The middle class terror; on the edge of financial ruin

[RenewableCandy]

What an extraordinarily British conversation! I doubt Peak Oil is any respecter of such class differences.

Yes it bloody is! It's eating the "working class" for breakfast and, unless we get our collective derriere in gear, it'll have the Middle Class for lunch.

[extractorfan]

I love discussions about class definition, does that make me bourgeois

[emordnilap]

http://youtu.be/rQDeU6dHX-c?t=1s

[RenewableCandy]

I love discussions about class definition, does that make me bourgeois

Yes. With knobs on

[frank_begbie]

Quite a few years ago nobody worried about the cost of childcare, mainly because there was no need for such a thing.

The husband went to work and the wife stayed at home and looked after the home and kids.

Back in the day, one wage was enough to live on.

I though we were better off these days?

[biffvernon]

Is there an association, or even correlation, between class and sense of humour?

[RenewableCandy]

Quite a few years ago nobody worried about the cost of childcare, mainly because there was no need for such a thing.

The husband went to work and the wife stayed at home and looked after the home and kids.

Back in the day, one wage was enough to live on.

I though we were better off these days?

People like me, who grew up with the idea that staying at home with the kids, if you were able to do something more interesting, was a waste of a life and of your talent, agonise over this fttt. I come from a long line of families with women in interesting careers (pharmacists, musicians, teachers, running a school, etc) so it was only natural that I should do likewise (physicist, in my case). But now that everybody's working, all it's done is put house-prices up, because people can afford to pay more. One feels ripped-off. To cap it all, when I cheerfully announced to my fellow footie-mums that I was packing in my job for a break just for the heck of it, the wistful looks on their faces really were a picture.

I spent some time wondering whether the likes of Simone de Beauvoir, Germaine Greer et al, did all their campaigning in vain. But then I read anything American, and quietly thank them I have had over a 1/4-century of interesting professional life, and now "staying at home with the kids" is kind-of like retirement.

[Lurkalot]

Is there an association, or even correlation, between class and sense of humour?

I'm assuming that was a tongue in cheek type of question but actually I think you may be onto something. It's impossible to make sweeping statements about the sense of humour of an entire class of people anymore than it's right to say , for example , that Germans don't have a sense of humour. I've been fortunate to spend a lot of my life working in the restoration of buildings and have crossed paths with many different people, from titled persons to those who's life is work, pub ,sleep , work , pub , sleep..... There does seem to be a different sense of humour between the two. I've seen people falling about at the seemingly most inane situations but "high brow" humour is completely lost on them . Maybe my working class roots are the reason I can't find anything funny about the acknowledged wit Noël Coward.
There's no hard and fast rule of course and I've met some who should appreciate the high brow stuff who also find humour in more , dare I say , low brow situations. Oddly enough I've then heard comments about such a person being described as being "just like a normal bloke" .
As for the original theme of the thread , I'm in two minds. I can't understand how anyone can live one paycheque to another wether they are on NMW or £100,000 PA but I don't want to see the middle class disappear or suffer as nowadays most of my customers are from that sort of demographic .
Going slightly off topic , I'm involved in medieavel re-enactment and when we first started we all wanted to be knights and the like. However, we soon made the decision to come down the social scale and portray artisans. Posh is ok but frankly one becomes a glorified clothes horse and it gets frankly boring. Nowadays I'm a medieavel carpenter and sleep in an awing under blankets with a box of tools as a headboard. Our camp has been described as looking like a shit tip but that only enhances the living history aspect for which we do receive much praise.

[biffvernon]

Well it wasn't really tongue is cheek - for the reasons you so accurately describe. I wonder if any sociologist has written a thesis on class and humour. I expect so.

[biffvernon]

That didn't take long to find!

PhD Title
Comedy and Distinction at the Edinburgh Festivals

Thesis Overview
My research looks at the relationship between social class and taste in the consumption of British comedy. Although traditionally considered 'lowbrow', comedy has become increasingly popular among the culturally privileged since the 'Alternative Comedy Movement' of the late 1970s. Using a combination of a large-scale survey and semi-structured interviews administered at The Edinburgh Festivals, my research explores whether those with high cultural capital consume more 'highbrow' forms of comedy and whether they rarefy their consumption by employing an aesthetic style inaccessible to those with less cultural capital. Specifically, I aim to investigate whether an updated version of Bourdieu’s theory of distinction may be relevant when examining taste for contemporary British comedy.

https://www.sociology.ed.ac.uk/people/a ... iedman_sam

[SleeperService]

I've had some thinking time recently and wonder how much thought was given to the fact that a single wage earner in a household put a cap on the value of the property. Once dual incomes became the norm the house prices shot up to swallow the extra revenue that then paid mortgage interest.

Maybe I'm rather cynical but it's obvious that mortgage companies have been the only real beneficiaries of this scam. Succeeding generations have been committed to dual incomes from the start of their ownership, they have been losers both ways.

I really think my generation AKA Babyboomers are going to be cursed for generations to come. At 53 I'm on the tail end so won't be seeing the whole life benefits my slightly elders are getting. God help those younger....

[vtsnowedin]

I've had some thinking time recently and wonder how much thought was given to the fact that a single wage earner in a household put a cap on the value of the property. Once dual incomes became the norm the house prices shot up to swallow the extra revenue that then paid mortgage interest.

Maybe I'm rather cynical but it's obvious that mortgage companies have been the only real beneficiaries of this scam. Succeeding generations have been committed to dual incomes from the start of their ownership, they have been losers both ways.

I really think my generation AKA Babyboomers are going to be cursed for generations to come. At 53 I'm on the tail end so won't be seeing the whole life benefits my slightly elders are getting. God help those younger....

You are getting on to it but go a bit further, If both are working out of the home there is child care plus home maintenance to account for and unless the second job is a very good one they would be better off having one spouse at home taking care of that half of the family business.

[Lurkalot]

I tend to agree with Sleeperservice's analysis and find myself in the situation of viewing from both sides.
When I first met my wife she was working and continued to do so for nearly eight years ( save for maternity leave ) into our marriage until our daughter was three years old.Childcare had been taken care of by my parents but by then old age and illness was making that less of an option. Coupled with changes to my wife's work ( and because her new boss was a complete arse) she gave up and we became a single income family. As it was we are generally people who don't waste money and could survive very well.
Then to throw a spanner in the works I was made redundant . To cut a long story short two years later we are now both self employed. It started with just me but as my wife was doing my book keeping it made financial sense for her to be self employed and I pay her for that work. She also works for her brother as a cleaner at times too and I'm in building and garden maintenance in such that we now find ourselves working for those duel income families. I'm not trying to knock it , if both partners want to go out to work they can , we can make a decent living vacuuming their carpets and mowing their lawns.

[SleeperService]

I'd agree with you there vtsonwedin. There more we all consider these things the more we find. Welcome to Lurkalot who pretty much confirms it.

I think I know more people who are doing exactly what you are than I do those who hire them. It suggests another Ponzi Economic Scheme if we aren't all careful but good luck to you.

Getting redundancy and then being drip fed work by agencies spreading 50 jobs among everybody on their books was what finally shoved me this way. Like you I am almost glad it did.

[Lurkalot]

Thanks for the welcome SleeperService.
I perhaps should add that in my own humble opinion attitude plays a role too.
As mentioned my wife , amongst other things , works as a cleaner where formally she was a PA to member of the church diocese . I myself have worked in restoration for a number of years ( well decades really ) on many prestige and multi million pound projects but am equally happy now mowing lawns and maintaining " normal" houses. We aren't pretentious and don't feel we've moved down the social scale in any way but I can't help but think some people feel that they have to "keep up standards" even if it means they both have to work. Probably the same sort of attitude that prevents them buying "value" own brands.
My wife's sister is someone to whom image is very important . When my wife said that she was cleaning her sister's response was that she couldn't do that if the houses were dirty.