First class.

First class.

Yeah.

I'm proud to be working class.

Could you ever be upper class, do you think?

I wouldn't want to be.

If you're not white, you can never be upper class.

Why would you say that you are working class?

Because I still work 50 hours a week in a shop at Aldi.

Do you have aspirations to change your class?

No.

I'd say it's education, it's upbringing, it's culture, and undoubtedly it's also money.

Probably more towards the working class side of it, because, well, I just lost my job.

Our value system is going to be ingrained, isn't it?

I'm much more concerned about underprivileged people who do not have things they should have, like a home and a job.

Or David Beckham. Good example.

I mean, he's got more money than God, and he's certainly not going to be considered upper class.

Would you not want to be upper class?

It sounds wonderful. No?

There's upper and everyone else.

Hi, everybody.

Welcome to a new episode of Easy English.

So I'm on Brighton's Seafront today, and I want to approach the topic of class.

In the UK, we have a structure of social classes which look like this, starting at lower class and ending at upper class.

But today, I want to know what the people of Brighton think about this scale.

I want to know which social class the people of Brighton think they categorise themselves into.

I want to know what categories can define you, and if just your state of mind can affect your social status.

I want to hear about the stigmas attached to the upper and lower classes, and if the class system is a relevant or helpful structure.

Before we get started, please don't forget to subscribe to Easy English to be notified for each and every new video that we publish.

Let's go.

Do you know what class you are in the UK?

Working class.

Yeah, OK.

Working class.

Working class.

Yes, definitely working class.

Lower middle class, probably.

Traditionally, working class, in terms of my background, definitely working class.

Lower middle.

Lower middle, OK.

Lower, lower middle.

I'll say I was born into the working class.

I'd say I'm lower middle class.

Then I'm working class.

I would place myself in the middle class.

How about you?

Middle class.

Why would you say that you are working class?

Because I still work 50 hours a week in my shop at Aldi.

Because I've worked all my life.

OK.

OK, and how about you?

Why would you say that?

Well, I grew up in a country estate.

I was born into the working class, and luckily, like, I got out of that, like, cycle because of, like, going to university.

Maybe lower middle.

Lower middle.

OK, and why did you change your opinion?

I'm a homeowner.

As somebody who's been, had the good fortune to be able to go to a university and spend my professional life in higher education, I think that probably places me in the middle class.

Why would you say that you are lower, lower middle?

You think you are?

Why is that?

Because of my income and my job occupation.

I'd say it's education.

Yeah.

It's upbringing.

Yeah.

It's culture.

Yeah.

And undoubtedly, it's also money.

I mean, I don't know what the definition of middle class is, apart from if you own your own house, maybe.

OK.

But I'm certainly not an aristocrat.

Have you always been lower, lower middle?

Possibly, possibly a bit higher.

Now, I think, and probably more towards the working class side of it, because, well, I just lost my job.

I've definitely changed, but it wasn't intentional.

It was just because, I suppose, I went into professions and became a manager and was able to buy a house.

And I suppose that makes me call myself that, because if I was really still working class, I'd probably be in social housing or renting, I would imagine.

If you move away from a rental market and you go and own your house, you become middle class.

You're a working class person.

Yeah.

You don't have to work to own your house.

When you own your house, you're probably middle class.

What school is quite significant.

OK.

Because you went to a nice, fancy school?

I went to a private school when I was small, younger.

OK, and how...

Junior school was private, yeah.

And how would you get into a private school?

Your parents pay.

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Now back to the episode.

Is that how you define your class you are?

How much money you have, your education, and where you live?

I think all of those things are entwined.

Why not upper class?

Okay.

Well, in Britain, I wouldn't be...

I'm not in the upper classes because, A, I'm not British and I'm not white.

And, you know, those are defining characteristics, essential characteristics.

Could you ever be upper class, do you think?

I wouldn't want to be.

Okay.

I wouldn't want to be.

But could you be, to start off with?

I think if you're talking upper, upper class...

Yeah, yeah. ...then it's something you're born into.

I can become working to middle, but I can never be upper.

I don't think I'd ever want to be upper either.

Can someone who is in the upper class ever go down to lower, lower middle?

No, maybe not.

Probably not because their value system is going to be ingrained, isn't it?

How come you can change when there is a restriction on how much you can change?

I think even if you start in middle class and you earn lots of money, I don't think you can tip into the upper class because I think what, maybe just here in England, that is a lot of generational wealth and it's got history towards it.

You were born into upper class.

I don't know if you can move into upper class with the amount of money that you have.

I think class there is a culture thing.

I think nowadays, maybe in the past you couldn't go up to the upper class, but nowadays it seems that you can.

So, for example, the middle tenants would have been middle class, definitely middle class.

But perhaps their children and grandchildren now would be upper class if you see the circles that they move in and how they are accepted and how people aspire to be like them.

That's a great example.

You can't go up the ladder, it's just some money.

So it's impossible to climb, but you climbed down that.

You can think.

Okay, but then here's a good question to test your theory.

Maybe I haven't sunk, maybe I haven't, maybe I'm just poor.

Can an upper class person ever be lower than upper class ever?

Can they ever come down the pegs? I think when it comes to the upper class, it's a privilege.

There's not a lot of choice there for anybody, whether you are or not.

I think it's something that is given.

So it's a mindset.

It's a mindset, absolutely.

And with middle class, I just don't think you can do that.

I think middle and working are quite close to each other.

I think there's not too much of a cultural difference.

I think you can move that way and I agree.

You can't really go to upper class.

You don't want to be part of that movement.

Yeah, of course.

Does privilege come into this?

Oh my God, yeah.

It's all the things I hate, really.

The key word really is the privilege part.

So obviously the upper classes had privileges, whether they took advantage of them or not.

They still had them.

So I think it's probably more difficult for them to go down the social scale than for people on the bottom of the social scale to go up the social scale.

Do you have someone that is upper class, maybe, that you know?

Well, it's more comfortable than me, for sure.

But I wouldn't give a label.

We know of people who, if you ask them what they do, they say, oh, I manage my father's estate.

Which is very nice, if you can get it.

Not everybody who's upper class is wealthy any longer.

I mean, there's also the issue of inheritance.

You said comfortable, does that mean money?

Do you think they have more money?

Probably more assets.

Ah, so they're not rich, they're wealthy, maybe.

Like inheritance.

If you want to say that, no.

The prime example in recent years was, I believe it was when Boris was prime minister, that, you know, 90% of the cabinet had gone to Eton.

So you can be extremely wealthy.

Yeah.

And be working class.

Right.

For example...

Footballers?

No, it's a good example.

Is there stigma attached to certain classes?

Not any longer.

No?

No, I don't think so.

I've struggled growing up being working class.

I've struggled with being working class, because I wasn't proud to be working class.

Actually, growing up, I was a bit embarrassed to be working class.

I'm proud now where I've come from, because I've moved, not moved class, but I've got out of the cycle of not doing much, not leaving the hometown, not striving or achieving and doing everything I can, but growing up, and even now, I struggle with growing up working class, because there is...

I think you're made to feel a little bit ashamed to be working class.

Yeah, yeah.

So somebody who has, you know, a country mansion, for example, that they've inherited and gone to Eton, would certainly, you know, I think, probably assume that somebody who has wealth from entrepreneurial activities, but, you know, didn't go to a private school, is still not upper class.

In terms of, like, politics, you know, I think part of the problem is the lack of connection with the different classes, with the working class.

Way too many upper class candidates become, you know, represent a country that they don't really understand and maybe don't feel the compassion to understand or the wish to understand.

I have a nice life now, because I've worked hard for it, but I'm never going to have that life, and I don't want that life, because you're too detached from the people that are going through the struggle and people that are trying to achieve what is normal life.

Providing you're working and you're not a burden on society needlessly, then that's OK.

So is the class system dissolving, then, in the UK?

Is it as prevalent as it was a couple of decades ago?

I think it is, but people probably don't...

It's not as acceptable to refer to it as it used to be.

I'm much more concerned about underprivileged people who do not have things they should have, like a home and a job.

That's the real value of moving up, is that your problems change, and we all have problems.

Your problems change.

You go from, I need food, I need to survive, we can't turn the heating on, footjumpers on, I can't do my homework because my hands are cold, to, OK, well, what restaurant are we going to go to?

Oh, I've been to that restaurant last week, I don't want to go anymore, I don't like the food.

Your problems change, and that's a huge part of that change, is the problems that you have.

If you can stand on your own two feet and provide for your family, then that's pretty good, whatever class you think you are.

Rather than class, much more important is how kind you are and what contribution you're making to society.

Thank you for watching this week's episode.

Let us know in the comments below what class you consider yourself to be in and how it works in your respective country.

And as always, we'll see you next time.

Ta-ra!

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.