Well I did think I was middle class - I am practically the definition of it - I own a suburban semi detached, professional qualification & job, well paid, son of a teacher and a civil servant.
However I came out "Elite" (BTW I still have a mental thing saying to myself "but I never got further than 'Dangerous' rating" - bonus points for reference getters)
I came out elite (as opposed to middle class) due to the value of my house and the value of my pension primarily. You don't need much pension to hit the top category - £5k/year is worth approx £100k. Also on how prices there may need to be a London adjustment as an average London house easily puts you in the second top category.
Am I Elite? I suppose I have a much narrower definition than they do, but by their criteria, yes I clearly am
Reading their definition I am less certain: I am state educated as are my kids, but I fulfil most of the other criteria. I am certainly well off compared to most, but as your post implies, people tend to compare up not down, and so they fool themselves that they are less well of than they are.
Yes, I was very surprised by how 'little' was necessary to be Elite too, and I'm a lot less elite than you! (Good pension, good savings (but less than the cost of even the smallest house on their list), good income, but still renting). I'd have totally accepted 'upper middle class', but 'the very top class' felt odd. Then again, it is 6% of the population, which is quite a big group of people.
I think Helen is right though, people compare up not down. And also, it's a distribution with a very long tail. So although proportionately there might not be _many_ people better off than us, the sort of life style with Giant Country Mansions feels very different to semi detached houses. If there was one good thing about it as a meme, it was an excellent 'check your privilege' moment. Particularly as the classes were data-based, 'get a sample of people, how do they split up into groups'. I'd be interested in how they found their sample though.
However I came out "Elite" (BTW I still have a mental thing saying to myself "but I never got further than 'Dangerous' rating" - bonus points for reference getters)
I came out elite (as opposed to middle class) due to the value of my house and the value of my pension primarily. You don't need much pension to hit the top category - £5k/year is worth approx £100k. Also on how prices there may need to be a London adjustment as an average London house easily puts you in the second top category.
Am I Elite? I suppose I have a much narrower definition than they do, but by their criteria, yes I clearly am
Reading their definition I am less certain: I am state educated as are my kids, but I fulfil most of the other criteria. I am certainly well off compared to most, but as your post implies, people tend to compare up not down, and so they fool themselves that they are less well of than they are.
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I think Helen is right though, people compare up not down. And also, it's a distribution with a very long tail. So although proportionately there might not be _many_ people better off than us, the sort of life style with Giant Country Mansions feels very different to semi detached houses. If there was one good thing about it as a meme, it was an excellent 'check your privilege' moment. Particularly as the classes were data-based, 'get a sample of people, how do they split up into groups'. I'd be interested in how they found their sample though.
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