http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6991068.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=2270657

( I didn’t read the article…the Times is a pile of Shyte…but I had to respond to that Header…that of….” Class still matters “)

And it  surely   does .This is my angle .

I think about it a lot and have come up with a distillation of the essence of class.

Because it is not a state of wealth ..but a state of Mind ..of  family expectations.

In fact it can be abstracted into a simple classification of Expectation.

1….if you expect from your lineage ..a living ( inheritance ) and require but to assimilate into it…then you are upper class .Educationally lazy as a result and will populate the lazy professions …Politics Arts Media etc

2…if the lineage expects performance through education and marriage from you..than you are Middle class.Tough professions that require hard work and respect ensue….Lawyers Doctors etc

3…if your lineage expects nothing but seems to expect wider societal factors just to create the enviroment for the next generation ot thrive or survive .No input is required or motivation or hindrance is put in any way from either side of the lineage.Sports people blue collar workers ensue.This is the working classes.

A clear cut case for Expectation at the heart of Class

This also accounts for the middle class values in poorer Eastern nations .It accounts for a state of play within the family …and without recourse to a monetized  or genetic narrative.

One effect I have noticed that can be abstracted and is a partner to the above is the number of people who are ‘under’ you and at what age does this occur.

For example…a working class man can become a foreman or trade union official and command people in his mid thirties-forties .For the first time.

A child of the middle class will leave higher education and move straight into a hierarchical position in his mid twenties  with his first job.

But a Child who has expectations from his lineage has greater resources around him/her from birth and will be acutely aware that they have a hierarchical position even within the household…ie the Gardener , housekeeper , driver are workers and they are managers …this occurs from Birth almost.

The later you are nested a hierarchical position ..the lower the class rung .

The middle classes are hamstrung by the intensity of the hierarchical demands put upon them by their lineage and will have problems on a personal level as they try to overcome the subservience they have had to endure within their own personal  lineage.

The working classes will have a problem understanding the manner and mores of the other classes and will always feel more comfortable just leading within their own classes ( look at Alan Sugar’s discomfort with management Consultants ( middle classes ) and the desire to burnish his ranks with upper class twits for apprentices)

The upper classes are lucky that they get this headstart before they have even started school.Leading people comes more naturally to them.

Heres a thought exercise.How many people you lead at 15 could define your class. throughout history.

1.5= upper class

.5 = middle class

0= working class