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| What is the working class dream? | What is the working class dream? |
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| While some people dedicate their lives to escaping their working class backgrounds others have no interest in climbing a class ladder, says Laurie Taylor in his weekly column. | While some people dedicate their lives to escaping their working class backgrounds others have no interest in climbing a class ladder, says Laurie Taylor in his weekly column. |
| Spiritual leaders for students of another age - the Animals | Spiritual leaders for students of another age - the Animals |
| Back in the early 70s, the most played record on the Essex Students' Union juke box was We've Got to Get Out of This Place by The Animals. I remember thinking when I heard this news that there was something wonderfully ironic about so many middle class students being able to enjoy the privilege of higher education while simultaneously protesting about the nature of the institution which sought to provide it. | Back in the early 70s, the most played record on the Essex Students' Union juke box was We've Got to Get Out of This Place by The Animals. I remember thinking when I heard this news that there was something wonderfully ironic about so many middle class students being able to enjoy the privilege of higher education while simultaneously protesting about the nature of the institution which sought to provide it. |
| But I also know that my irritation was strengthened by memories of people who really did feel trapped by their circumstances, who desperately desired to get out of their allocated space. | But I also know that my irritation was strengthened by memories of people who really did feel trapped by their circumstances, who desperately desired to get out of their allocated space. |
| Nobody fought harder than Tony Williams. We were classmates at secondary school for several years before we became friends (I learned later that he'd been afraid to speak to me because I was what he called "a bit la-de-dah"). But even before we started sharing a social life, before we started hanging around chip shops drinking illegal pints of mild and shouting ourselves hoarse in the Boys Pen at Anfield, I knew that Tony was very different from other boys in the class. | Nobody fought harder than Tony Williams. We were classmates at secondary school for several years before we became friends (I learned later that he'd been afraid to speak to me because I was what he called "a bit la-de-dah"). But even before we started sharing a social life, before we started hanging around chip shops drinking illegal pints of mild and shouting ourselves hoarse in the Boys Pen at Anfield, I knew that Tony was very different from other boys in the class. |
| FIND OUT MORE Hear Laurie Taylor's Thinking Allowed on Radio 4 at 1600 on Wednesdays or 0030 on MondaysOr download the podcast here | FIND OUT MORE Hear Laurie Taylor's Thinking Allowed on Radio 4 at 1600 on Wednesdays or 0030 on MondaysOr download the podcast here |
| For a start there was his handwriting. When ever I turned around during a particularly boring part of a History or RI lesson, I'd spot Tony writing his name over and over again on a blank page in his exercise book. Tony Williams. Tony Williams. Tony Williams. Tony Williams. | For a start there was his handwriting. When ever I turned around during a particularly boring part of a History or RI lesson, I'd spot Tony writing his name over and over again on a blank page in his exercise book. Tony Williams. Tony Williams. Tony Williams. Tony Williams. |
| And if that was not strange enough, there was also the peculiar business of his voice. When I first knew Tony he'd had a basic raucous Liverpool accent. But by the time he got to the fifth form, he'd developed a much softer tone and an odd way of rounding his mouth as he spoke as though he was consciously forming each syllable. | And if that was not strange enough, there was also the peculiar business of his voice. When I first knew Tony he'd had a basic raucous Liverpool accent. But by the time he got to the fifth form, he'd developed a much softer tone and an odd way of rounding his mouth as he spoke as though he was consciously forming each syllable. |
| I only discovered what lay behind these peculiar practices when we were firm enough friends to talk about what we might do when we left school. After I'd rather airily talked about the bohemian future I fancied for myself, Tony began, very slowly, to give me a picture of his intended future. | I only discovered what lay behind these peculiar practices when we were firm enough friends to talk about what we might do when we left school. After I'd rather airily talked about the bohemian future I fancied for myself, Tony began, very slowly, to give me a picture of his intended future. |
| And what a picture! Tony slowly told me that what he wanted most of all in the world was to become middle-class. He wanted to get out of the poor terrace house in Bootle which he shared with his widowed dad and gradually climb the social ladder until finally he could move into his dream, into a large detached old house in a country village in the South of England. He told me that he could see this house with absolute clarity, see the ways in which the shadows of the large trees in the garden fell across the manicured lawn, see the tray of full spirit bottles sitting on the antique dresser in the corner of the oak-beamed living room. | And what a picture! Tony slowly told me that what he wanted most of all in the world was to become middle-class. He wanted to get out of the poor terrace house in Bootle which he shared with his widowed dad and gradually climb the social ladder until finally he could move into his dream, into a large detached old house in a country village in the South of England. He told me that he could see this house with absolute clarity, see the ways in which the shadows of the large trees in the garden fell across the manicured lawn, see the tray of full spirit bottles sitting on the antique dresser in the corner of the oak-beamed living room. |
| The essence of middle classness? A village green | |
| It was the desire, the obsession, to realise this dream which informed almost every aspect of Tony's life. If he was going to escape from working class life then he'd have to learn to pass as middle class. This was the reason behind all those hours of handwriting practise, all those hours he'd devoted to replacing his crude scouse accent with a soft slightly over-articulated whisper. | It was the desire, the obsession, to realise this dream which informed almost every aspect of Tony's life. If he was going to escape from working class life then he'd have to learn to pass as middle class. This was the reason behind all those hours of handwriting practise, all those hours he'd devoted to replacing his crude scouse accent with a soft slightly over-articulated whisper. |
| This was also the reason why Tony was only ever to be found reading good books (Dickens and Austen) rather than the Hank Jansens which circulated in the playground. It was the reason he played Mozart at home on his wind-up gramophone rather than Frankie Laine and Johnny Ray. It was I believe the reason he married a lower middle class girl called Veronica who came from the posh part of Crosby. | This was also the reason why Tony was only ever to be found reading good books (Dickens and Austen) rather than the Hank Jansens which circulated in the playground. It was the reason he played Mozart at home on his wind-up gramophone rather than Frankie Laine and Johnny Ray. It was I believe the reason he married a lower middle class girl called Veronica who came from the posh part of Crosby. |
| And it was a success story. If you want to find Tony now, all you need to do is drive to a small village in Cambridgeshire, look out for a large detached country house, and there he'll be, sitting back in a well-upholstered armchair, a large whisky in his hand, Cosi Fan Tutte on the CD player. | And it was a success story. If you want to find Tony now, all you need to do is drive to a small village in Cambridgeshire, look out for a large detached country house, and there he'll be, sitting back in a well-upholstered armchair, a large whisky in his hand, Cosi Fan Tutte on the CD player. |
| He's a very successful solicitor, a man of means, a local figure. He has realised his dream. He's got out of the working class and become so thoroughly middle class that one-one would ever imagine his origins. | He's a very successful solicitor, a man of means, a local figure. He has realised his dream. He's got out of the working class and become so thoroughly middle class that one-one would ever imagine his origins. |
| But not all working-class children and teenagers ascribe to that dream. Despite being offered a whole set of choice points in their lives where they might leave their proletarian roots behind and take a different track to their parents, they still decide, sometimes unthinkingly, to stay where they feel comfortable, to stay true to their class of origin. | But not all working-class children and teenagers ascribe to that dream. Despite being offered a whole set of choice points in their lives where they might leave their proletarian roots behind and take a different track to their parents, they still decide, sometimes unthinkingly, to stay where they feel comfortable, to stay true to their class of origin. |
| A selection of your comments appears below. | |
| Working-class children and teenagers may decide to reject the middle-class lifestyle because it is that lifestyle which they perceive as too comfortable and thus potentially numbing.Russell, London, UK | |
| I come from very working class parents who had no aspirations that I ever saw, and I was never encouraged to aim for anything or believe I would be anything more than 'factory fodder'. My mother seemed to believe that the nicer things in life were for other people, and as a result of this, we had no car, telephone, washing machine or anything to make life easier. Money was tight but I am sure that these items could have been included in our household if she had thought she was 'worthy' of them. We also never had any family holidays - luxuries perhaps, but all the things that make family life run a bit smoother were omitted. I still feel the shackles of my upbringing - I have never had a holiday in the sun, or my own house - all these things that I didn't experience as a child are still out of reach for me. Although I am not ashamed of my working class background, I wish I had been taught to raise my sights a bit higher.Sue Powell, East Cowes, Isle of Wight | |
| Interestingly, it seems that a rather opposite trend has emerged in recent years; middle class shame and the glamorisation of the working class, especially among the young- bands like Arctic Monkeys are prime examples of this. I'm not sure if it's a misplaced pride in one's origins, or an excuse for certain types of behaviour, but I remember at university the amusing sight of a dance floor full of mostly comfortably-off middle class students, singing along to Pulp's "Common People", apparently totally unaware of the irony of lines like "pretend you never went to school".Tom, Leicester, UK | |
| I think the real sad aspect of this story isn't so much that "working-class children and teenagers" decide to "stay true to their class of origin," but rather, the fact that (i) a class system even still exists, (ii) that each class is so different, so clearly distinct from each other that it requires conscious effort to move upwards socially, as opposed to fluid social mobility, and that (iii) that the conscious effort needed does not just involve hard work, but also a voice & face-makeover, as implied by this article. A story of a boy from a not so well-off background who makes it via hard work & determination & ambition to become a solicitor would have already been a heart-warming story. The story of a boy who needed to change his manner of speaking, his interests, just so he isn't discriminated against in his efforts to make it, unfortunately, speaks not so much of the boy but of the society.Sheena, Southampton | |
| I've always been a bit baffled about this concept of 'class' - does it have any real meaning? I used to run the local Army Cadet unit, and one day was chatting with some of the cadets who were telling me about someone who lived down the road. "He's posh," they said, "He goes to a private school and both his parents went to university." So I told them that I'd been to private school and not only had both my parents gone to university, so had I. "So, am I posh?" I asked. "Oh no," they said, "YOU go to Cadets!"Megan, Cheshire UK | |
| Thanks to my parents I spent many of my teens and my 20's not being sure what "class" I was supposed to be in. My background is working class but I was sent to a Girl's school from the age of 5-12. From 12-16 I was in a mainstream comprehensive and the blurred lines have caused me untold grief over the years. Now, I just don't care. I certainly don't aspire to be a particular class - just not to be in debt and maybe own my own house again. But then in a recession I expect that is all we can aspire to!Kate, Bedford, UK | |
| As someone who could be called 'educated' working class I have something of a split personality. Well read, reasonably well spoken and polite but at the same time very working class in some of my attitudes, beliefs and habits. I wonder if Tony would ever let his act drop and slip into the vernacular and return to being a Scouse scally? I wonder also what his dad thought of him, weather he was betraying his roots. After all what's actually wrong with being working class?James Beeching, Taunton UK | |
| Interesting article. During my childhood in the East End (I'm now 24), my parents were constantly burdened with financial difficulties. I decided early on that I didn't want to live like that and thanks largely to the opportunities they worked hard to give me, I live debt-free and comfortably and in a nice flat in North London. I don't consider myself avaricious, but my desire to have a comfortable life is a major driving force behind my professional ambitions. I'm not in the slightest bit ashamed of where I come from - I often tell people about it - but there's no doubt that I made a deliberate decision to become middle class. Now, where did I leave that glass of chablis...?East London Guttersnipe, London | |
| My family are working class and even nearly 10 years ago when I was about 12 or 13 I knew I didn't want to move into the higher echelons of middle class status. Despite the advantages of wealth and more 'respect' towards middle class status, it is not something I aspire to, and I'd actually be offended if someone thought I was middle rather than working class.Missy, London | |
| This Tony reminds me of myself. And, hopefully an image of what I will become. I grew up with a single parent, two siblings, living off benefits entirely. I was so displeased with my life that I refused to use working class to refer to it, working class is above what I lived in. Now, I am in Warwick University studying Mathematics, and, all of my life people have mistaken me for a well spoken, middle class academic, and not a lower class son of a benefits claimant. I have aspirations to become a head software engineer for a large company, or perhaps someone involved strongly in business or government. Hopefully even abroad for a while! Nowadays I believe that class is a state of mind, and becoming a class is a matter of working towards it. In mind I am middle class. In situation, I am now a student. A class in itself. I won't forget my roots, and what the unfortunate others in it have to go through, but I never, ever, will return.C Alexander, Coventry | |
| The desire to stick with the familiar is hardly a proletarian issue. I would suggest all of us, consciously or otherwise, ascribe to familiar comfort in numerous ways. Think how many times we go to the same resort/country, or drink the same wine or still listen to the same music years later. We do so for the obvious reasons that we feel safe and secure. It takes balls and nerves to get out of the familiar, even a poor one. This your friend commendably had lots of. However, don't castigate those that don't. Moreover, the 'whole set of choice points' you feel is on offer to the working class teenagers needs to be explained. I wonder if these won't turn out to be a set of assumptions intangible to the reality of 'working class' life. For sure people can and (as highlighted) do get out of their almost pre-determined existence, but most don't as social mobility has all but ceased. Why so? It won't be through choice that people stay where they are. My fancy is that the desire for those in authority to control most aspects of our living is now so strong, that few individuals have the strength, belligerence, nerve, will and luck to take them on. The power 'out there' now seems so overwhelming that most I suspect have stopped dreaming (as your friend did). People need all the strength they can get just to get through the day. Work doesn't pay. Education still seems remote, and is now expensive. No other 'choice points' seem obvious to me. Allistair Elliott, Scarborough, UK | |
| Im a 40 year old working class biker from a working class background and damn proud of it we should all remember and be proud of our roots never be ashamed of were we come from... Aspire to greatness but don't despair if it don't happen. Dave Turner, Weston super Mare, UK |