This is what the British social classes think of each other

Let me give you a fact for free: Britishpeopleareobsessedwithclass.

We’ve tried to look past it, we’ve tried to move on but no, for some reason we just can’t get over it - it’s subconsciously affecting us all the time.

So, seeing as we can’t escape it, we may as well find out as much as we can about it, and YouGov have handily provided us with a comprehensive study into just what Britain’s three main social classes actually think of each other.

1,600 adults were asked for their thoughts on a range of issues and we’ll cut to the chase: as if it wasn’t already hard enough worrying about avocado shortages, whether your kids are going to the right school, and the future of Uber (“it’s just so convenient!”), it turns out that working class people don’t like the middle class, even though they/you? like them.

In the words of YouGov: “The results clearly show a fondness for the working class among middle class people that is not reciprocated.”

Specifically, more than a third of middle class people (37%) hold a favourable view of the working class, compared to only 20% the other way round.

Both working and middle class people are more fond of themselves (though there’s a bit of self-hate in there) - 48% of working class people hold a favourable view of their own class, while 44% of middle class people hold a favourable view of their segment.

But - sorry guys - you might call your plumber and builder ‘mate’ and ‘buddy’, but secretly they hate you. Probably because you call them ‘mate’ and ‘buddy’, come to think of it.

Here are a few nice graphs to illustrate the points I’ve just been making. Enjoy them.

Still, at least the working and middle classes are united in one thing - they have a very unfavourable opinion of the upper classes - only 9% and 19% respectively have a positive view of them.

In fact, the upper classes come off worse pretty much across the board, with people thinking they have it easiest in life, are the least moral, and contribute the least to society. Which is weird because we can’t think of a single upper class person that fits those stereotypes…

Overall, the middle classes are a little more down on themselves than working class people. For example, 74% of working class people believe that they work the hardest, while only 34% of middle class people believe that they are slogging it the most. And 56% of working class people believe that they contribute the most to society, compared to only 43% of middle class people.

However, when it boils down to it, working class people are far more likely to want to trade places with the middle class than the other way around - 40% of middle class people believed that their class was the best to be in, with just 3% saying working class, while 21% of the working classes believe that the middle class is the place to be, with only 28% of the middle class themselves believing it was the best class to be part of.

(Images: Pixabay/YouGov/Rex)