Traditionally, the British class system has relied on a very basic analysis of income, education and profession to position everyone in the country within one of three groups.
There are the working classes which, according to a simple definition, applies to anyone who works in a ‘lower tier’ job: that’s the services industry, manual labour etc.
Then we’ve got the middle classes, who again, and by the same simple definition, could include professionals, teachers, doctors, dentists, lecturers etc.
Then there are the upper classes that might include those from the upper reaches of society: CEOs of international companies, Lords and Ladies, land owners and even the royal family.
The idea that these three categories can define things like your life expectancy, your likelihood to be educated, where you might live, and the people that you socialise with, has long since been the basis of British politics. However, some suggest that these three definitions are too broad and presumptuous to really define everyone fully.
With a huge increase in the percentage of people entering higher education, families becoming more and more dispersed, both geographically and in their ideas and beliefs, rising youth unemployment and increased social mobility, it is unlikely that everyone will fit clearly into one of the three traditional categories.
I grew up in Northern Ireland, where the class system is less pronounced, maybe because of our focus on religion and the legacy of the ‘Troubles’, so I had never really considered what class group I fell into. Had I considered it, I would have struggled to place myself in any one of the three basic groups.
For this reason, the interactive survey created by the BBC has found that the three basic class groupings are in fact out of date and over simplistic. The new test has not three, but seven class categories, and the questions which are asked in the survey go much deeper than traditional social sciences would go while trying to define class. For example, the survey enquires as to how you spend your free time, what music you listen to, and what you might order when you go out for a meal.
However, while it is comforting to know that we don’t have to fit into one clearly defined category of three, I still take issue with the new test and my result. My main reason for this is that as a student I feel I should have had the opportunity to disclose that information. At no point does the BBC survey ask what your profession is, nor does it ask to what level you are educated, it only asks what level you would rate your income and how much you have saved in your lifetime.
Now I can’t speak for anyone else, but my income is very low: I’m a student with a part-time job, bills to pay and nights out to have, so I don’t have much in the way of savings. But I’m here for a reason. I’m here to improve myself. I hope that someday I will have a higher income to show for my three years studying politics, but I don’t have much right now.
For this reason, I don’t see the old class system as relevant, but neither do I believe that ‘emergent service worker’ is where I should be placed.