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Topics: Money, Cost of Living, TikTok
Saskia Calliste
There are subtle signs that can mean someone in your midst is middle or upper class.
In your day-to-day life with your friends, the average person doesn't really spend their time thinking about what makes a person middle or upper class.
With a lot of people having the latest iPhone, smart watches, and access to brands once out of our reach, there's a lot less obvious signs that a person might be of a different class to you.
But if you happen to care about what makes a person a bit more hoity-toity, then there are ways you can tell.
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Dani Payne, who has a background in politics and education, shared a video on TikTok outlining the signs to look out for.
“There are lots of different ways that someone might signal that they’re part of a certain class background.”
The first one might a little bit obvious - or presumptuous depending on how you look at it - but it's to do with how a person talks and acts that can be a dead giveaway.
Payne explains: "And that’s not just accent, although accent is a really big thing in the UK. But it’s also what are you talking about, what’s polite conversation. Do you know it’s extremely impolite to ask about money and wealth, etc.?”
I think we've all heard that once or twice, but moving on from what not to talk about and the accent you have, the TikToker revealed that vocabulary is also a big telltale sign.
“Are you well-read and well-spoken? A lot of these things signal an allegiance to a certain class structure.”
This one might be a bit on the nose but Payne says that the memberships cards lurking in someone's wallet can be a big indicator of their class.
“Aside from old boys clubs, it’s also about going to the opera … art showings. Do you go on ski holidays? Things like that.”
Specificity is apparently a glaringly obvious sign that a person is more well to do.
Payne asks: “What do upper- and middle-class kids know that we don’t teach working-class kids?”
She further explains that navigating further education and knowing how to write a CV are more likely taught to the higher class kids as opposed to their working class counterparts.
“Knowing these rules and how to act gives them an advantage," she continued.
Payne's not just pulling this out of nowhere though, as she claims that the theories come from a 'a French sociologist (Pierre Bourdieu) who came up with this concept of cultural capital, which was essentially how upper and elite classes hoard certain resources, certain experiences and certain knowledge that signal to everyone else that they are a part of that privileged class'.
Sounds about right, if you ask me.
People in the comments were quick to have their say on Payne's video, with one saying: "It’s also terminology. If someone says toilet, settee, lounge, serviette, dessert, perfume, pardon, vintage, passed away, or bubbly (for Champagne) it usually means they’re working class."
Another took a stab at ex-PM Boris Johnson: "Boris Johnson used to do this by referencing Greek mythology or Latin; cultural references signalling an elite education and privilege. It creates a mask of intelligence!"
One woman shared her experience with the other side: "My daughter went to private school on a bursary,a rich kid came over for tea & asked where the rest of the house was."
Charming.