A question for UK listers

[Paul Mackin]

On Oct 16, 2006, at 3:14 AM, Mike Weaver wrote:

> To add to Paul's comments:
> David Gentle is correct to ask what class you have in mind Dave,  
> though I think he's a tad mechanical in his description of class  
> differences. Remember economic and cultural class differences are  
> not the same thing. Plenty of people come from and are, culturally,  
> of one class while their economic situation and outlook is of another.
> To be realistic you would need to decide what situation this  
> character was born into - class origins, the economic fortunes of  
> his parents throughout his childhood - rising, falling or stable -   
> Then there is where in the UK he grew up - I'd say there are big  
> regional differences in working class culture, less in middle class  
> and less again in upper class. However the local dominance of  
> particular class cultures are a variant cross current acting on the  
> regional differences.
>

In the U.S. the idea of "class" or other ways of ranking economic  
status seems to apply mostly to  neighborhoods.

The newspapers will speak of "working class suburbs" "blue collar  
subdivisions" "areas of modest homes" "prosperous neighborhoods"  
"leafy neighborhoods West of the Park" etc. etc.

There don't seem to be any "middle class" neighborhoods.

"Middle class" as applied to people seems to be very broadly defined-- 
not on welfare but unable to pay Harvard level tuition for their kids.

Middle class people  mostly live in working class neighborhoods I  
rather imagine.