Survey reveals 7 social classes in UK

People in the UK now fit into seven social classes, a major survey conducted by the BBC suggests.  It says the traditional categories of working, middle and upper class are outdated, applying to just 39% of the population.

After analysing the results of 161,000 participants, a new model of seven social classes was found ranging from the elite at the top to a "precariat" - the poor, precarious proletariat - at the bottom.

Class has traditionally been defined by occupation, wealth and education. But this research argues that this is too simplistic, suggesting that class has three dimensions - economic, social and cultural.

The new classes are defined as:

Elite - the most privileged group in the UK, distinct from the other six classes through its wealth. This group has the highest levels of all three capitals

Established middle class - the second wealthiest, scoring highly on all three capitals. The largest and most gregarious group, scoring second highest for cultural capital

Technical middle class - a small, distinctive new class group which is prosperous but scores low for social and cultural capital. Distinguished by its social isolation and cultural apathy

New affluent workers - a young class group which is socially and culturally active, with middling levels of economic capital

Traditional working class - scores low on all forms of capital, but is not completely deprived. Its members have reasonably high house values, explained by this group having the oldest average age at 66

Emergent service workers - a new, young, urban group which is relatively poor but has high social and cultural capital

Precariat, or precarious proletariat - the poorest, most deprived class, scoring low for social and cultural capital

Professor of sociology at Manchester University, Fiona Devine, said the survey really gave a sense of class in 21st Century Britain.

"It shows us there is still a top and a bottom, at the top we still have an elite of very wealthy people and at the bottom the poor, with very little social and cultural engagement...The survey has really allowed us to drill down and get a much more complete picture of class in modern Britain."

Take the test here...what class are you?

Source: BBC

The Cutteslowe Walls

By OISE Oxford tutor Kit Villiers

We're sometimes told that we're moving towards a classless society. That might be true in Britain today, but it certainly wasn't a little earlier in my lifetime, if events in north Oxford in the 1950s are anything to go by. In 1934, at the instigation of a developer of private housing nearby, high and forbidding walls were erected between the new development and a City Council housing estate which bordered it to the east. Apparently the developer thought that having 'slums' next door would adversely affect his sales! Amazingly the walls remained in place right up to 1959 (long after the houses on the 'middle-class' side of the barrier were sold), when the City Council finally removed them.

Where are we talking about? Going north from the Summertown shops you pass first Wentworth Road and then Carlton Road on the right, shortly before you reach the Cutteslowe Roundabout. These two are the 'fancy' streets named by the developer; but proceed down either of them and you'll be surprised to note that for little apparent reason the street names suddenly change, before you get to the junction with Jackson Road. Wentworth becomes Aldrich, and Carlton becomes Wolsey. 2 metre high brick walls used to block these roads completely, preventing even pedestrian passage to the other side.

As a child, the walls were a great mystery to me. There were rumours of the most awful folk living on the other side: they had crew-cuts, were armed with bicycle chains and - most intriguingly - wore something called 'drain-pipe' trousers. And that was just the women!  Or possibly the men - we never knowingly met any of the denizens of the sealed off estate, so we didn't really know. Of course the key word here is 'knowingly'. I'm sure we mingled perfectly happily without realising it. After all, the estate was not prison; one obvious way in (and out) was along the A40, as not even the snobbiest developer was able to build a wall across that.

Our family (and doubtless many others) were forced to use this route, as one of the anomalies of the situation was that the only primary school in the area was on the 'wrong' side of the wall, and children such as my brother had to walk down the busy A40 just to get to Cutteslowe Primary School each morning, usually accompanied by one of my parents.

The walls were notorious, and tourists came from miles around to see them. They proved very hard to get rid of. A tank knocked down one in the war, but it was rebuilt. Finally the council had to buy the land they were built on, and knocked them down in September 1959. They would have liked to have changed the street names too, but this was a step too far.

So, if you are interested, stroll down Carlton Road one day and see if you can still see any change. Actually there is a plaque there now, put up by the Blue Plaque Society. This was done as recently as 2006, showing how interest in this bit of rather unfortunate bit of Oxford's local history still continues.