Middle Class Issues.

[Shadow Man]

Whilst watching various TV shows over the years, namely Jeremy Kyle, Trisha and the USA equivelents such as Jerry Springer and Montel etc, it is obvious and well documented that 99.7 percent of the shows subjects are mere peasants, chavs or in America, trailer park trash.

Whilst I appreciate that conditions and situations like alcoholism and spousal abuse do cross over to the middle classes, I am asking my fellow ABers if they believe the middle classes do have pathetic family and relationship rows as seen on these TV shows.

I am of course citing things like "My brothers girlfriend slept with my boyfriend and his uncle slapped my mum because she owed his best friend 50 quid for a drugs deal that was run by my absent father who was sleeping with the babysitter who was the cousin of Wayne my ex who is the father of little Chelsea who is mixed race and wants to be a prostitute when she reaches 14"

Yes, the peasants are no doubt paid �250 and have a free bar in a 3 star hotel the night before and due to their class awareness are happy to air their dirty washing in public, but do the middle classes have complicated issues in their lives.

If so, are they resolved with dignity unlike the poor folk such as DSS bludgers and warehouse staff?

[MrBen5]

Hmmm, i think a lot of people do, but tend to keep it to themselves...

[annie0000]

I think that the middle classes just prefer to do their dirty laundry in private.

[annie0000]

Although the vast majority of the working class do the same. But then, a lot of the people on these programmes dont work, so therefore could not be called the working class. SO here is another question have the working class become the new middle class?

[Shadow Man]

I rarely use the term "working class" (as shown above). It is too hard to define and is too broad a range to pin point.

I still maintain that middle class is a not a subjective term, as modern sociologists let us believe. It is often a birth right and a sense of culture. This can be "learnt" but it is the instilled conservative and Conservative value system one holds as opposed to money, job, size of your house or accent. Yes such things are closely related, but for example it will be a hardened person arguing, for example, Jordon is middle class

[saxy_jag]

Of course they do. A middle class family I know had a huge crisis when young Johnny announced halfway through university that he wanted to change course and go to Oxford rather than Cambridge. The extra expense meant that the family were forced to choose between their new car or their second holiday that year. Johnny got the blame and left uni altogether, bringing disgrace to the family when he moved in with a local shop girl and took up a gardening job with the local parks department. They've been together for seven years now, and there's more trouble in the family because they've decided to send their five-year-old to a state school.

[annie0000]

i agree, but I think that for a lot of people the edges are becoming blurred. To me, although I was brought up on a council estate, my parents always worked and instilled good values, but i didn't grow up in an Enid Blyton world. I therefore class myself as working class. My children however have a different upbringing than i had - they have the new school uniform every term, the bednight stories, the sitting at the table for dinner, etc that I never had, I wouldn't say that they are middle class, but they are not the same as the working class as I know it.

[johnlambert]

Given that the majority of the people you have just described do not, will not work, never have had, never will have work, shouldn't they be called something other than "working" class? how about 'under-class' or 'benefit-class'?

[sophie_1003]

Most of those shows are completely made up anyway so I wouldn't worry about who does and doesn't have rows like that anyway!

[Curry King]

Some people will do anything to get on T.V.

Also as just posted some are made up.