A new pointless survey from BBC Labs.
The labels ‘working’, ‘middle’ and ‘upper’ first appeared in the 19th century as a way of classifying the sharp social differences that arose in Britain as it led the world in the Industrial Revolution. But can a Victorian system designed to describe the relationship between industrial workers, managers and owners still be relevant today?We simply don’t know. It’s clear that social divisions have far from disappeared, and the traditional language of class still pervades public affairs, shapes political thinking, and influences our personal careers. So what does class really mean in Britain in the 21st century?It’s an important and pressing question, and we need your help to answer it.
You and your social classIt used to be thought that social class was defined by your occupation. Teachers or doctors, for instance, have different income levels, job security, and social experiences than ambulance drivers or gardeners.Another way of putting this is to say that people in professional occupations have different lifestyles to people who earn money by physical labour. But our economy and our lifestyles have changed profoundly since these categories were invented, so this may no longer hold true.Indeed, some sociologists have come to see classification by occupation as too simplistic, and argue that social class actually has three dimensions: economic, social, and cultural. To measure an individual’s ‘resources’ in each of these dimensions, sociologists look at many factors which can collectively be referred to as ‘capital’.With your help, our investigation will explore all three dimensions: economic capital, social capital and cultural capital.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/class/
― emil.y, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:22 (thirteen years ago) link
My results:
32/100 for economic capital60/100 for social capital90/100 for cultural capital
― emil.y, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:23 (thirteen years ago) link
You also get a coat of arms to represent your answers, but I had to take a screenshot. Hopefully this will work:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5015/5391377628_798f9b0095_o.png
― emil.y, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:33 (thirteen years ago) link
37/10060/10090/100
― Cars and Freedom (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:43 (thirteen years ago) link
Even though im not british...
34/100 for economic capital.
70/100 for social capital.
60/100 for cultural capital.
― the Chinese firewall of the heart (Michael B), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:44 (thirteen years ago) link
You scored 43/100 for economic capital.Your financial resources are about the same as the average person in the UK.You scored 40/100 for social capital.Your social network is about the same as the average person in the UK.You scored 100/100 for cultural capital.Your range of cultural interests is broader than the average person in the UK.
You scored 40/100 for social capital.Your social network is about the same as the average person in the UK.
You scored 100/100 for cultural capital.Your range of cultural interests is broader than the average person in the UK.
haha
― Jefferson Mansplain (DG), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:47 (thirteen years ago) link
Sadly my hatred of sports means I'll never get 100 for cultural capital.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:49 (thirteen years ago) link
some of these questions are so o_0
like the dining ones! WHERE IS "TURKISH" OR "KOREAN"
― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:51 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah I wanted to vote faux Mexican there
― Cars and Freedom (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:51 (thirteen years ago) link
and for some reason Radio 3 wasn't on the media list
― Cars and Freedom (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:52 (thirteen years ago) link
i hate sport emil.y, i got 100!
― Jefferson Mansplain (DG), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:53 (thirteen years ago) link
do i know any chief executives? do self-employed people count? I AM MY OWN CHIEF EXECUTIVE.
― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:53 (thirteen years ago) link
haw all the "never worked" people i know are either eternal students or trust fund kids :/
― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:55 (thirteen years ago) link
You scored 33/100 for economic capitalYour financial resources are lower than the average person in the UK. Find out more below.
You scored 30/100 for social capitalYour social network is narrower than the average person in the UK. Find out more below.
You scored 40/100 for cultural capitalYour range of cultural interests is about the same as the average person in the UK. Find out more below.
lol, don't follow uk media or know many british people any more : (
― caek, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:57 (thirteen years ago) link
DG, really? I figured that was what was missing from my breadth of culture. I guess I did also do 'never' for ballet, and 'rarely' for classical. Pah.
Didn't notice the food thing as I'm fairly boring, but am surprised they didn't even include something like 'other world cuisine'.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:57 (thirteen years ago) link
Nobody else going to post up their coat of arms? I was fairly pleased with mine.
you aren't down with me and NV and radio 3 :(
― Jefferson Mansplain (DG), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:58 (thirteen years ago) link
Tbf I had to put never for visits to the opera or ballet in the last 12 months but I live in Hull.
― Cars and Freedom (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 21:59 (thirteen years ago) link
I don't really listen to much radio. It was more about outside home activities, though, rather than home listening - classical would move up to the exciting world of 'sometimes' if it was listening habits.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:01 (thirteen years ago) link
"Rarely" and "Sometimes" are uselessly vague as well. I maybe go to half a dozen gigs a year, which I ticked as rarely. But compared to a lot of people that's a lot?
― Cars and Freedom (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:03 (thirteen years ago) link
And questions about "where you prefer to eat out"? Like yeah I prefer to eat out at some 200 quid a head palace of haute cuisine but hey Chiquito's feels like a treat irl
― Cars and Freedom (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:04 (thirteen years ago) link
You scored 31/100 for economic capital.Your financial resources are lower than the average person in the UK.
You scored 30/100 for social capital.Your social network is narrower than the average person in the UK.
― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:04 (thirteen years ago) link
think u kind of lose caste by doing the survey
― read before patoing (history mayne), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:04 (thirteen years ago) link
lol @ social capital. i only know people in the media, anyone else is pure luck :(
literally every question was useless though. so many occupations not covered.
― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:05 (thirteen years ago) link
Don't think "Builder" was on there which is ???
― Cars and Freedom (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:07 (thirteen years ago) link
they're supposed to be representative though.
You scored 49/100 for economic capitalYour financial resources are about the same as the average person in the UK. Find out more below.
You scored 90/100 for cultural capitalYour range of cultural interests is broader than the average person in the UK. Find out more below.
― Neil S, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:10 (thirteen years ago) link
You scored 24/100 for economic capital.Your financial resources are lower than the average person in the UK.
You scored 50/100 for social capital.Your social network is about the same as the average person in the UK.
You scored 20/100 for cultural capital.Your range of cultural interests is narrower than the average person in the UK.
― Les centimètres énigmatiques (snoball), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:12 (thirteen years ago) link
Here's my coat of arms:http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/2530/imageuploadimagevk1.gif
Ahahahaha
― emil.y, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:13 (thirteen years ago) link
if only I could turn this mythical economic capital into, y'know, actual money.
You scored 64/100 for economic capital.You scored 70/100 for social capital.You scored 90/100 for cultural capital.
https://static.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/class/img/emblem/card_socialhigh_culturehigh.png
― sometimes all it takes is a healthy dose of continental indiepop (tomofthenest), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:23 (thirteen years ago) link
22/100 economic100/100 social100/100 cultural
i know ppl with lots of different jobs! i am pretty cool.
yeah this got me
also where were bbc 4, more 4, radio 3 and 1extra, no representation for my interest ;_;
― the tune is spacecadet (c sharp major), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:23 (thirteen years ago) link
50/60/70
but i'm american and didn't know how to answer some of the questions (mostly the media ones). pretty sure that 50 would have skewed higher if i'd answered as a physician
― ullr saves (gbx), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:24 (thirteen years ago) link
tom, the image seems to come in several different parts so you need to screenshot it if you want it all to come out.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:27 (thirteen years ago) link
My image is not that different from emily's.
Top left:
\m/ \m/
― progspeed you! black metallers (aldo), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:28 (thirteen years ago) link
I realise that now emily, but actually I quite like the idea of being a blank slate
― sometimes all it takes is a healthy dose of continental indiepop (tomofthenest), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:28 (thirteen years ago) link
quite liked the music test, results similar to snoball's coat of arms
― Jefferson Mansplain (DG), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:32 (thirteen years ago) link
hypothetical Turkish or Korean dining option possibly unfair to people outside large cities, unless "kebab shop" counts as Turkish
am a university dropout, was hoping to go back and see how my score changed between pretending not to have gone at all vs pretending to have finished, but the whole thing took too long and took itself too seriously for that
I scored higher than all of you for social capital!!!1 (uh, xp, except c#maj) which is kind of hilarious because I don't know anyone at all, in fact it is probably because I don't know anyone at all, normal people fill in what their actual friends do whereas I was resorting to "uhhh this guy at my evening class does that so I'll say yes" "uhhh the landlord at my local pub is a pub landlord, that'll do"
(tbf we do often chat as we're often the only customers, ahem - I did not tick anyone unless either I had been drinking with them or their personal number is in my or my bf's phone - but the social butterflying is mostly the bf's work while I sit at home typing exclamation marks into the internet)
― agrarian gamekeeper (a passing spacecadet), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:38 (thirteen years ago) link
74/10040/10020/100
Haha my coat of arms is just a video game controller on like an empty shield.
― Gravel Puzzleworth, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:49 (thirteen years ago) link
my coat of arms is a knife and fork and a computer screen
i.e. i am a nerd who eats a lot
:(
― agrarian gamekeeper (a passing spacecadet), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:51 (thirteen years ago) link
economic 32%social 60%cultural 40%
biggest self-truthbomb in this was admitting that the only two papers I'd be *likely* to read (online but even so) in an average week were the Guardian and the Mail :/
― nothing tastes as good as zingy feels (DJ Mencap), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:51 (thirteen years ago) link
Got 100s on social and cultural capital but then it told me I was broke and owned no property. *cries*
― champagne in the arse (suzy), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:53 (thirteen years ago) link
mine was a metal dude's hand next to what I assume to be a magazine
real talk
― nothing tastes as good as zingy feels (DJ Mencap), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:53 (thirteen years ago) link
What cultural class are you in if you refuse to sign in or register?
― hipsterPad (Schlafsack), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:54 (thirteen years ago) link
"the disappeared"
― nothing tastes as good as zingy feels (DJ Mencap), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 22:55 (thirteen years ago) link
Property - You say that you own property and its value is above average for the UK. Over 65% of people in the UK own the homes they live in, and property is one of the largest contributors to personal wealth in Britain.
I don't 'own' it. All being well we might own it after 30 years. And it's a cramped flat in a moderately scruffy bit of east London which is cheap by London standards. I can't help feeling this is a flawed analysis.
― Death and Taxis (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 23:18 (thirteen years ago) link
Your social network is wider than 0% of people in the UK
I just clicked 'no' for every single job. I wasn't really sure who it meant by 'people you know socially', so I excluded anyone I've ever worked with and all family. And then I realised I don't really know what my friends jobs are: something or other in market research, something or other in publishing, etc. Certainly nothing as clearly defined as 'bus driver' or 'lawyer'.
― Death and Taxis (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 23:22 (thirteen years ago) link
You scored 30/100 for cultural capital.Your range of cultural interests is narrower than the average person in the UK
This might be true, but the question was phrased about what I'd done in the last year. Since becoming a parent I can hardly ever do anything. That doesn't mean I wouldn't if I could and it hardly changes my social class. Or does it?
― Death and Taxis (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 23:25 (thirteen years ago) link
While I agree that it's terribly flawed, I'd still say that where you live ("Tbf I had to put never for visits to the opera or ballet in the last 12 months but I live in Hull") and whether you can afford time away from the kid (i.e. do you hire a nanny so you can make your regular trips to the opera) do affect your cultural capital. And bear in mind that they aren't yet equating that with class, but rather gathering data so they can make stupid sweeping statements later.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 23:31 (thirteen years ago) link
I meant "e.g." rather than "i.e." there, I think. Maybe that should have been a question.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 26 January 2011 23:32 (thirteen years ago) link
And then I realised I don't really know what my friends jobs are: something or other in market research, something or other in publishing, etc. Certainly nothing as clearly defined as 'bus driver' or 'lawyer'.
same here
― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 23:33 (thirteen years ago) link
I don't even want to know about my friends' jobs. There's nothing more boring than going out after a week of work and talking about work.
― Death and Taxis (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Wednesday, 26 January 2011 23:36 (thirteen years ago) link
Ditto, that must explain the shockingly low result below:
24/10020/10070/100
― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Thursday, 27 January 2011 12:38 (thirteen years ago) link
Fuck, I am poor... at the moment anyway
You scored 39/100 for economic capitalYou scored 60/100 for social capitalYou scored 90/100 for cultural capital
― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 27 January 2011 12:54 (thirteen years ago) link
80/60/80
So I'll just shut up complaining about child benefits ever again.
― Ned Trifle (Notinmyname), Thursday, 27 January 2011 13:23 (thirteen years ago) link
You scored 39/100 for economic capitalYou scored 10/100 for social capitalYou scored 70/100 for cultural capital
lol I don't know anyone who does any of those jobs, I know a teacher, that's it.
― a fucking stove just fell on my foot. (Colonel Poo), Thursday, 27 January 2011 13:25 (thirteen years ago) link
At least, I assume members of family don't count as social connections?
― a fucking stove just fell on my foot. (Colonel Poo), Thursday, 27 January 2011 13:27 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm amazed you all have such high scores on the cultural thing! Is it just the music question?
― Gravel Puzzleworth, Thursday, 27 January 2011 13:29 (thirteen years ago) link
I read a lot and go to museums/galleries a reasonable amount, too, but I think the music thing probably tilts it high.
― emil.y, Thursday, 27 January 2011 13:30 (thirteen years ago) link
Not British, but close enough, and I can't resist:
63/100 Economic (average, which surprises me a little)
100/100 Social (Deceptive in the extreme, because I'm an antisocial bugger at best, but I know loads of people through sport, music and politics, and they have loads of different jobs - plus I live in a very mixed area, so a lot of the options would be neighbours)
100/100 Cultural
― sonofstan, Thursday, 27 January 2011 13:35 (thirteen years ago) link
i didn't think i'd get such a higher cultural score b/c i did some of the activities only sometimes - maybe it's just that (living in london helps) i've actually done all of them in the past year? can't remember exactly what the questions were and it won't let me back into the test to check.
― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Thursday, 27 January 2011 13:42 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm 39 Economic and also "average"
― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 27 January 2011 13:42 (thirteen years ago) link
62/100/100, a mixture of my own artsy friends + my husband's mostly blue-collar mates seems to be doing the social thing some favours, and being a mixture of artsy and also going to the football and playing bingo with my dad seems to make me culturally diverse, I guess.
― ailsa, Thursday, 27 January 2011 13:58 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, I think being urban rather than suburban, and living somewhere where actually going to the opera and the football is possible is going to help.
― sonofstan, Thursday, 27 January 2011 14:07 (thirteen years ago) link
Dunno really, I don't go to either but I still got 70/100. Can only assume that's because I watch BBC1 AND Channel 5.
― a fucking stove just fell on my foot. (Colonel Poo), Thursday, 27 January 2011 14:28 (thirteen years ago) link
... and ITV 2. I don't read newspapers either.
― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Thursday, 27 January 2011 15:04 (thirteen years ago) link
You scored 89/100 for economic capitalYou scored 60/100 for social capitalYou scored 100/100 for cultural capital
― mike t-diva, Thursday, 27 January 2011 15:24 (thirteen years ago) link
You scored 34/100 for economic capitalYou scored 85/100 for social capitalYou scored 30/100 for cultural capital
I'm an Amurrican, but I don't go out drinking. Guess I'm a dumb chav, ehh blokes?
― they call him (remy bean), Thursday, 27 January 2011 15:52 (thirteen years ago) link
10-4 good buddy
― Jefferson Mansplain (DG), Thursday, 27 January 2011 15:53 (thirteen years ago) link
*sn-word*
― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Thursday, 27 January 2011 15:55 (thirteen years ago) link
That'd be a good poll –– British stereotypes of Americans vs American Stereotypes of Brits.
― they call him (remy bean), Thursday, 27 January 2011 16:04 (thirteen years ago) link
You scored 10/100 for social capitallol I don't know anyone who does any of those jobs, I know a teacher, that's it.― a fucking stove just fell on my foot. (Colonel Poo)
Ditto. This suggests that moving to Walthamstow = the end of social lives. I know lots of teachers, but I couldn't say yes to that because they're all current or former colleagues.
― Death and Taxis (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Thursday, 27 January 2011 16:25 (thirteen years ago) link
34/70/100.
If only I knew a noble :(
I'm really surprised I got 100/100 - my friend who visits a different gallery/interpretative mime show/world music happening etc etc each week would break the entire system. I ticked 'rarely' for a few of those on the basis of having done them once or twice a year (ie classical/going sportz).
― superpitching, Thursday, 27 January 2011 16:26 (thirteen years ago) link
I classed myself as 'middle middle' btw!
― superpitching, Thursday, 27 January 2011 16:29 (thirteen years ago) link