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The social structure of Britain is organised according to several cultural phenomena. Traditionally, in England, Scotland and Wales, people have been under a meritocracy and plutocracy, with the British Royal Family and/or their ancestors, heading their subjects. Other aspects affecting social class of the United Kingdom include occupation, abode and caste.

Contents 1 General Social Castes 2 Heraldry & Social Class 3 20th Century 3.1 Social Grade Classification 4 21st Century 4.1 National Statistics Socio Economic Classification (2001) 5 Class structure 5.1 The upper classes 5.1.1 Upper class 5.1.2 Upper middle class 5.2 The middle class 5.2.1 Middle middle class 5.2.2 Nouveau riche 5.2.3 Spiralist Meritocracy 5.2.4 Mondeo Man 5.2.5 Lower middle class 5.3 The working class 5.3.1 Skilled working class 5.3.2 Traditional working class 5.3.3 The underclass 6 See also 6.1 Language as a class indicator 6.2 UK Social Stereotypes 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 External links

[edit] General Social Castes

Some basic categories covering most of the population of Britain around the 17th century and arguably well before and after are as follows:

British Caste	Characteristics
Cottagers and labourers	were a step below husbandmen in that they had to work for others for wages. May also include villein. Lowest order of the working castes; perhaps vagabonds, drifters, criminals or other outcasts would be lower.
Husbandman (or other trade)	tradesman or farmer who either rented a home or held very little land. Some sources suggest the landholdings of a husbandman were about 30 acres.
Yeoman	The yeoman class generally included small farmers who held a reasonable amount of land and were able to protect themselves from neighboring lords et cetera. They played a military role as longbowmen, et cetera.
Gentry/Gentleman	The gentry class generally held enough assets to live on rents without working. If they worked it was in law, as priests, in politics, or in various other pursuits. The term Esquire was used for gentry who were not knighted. Sometimes Merchant citizens are placed between Yeoman and Gentry in early modern social hierarchy. Many gentry families were armigerous and of ancient lineage possessing great wealth and large estates.
Knight/Priest/Lawyer	The definition of a knight depends upon the century in which the term was applied. In very early medieval times a knight was a common soldier. By the seventeenth century a knight was a member of the gentry, and the military role would be one of sheriff of a county, or organizing a larger body of military forces.
Baronet/Knight (hereditary knight, non peer)	A baronet was not a peer, but the title of knight was hereditary for a baronet.
Peer (Noble/Archbishop)	The peers were generally large land holders, surviving solely off assets, sat in the House of Lords and either held court or played a role in court depending upon the time frame referenced.
Royal	A member of the royal family, a prince, a close relative of the queen or king.

A non land-holding farmer was a husbandman. In feudal times, this person likely would have been a serf, and paid a large portion of his work or produce to the land holding lord. In the early medieval era the knight was more or less a common soldier. Later as cavalry became more important the knight's role became more associated with wealth. By the 17th century, the knight was a large land owner, and likely a lawyer, priest, or official of some sort.

[edit] Heraldry & Social Class

An English subject with arms registered in the College of Arms, or a Scotsman in the Lyon Court, can be referred to as armigerous. Any British subject can apply for arms from their respective authority but only those of sufficient social standing would be granted arms. 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 which have fallen far down 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.

[edit] 20th Century

[edit] Social Grade Classification

The social grade classification created by the National Readership Survey over 50 years ago has achieved widespread usage during the 20th Century including in government reports and statistics.

Grade	Status	Occupation
A	Upper middle class	Higher managerial, administrative or professional
B	Middle class	Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
C1	Lower middle class	Supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative or professional
C2	Skilled working class	Skilled manual workers
D	Working class	Semi and unskilled manual workers
E	those at lowest level of subsistence	Casual or lowest grade workers, pensioners and others who depend on the state for their income

[edit] 21st Century

[edit] National Statistics Socio Economic Classification (2001)

The UK Office of National Statistics (ONS) produced a new socio-economic classification in 2001 - Reference. The reason was to provide a more comprehensive and detailed classification to take newer employment patterns into account.

Group	Description	Old equivalent
1	Higher Professional and Managerial	A
2	Lower Managerial and Professional	B
3	Intermediate occupations	C1 and C2
4	Small Employers and non professional self-employed	C1 and C2
5	Lower Supervisory and technical	C1 and C2
6	Semi Routine Occupations	D
7	Routine Occupations	D
8	Long term unemployed	E

[edit] Class structure

Unlike some other countries such as the USA, class in Britain is more a matter of values and behaviours such as accent, vocabulary, manners, style of dress and taste than purely money.^[1] Below is a description of the various social classes.

[edit] The upper classes

[edit] Upper class

The upper class in Britain is statistically very small and consists of the peerage, gentry, and landowners. These people were traditionally the wealthiest in the land having inherited money and position. Typically they would speak with a Received Pronunciation accent and been educated at public schools. Traditionally the upper class had a disdain for trade.^[2]

[edit] Upper middle class

The Upper Middle class in Britain consists of the educated professionals who generally come from educated backgrounds.^[1] These people would traditionally speak with a Received Pronunciation Accent, traditionaly been educated at Public Schools or grammar schools (however some are not) and Universities. Traditional jobs would include Barristers, Doctors, Army officers, Academics, senior Civil Servants or working as stockbrokers in the City of London.^[2] A typical Mosaic geodemographic type for this group would be Cultural leadership. An example of this type of person from British popular culture is the The Aga Saga Woman from the The Catherine Tate Show.

This is a very specific class in England and is, in many respects, peculiar to England as its characteristics do not fit easily into the social gradations of the other constituent nations of the United Kingdom.

In England this class of people is less easily defined, and personal wealth is not a necessary criterion. Frequently its members are members of professions (traditionally academia, law and medicine), although merchants too were able to penetrate its ranks. However, being a member of a profession does not automatically elevate a person to this class, and it is quite common for an upper middle class person not to work in a traditional profession.

Family background and understatement, in both behavior and taste, are defining characteristics of the upper middles. Although not of the landowning class, its members may aspire to the characteristics of, or be described as, gentlemen.

The character of Charles Ryder in Evelyn Waugh's novel, Brideshead Revisited is a fine example of an early twentieth-century upper middle class Englishman. His language, accent and manners are similar to an aristocrat, but in place of the aristocrat's self-assuredness there is an air of slight uncertainty and diffidence. An older example of an upper-middle class Englishman is the eighteenth-century Royal Navy officer Horatio Hornblower, the main character from C S Forester's nautical series of books. Hornblower is born in Kent, the son of a doctor (family background), he consistently behaves with decency and morality (the behaviour of a gentleman) and despite outstanding acts of bravery, he is overtly modest about himself. Despite becoming a lord in later life, he enters the Royal Navy without any inherited wealth or influential connections. Like Brideshead Revisited's Charles Ryder, he speaks and behaves like an upper class gentleman, but when placed in front of aristocrats, royals and high ranking military officers, he feels slightly indifferent. A more modern day example is Charles in Four Weddings and a Funeral, played by Hugh Grant.

[edit] The middle class

[edit] Middle middle class

Middle middle class in Britain consists of bourgeois people from less educated backgrounds (satirised by Jilly Cooper as Howard Weybridge).^[2] These people would be less educated than the upper middle class and form pillars of local communities. They would speak in accents which are more provincial than RP and traditionally be less likely to attend university than the upper middle class.^[1] They would be engaged in owning and running local businesses or working for larger corporations as junior and middle management.^[1] Typical Mosaic geodemographic types would include Provincial Privilege. The comedy character Margo Leadbetter is a satirical stereotype for this group.

[edit] Nouveau riche

Nouveau riche are people from poorer backgrounds who have made money themselves, primarily in business, middle-class professions, or entertainment. They may retain the mannerisms of their original social group or may imitate the behavior of the traditional upper class by for instance sending their children to public school or taking elocution lessons, but often in a way that is seen as tacky by the real Upper Class and Middle Classes (Satirised as Mr Nouveau Richards by Jilly Cooper).^[2] This group is characterised by ostentatious displays of conspicuous consumption.^[1] Premiership Footballers (soccer) are typical of this group.

[edit] Spiralist Meritocracy

This group was identified by Jilly Cooper in her book Class as people from working class or lower middle class backgrounds who gained an education at grammar school and university and have subsequently obtained professional or managerial jobs within companies or government. Jilly Cooper stated that these people are more likely to move geographically than the more local bourgeois middle middle class..^[2] These people are less socially secure then the traditional upper middle class,^[1] and would speak in a mixture of accents depending on their origin. A typical Mosaic Geodemographic type for this group would be Corporate Chieftains

[edit] Mondeo Man

Mondeo Man was described by Kate Fox as a person employed in the private sector in a salesman or entry level management position who drives a company car such as a Ford Mondeo. These people would have had limited education and cultural aspirations,^[1] but are keen to "move up in the world" and are seen by politicians and marketers as representing Middle England. An example of a person from this social group in UK popular culture is Gareth Cheeseman.

[edit] Lower middle class

The lower middle class in Britain consists of people in white collar jobs living in less prosperous suburbs. They would typically not have had a university education. These people would speak in local accents, although relatively mild. A shibboleth for people from this group is the use of the word pardon rather than sorry or say again when they have not been able to hear the other speaker (referred to as Pardonia by Kate Fox). Typical Mosaic Geodemographic types for this group would include Sprawling Subtopia or for Successful British Asians Asian Enterprise. The Comedy character Hyacinth Bucket is a satirical stereotype for this social group.

[edit] The working class

[edit] Skilled working class

These people would be in skilled blue collar jobs, traditionally in industry but in recent decades showing entrepreneurial development as the stereotypical white van man, or self employed contractors.^[1] These people would speak in local accents and have limited educational attainment. Typical Mosaic types for this group include White Van Culture or Affluent Blue Collar.

[edit] Traditional working class

These people would work in blue collar jobs with low incomes. They would typically have had low educational attainment and not value education.^[2] Examples of Mosaic geodemographic groups for these people would be Coronation Street or Rustbelt Resilience.

[edit] The underclass

These people would typically be on low incomes and dependent on benefits. Many would be in public housing or council estates. These people feel excluded from society,^[1] and typical Mosaic Geodemographic types for these people are Tower Block Living or Sharing a stair case An example of this social class from popular culture would be Lauren Cooper from The Catherine Tate Show, another example would be Frank Gallagher from Shameless.

[edit] See also

• 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.

[edit] Language as a class indicator

• U and non-U English - Social Vocabulary from the 1950s compiled by Nancy Mitford. U represented Upper & Upper middle class vocabulary of the time and Non-U represented lower middle class vocabulary.
• Received Pronunciation, Britain's prestige accent used by Upper Class and Upper Middle class people
• Estuary English - Traditionally a lower middle class accent from Southeast England now more widely used and influencing RP
• Cockney - Traditionally the working class accent of London
• Mockney - A deliberate affectation of the working-class London (Cockney) accent by Middle class people to gain "street credibility"

[edit] UK Social Stereotypes

• Chav - Working, or underclass.
• Essex Man - Skilled working class, materialistic
• Ned - Poor anti-social working class youth, Scottish
• Rah - Upper to upper middle class
• Scally - Working class from North West England
• Sloane Ranger - Upper to upper middle class
• White van man - Working class, entrepreneurial
• Worcester woman - Lower middle to middle middle class

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Jilly Cooper Class, A view from Middle England, Eyre Methuen, 1979, ISBN 0552115258
• Kate Fox Watching the English, Nicholas Brealey Pub., 2004, ISBN 1857885082

[edit] External links

• 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