolk English
● Suffolk English

Heraldry and social class[edit]

Main article: Heraldry

Canting arms of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

An English citizen with arms registered in the College of Arms, or

a Scottish citizen in the Lyon Court, can be referred to as
armigerous. Any British citizen can apply for arms from their
respective authority but only those of sufficient social standing
would be granted arms.[citation needed] Arms in and of themselves
are imperfectly aligned with social status, in that many of high
status will have no right to arms whilst, on the other hand, those
entitled to arms by descent can include branches of families from
anywhere on the social scale.

Nevertheless, a right to bear arms under the Law of Arms is, by

definition, linked either to the personal acquisition of social
status, inspiring application for a personal grant of arms, or to
descent from a person who did so in the past. Rightly or wrongly,
therefore, the use of a coat of arms is linked to social prestige.

In the early twentieth century, it was argued by heraldic writers

such as Arthur Charles Fox-Davies that only those with a right to
a coat of arms could correctly be described (if men) as
gentlemen and of noble status; however, even at the time this
argument was controversial, and it was rejected by other writers
such as Oswald Barron and Horace Round. In the Order of
Malta, where proof of technical nobility is a requirement of certain
grades of membership, British members must still base their
proof upon an ancestral right to a coat of arms.

Criticisms[edit]
In 1941, George Orwell wrote that Britain was "the most
class-ridden society under the sun." [84]

In an interview in 1975 Helmut Schmidt, the then Chancellor of

West Germany stated that:

If one asks oneself what are the true reasons for the
differentiated development of societies and economies between
the British and most ones on the Continent, I think it has
something to do with the fact that British society, much more than
the Scandinavian, German, Austrian, and Dutch societies, is
characterised by a class-struggle type of society. This is true for
both sides of the upper class as well as for the working classes. I
think that the way in which organised labour on the one hand and
industrial management on the other had dealt with their problems
is outmoded.
Later in the same interview, Schmidt noted that[85]

You have to treat workers as equal members of society. You have

to give them the self–esteem which they can only have if they
acquire responsibility. Then you will be able to ask the trade
unions to behave and to abstain from those idiotic policies. Then
they will accept some guidance from outsiders—from the
government or the party or whatever it is. But as long as you
maintain the damned class-ridden society of yours you will never
get out of your mess.

See also[edit]
● Toffs and Toughs
● Income in the United Kingdom
● Poverty in the United Kingdom
● Mosaic (geodemography) – system designed to
classify Britain by postcode, into 11 main groups and
61 types.
● British nobility
● British Royal Family
● Peerage
● Hereditary peer
● The Forsyte Saga

UK social stereotypes[edit]
● Hooray Henry
● Toff
● Rah
● Sloane Ranger
● Essex man
● Plebs
● White van man
● Chav, charver (South/North-East England and
Yorkshire), scally (North West England), Ned
(Scotland) or Spide (Northern Ireland)
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● ^ The Future of Socialism by Anthony Crosland
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Bibliography[edit]
● Jilly Cooper Class, A view from Middle England, Eyre
Methuen, 1979, ISBN 0-552-11525-8
● Kate Fox Watching the English, Nicholas Brealey
Pub., 2004, ISBN 1-85788-508-2

Further reading[edit]
● Benson, John. The Working Class in Britain
1850-1939 (IB Tauris, 2003).
● Bukodi, Erzsébet, et al. "The mobility problem in B
ritain: new findings from the analysis of birth cohort
data." British Journal of Sociology 66.1 (2015): 93-117.
online
● Giddens, Anthony. "Elites in the British class
structure." Sociological Review 20.3 (1972): 345–372.
● Goldthorpe, John H., and Colin Mills. "Trends in
intergenerational class mobility in Britain in the late
twentieth century." in Social mobility in Europe (2004):
195–224.
● Goldthorpe, John H., and David Lockwood. "Affluence
and the British class structure." Sociological Review
11.2 (1963): 133–163.
● Goldthorpe, John H. "Sociology and Statistics in
Britain: The Strange History of Social Mobility
Research and Its Latter-Day Consequences." in
Plamena Panayotova ed., The History of Sociology in
Britain (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). 339–387.
● Gregg, Pauline. A Social and Economic History of
Britain: 1760–1950 (1950) online
● Henz, Ursula, and Colin Mills. "Social Class Origin and
Assortative Mating in Britain, 1949–2010." Sociology
52.6 (2018): 1217–1236. online
● Holmwood, John, and John Scott, eds. The Palgrave
Handbook of Sociology in Britain (Springer, 2014).
● Li, Yaojun, and Anthony Heath. "Class matters: A
study of minority and majority social mobility in Britain,
1982–2011." American Journal of Sociology 122.1
(2016): 162–200. online
● Miles, Andrew, and Mike Savage. (2013) The
remaking of the British working class, 1840-1940
(Routledge, 2013).
● Robson, David (7 April 2016). "How important is social
class in Britain today?". BBC News. Retrieved 7 April
2016.
● Savage, Mike. Social class in the 21st century
(Penguin UK, 2015).
● Savage, Mike, et al. "A new model of social class?
Findings from the BBC’s Great British Class Survey
experiment." Sociology 47.2 (2013): 219–250.
 ● Thompson, E.P. The Making of the English Working
Class (1968)

External links[edit]
● David Cannadine, The Rise and Fall of Class in Britain
● JP Somerville, University of Wisconsin page on early
modern social class in Britain
● Mosaic Geodemographics Summary
● Article from The Times on Taste and class
● Article from The Times - are we all Middle class now
● Article from the Times - Can you buy your way into the
Upper Class
● Article from the Times
● article from Daily Telegraph on social mobility
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