What ever happened to 'the working class'?

Shea O'Meara

I must admit, it kind of snook up on me.
I do however recall some years back noticing a rise in the level of discussion centering around the middle class and the 'new' middle class. I remember thinking, 'Why are they in the spotlight so much?' I guess to me the middle class represented a section of society who were more often than not college/university educated, had a nice home with a decent sized lawn and at least two cars. They held professional careers of some sort and most likely owned a holiday home. So why was I hearing more and more about this small segment of Irish society? I believe, putting aside the Celtic Tiger myth/blip, such people are a minority in Ireland so why do we over represent the middle class? I realise that we have more middle class folk than ever in this country, but there is a marked difference between a working class person up to their eyes in debt who outwardly may seem to have middle class trapings and a third or fourth generational middle class person.
I believe the majority of Irish people are working class. By that I mean one or two missed pay checks away from being in arrears, never set foot inside a university, working minimum to low salary.
My query is where has representation for the working class gone? Why do we only hear of the unemployed as if they are a class unto themselves? Why are we left with a nation of middle class people also featuring the unemployed, politicians, bankers and either travellers or the homeless depending on the season?
Who is deleting the working class as a social grouping any why? My only theory is that as the system as it currently stands has been shown to be flawed, (bailouts/ever widening poverty gap etc.) making out that everybody is doing pretty well and are for all intensive purposes middle class helps perpetrate the lie needed to keep the top on top and the 'middle class' sated. Is it to whitewash social history, make us believe the lie that the trickle down effect actually exists and works?
Your views are appreciated. Arguments on the size of either class aside, why has the term 'working class' disappeared?

hmmm

Shea O'Meara wrote: »

Who is deleting the working class as a social grouping any why?

The working class deleted the name themselves. I came from a working class family, and my parents would have killed me if they had ever heard me refer to us as "working class". The working class clawed their way out of the tenements and have no intention of being objects of pity, derision or charity.

The only people I hear referring to "working class" now are rich snobs from D4 who grew up reading Marx and have these romantic notions about the underclass they will lead to salvation.

irishh_bob

Shea O'Meara wrote: »

I must admit, it kind of snook up on me.
I do however recall some years back noticing a rise in the level of discussion centering around the middle class and the 'new' middle class. I remember thinking, 'Why are they in the spotlight so much?' I guess to me the middle class represented a section of society who were more often than not college/university educated, had a nice home with a decent sized lawn and at least two cars. They held professional careers of some sort and most likely owned a holiday home. So why was I hearing more and more about this small segment of Irish society? I believe, putting aside the Celtic Tiger myth/blip, such people are a minority in Ireland so why do we over represent the middle class? I realise that we have more middle class folk than ever in this country, but there is a marked difference between a working class person up to their eyes in debt who outwardly may seem to have middle class trapings and a third or fourth generational middle class person.
I believe the majority of Irish people are working class. By that I mean one or two missed pay checks away from being in arrears, never set foot inside a university, working minimum to low salary.
My query is where has representation for the working class gone? Why do we only hear of the unemployed as if they are a class unto themselves? Why are we left with a nation of middle class people also featuring the unemployed, politicians, bankers and either travellers or the homeless depending on the season?
Who is deleting the working class as a social grouping any why? My only theory is that as the system as it currently stands has been shown to be flawed, (bailouts/ever widening poverty gap etc.) making out that everybody is doing pretty well and are for all intensive purposes middle class helps perpetrate the lie needed to keep the top on top and the 'middle class' sated. Is it to whitewash social history, make us believe the lie that the trickle down effect actually exists and works?
Your views are appreciated. Arguments on the size of either class aside, why has the term 'working class' disappeared?

what you refer to as the working class with an apparent middle class lifestyle , i would call the coping class , theese people make up the majority of funders to taxation , they are the silent majority who are not sexy to the media or the endless list of QUANGO,s

the wellfare class on the other hand have any amount of outfits queeing up to play violins and report on thier plight , from the media to the various arms of the poverty industry who curiously enough tend to come from south dublin affluent backrounds , theese people see the wellfare class as exotic and much more interested than the hated coping class who they see as nothing but a cash cow , bred soley to produce revenue for thier various pet projects

Shea O'Meara

I believe the term 'working class', although generally denoting low or minimum wage, in my view is a grouping of people who simply work blue collar. Both tradesmen and unskilled. You can be a highly paid tradesman and still be working class.
I don't see the term as a slur or something to hide. I also don't see it as a cry for charity or, as with any other class, a badge or honour for that matter.

I raise the point because working class people are always hit the hardest and have less of a buffer should things go awry economically, so it's in the least curious why they are under-represented.
The unemployed can come from all walks and are not a classic social class unto themselves, mainly due to the fact that anyone from any career can find themselves unemployed and it may be only for a few weeks or months.

Shea O'Meara

hmmm wrote: »

The working class deleted the name themselves. I came from a working class family, and my parents would have killed me if they had ever heard me refer to us as "working class". The working class clawed their way out of the tenements and have no intention of being objects of pity, derision or charity.

The only people I hear referring to "working class" now are rich snobs from D4 who grew up reading Marx and have these romantic notions about the underclass they will lead to salvation.

I guess it's up to the individual but pretty much everybody I know/grew up with would consider themselves working class. I see no link to being an object of pity or charity etc. And not all working class people came from slums or tenements. I'm quite happy to refer to my family as working class, it's no big deal either way.

mike65

The Working Class in media discourse became "those on lower incomes"

Shea O'Meara

mike65 wrote: »

The Working Class in media discourse became "those on lower incomes"

Exactly. It's almost like editors across the land had a get together deciding to rub out the term.
I'm wondering why?
I initially thought during the celtic tiger period it was, as with all the cheese and wine lifestyle shows, an effort to make it look like we were all doing great, no worries.
Now I think it's to make the great unwashed believe even though things are pretty bad, we're better off than we were. God forbid we'd cause a stink.
I'm not sure, just find it very strange.
For bad or good, it's at best lazy journalism.

irishh_bob

mike65 wrote: »

The Working Class in media discourse became "those on lower incomes"

the terms " those on low incomes " is used liberally by plenty of different orgs , unions for example often refer to nurses , teachers and guards as those on lower incomes despite the fact that all three professions average around a grand per week :rolleyes:

mike65

and they are exactly who most people used to consider the working class to be traditionally. But as you say such is the pay of many public sector workers they are now the "squeezed middle". As for ESB workers....

brian_t

Shea O'Meara wrote: »

I'm quite happy to refer to my family as working class.

I don't really consider myself as any class.
But if you're working class and there is also the middle class then is there also an Upper Class ?

Shea O'Meara

brian_t wrote: »

I don't really consider myself as any class.

We don't live in a classless society. The terms seem to change but there are gaps between one standard of living and another.

brian_t wrote: »

But if you're working class and there is also the middle class then is there also an Upper Class ?

I would say yes, but in a more modern light a controlling class. It's wide open for debate. The days of refering to a group as your betters is no longer common place, also to me it denotes an aristocratic connection, however if you look at the Haugheys circa the reign of Charlie, he was sending Lawlor as an envoy to Sadam under the guise his Excellency Charles Haughey and it can be argued he was at that time a law unto himeself. Then we have the current Lords, a hangover from fuedal times, though not all are rolling in dough by any means.

It's all depending on your view but I would suggest we have those below the poverty line, fancy label for the poor. The working class, blue collar workers. The middle class, possibly third level educated, higher salaries, more likely to own property etc. And there are those inbetween as the cut off from one to the other is again open for dicussion.
As for the people who always seem to fall on their feet to the detriment of the hardworking taxpayer, regardless of class....there's a few names for them.

I don't like pretending we are all middle class. There is no shame in trying to pay your bills regardless of your job, or lack there of. The media during the Celtic Tiger was all magazine programs and articles about holiday homes, buying property, dinner parties, which wine to go for and other crap. Why create a superficial bubble to peer out of and for who's benefit? If I want to watch or read fantasy I'll read a work of fiction or watch a drama.

berrypendel

mike65 wrote: »

The Working Class in media discourse became "those on lower incomes"

Or families with low socioeconomic status

berrypendel

the working class say 'well ,how is it going'and the middle class say 'hi how are you'

or just 'well' and 'hi' rspectively

krd

Shea O'Meara wrote: »

I raise the point because working class people are always hit the hardest and have less of a buffer should things go awry economically, so it's in the least curious why they are under-represented..

The middle-class have a buffer, if anything should go awry. It's called the working class.

The working class are under-represented because the middle-class capture everything - politics, the media, all the good jobs.

The Irish middle-class is actually quite small. That's the real middle-class. I would put them at anything between 5% to 2% of the population. In fact the number could be much smaller. It might just be the 20,000 who can afford season tickets to the rugby,

Funnily. The average pay at the New York Times is over 100k, the average pay at the Irish Times is 30k - so the average journalist at the Irish Times is actually working class.

The vast majority of Irish people are knackers, and that's the way our rulers see us. You can have a mortgage and a car, and still be a knacker.

berrypendel

krd wrote: »

- so the average journalist at the Irish Times is actually working class.
.

sssshh don't tell anyone