Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Seminar für Englische Philologie

HS: ,,Advanced British Landeskunde"

WS 2008 / 09

′′People like ourselves.′′

The Role of Class Indicators in Today′s English Society

The men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephramite? If he said Nay,

then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth and he said Sibboleth; for he

could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him and slew him.

Judges, 12:5-6.

In 1940, famous George Orwell accepted as a fact that England was ′ the most class-ridden

society under the sun.′′i The traditional class distinctions have been blurred since the

egalitarian revolution of the 60s, what has gone is at least ′ the will to erect, maintain and

police such distinctions.′′ii However, today England still is a highly class-conscious culture

and people seem to have very sensitive antennas to localise their fellow Englishmen′s exact

position on the social map. This essay is supposed to examine how these ′ on-board class-

radar systems′ work, that means by which criteria social class is distinguished in today′s

English society.iii

The first aspects which intuitionally might come into one′s mind are occupation,

income and wealth. In fact, class models preferred by market research experts are mainly

based on occupation. Having a university degree is generally interpreted as an indicator for

upper-middle and middle-middle class membership. One of the great distinctions between

the middle and the working classes used to be that the latter work with his hands. But in

times of industrial automation, the clear division between ′ white-collar′′ and ′ blue-collar′′

jobs has been fading. While the upper class has always despised the middle-classes for

their preoccupation with money, to the working class ′ the most important criterion of

middle-class membership is [...] owning a small business or being self-employed.′′iv

Actually the term ′middle-class′ is identified with a rather hetergeneous group, both the

head manager of an international trust company and the little shopkeeper would affiliate

themselves to the middle-classes. Apart from these obvious differences they are regarded

as sharing the same

Puritan work ethic

, the unshakable believe in industriousness, striving,

education and individual career: ′ Work to keep sin at bay, feel guilty if you slack. Shame is

a bourgeois notion.′′v

For centuries, the group at the top of the social ladder had been identified with

being the wealthiest group. This has changed since the industrial revolution when the

financial dominance of the aristocracy was broken by bourgeois entrepreneurs. Today,

impoverished members of the upper class have to rely on selling inherited valuables and

works of art and showing the public over their estates to stay alive, while CEOs,

industrials, entertainers and athletes are earning incredible salaries. Members of the upper-

working class might earn nearly the same or in best cases even more than a newly qualified

doctor, barrister or most parts of the intelligentsia. In fact, the middle classes ′ are having

increasingly difficulty making ends meet. [...] they rather than the working classes became

the chief candidates for the pawnbroker, bringing in watches, wedding rings, golf clubs,

and binoculars.′′vi Thus, wealth and real income cannot be seen as the sole basis of

perceived social class. The most striking example therefor migth be the group of the

nouveau riches,

who of working-class origin managed to have made colossal amounts of

money in business or entertainment: ′ The upper-classes call him by his Christian name and

appreciate his salty humour, but don′t invite him to their houses.′′vii After all, since

aristocrats used to frown upon making a living from trade, the English in general appear to

have a distrust in wealth.viii

Furthermore, the mode of consumption has become more important than the mode

of production and actual income in recent decades. Occupation and wealth surely

contribute to social classification, but the English seem to judge class in more complex and

subtle ways, so other, rather non-economic aspects are to be considered in the following.

Language and manners of speech used to function as infallible indicators to

differentiate the upper class from the rest of the society. ′′It is impossible for an Englishman

to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him,′′ as George

Bernard Show put it in the preface of his

Pygmalion

.ix In the early 1950s, the Professor of

Linguistics Alan S C Ross argued that members of the English aristocracy were in that time

distinguished by little more than their speech patterns: ′ Today a member of the upper class

is, for instance not necessarily better educated, cleaner or richer than someone not of his

class.′′x Again the social revolution of the 60s has flattened out most of the contrasts. While

the linguistic code of the upper and upper-middle classes used to be the standard, today′s

trend-setters striving for street credibility have ­ in a sort of inverse snobbery ­ adopted the

speech of the working-class: ′ By talking alike, in classless accents, mockney, Estuary

English, dj mid-Atlantic, and in other hybrid voices which are designed to conceal class

origins and demonstrate solidarity with our fellow citizens.′′xi

However, one′s way of speaking remains a crucial indicator in sniffing out the

dialogue partner′s social background. And of course, the classes at the upper end of the

social ladder consider their speech patterns as the correct, elaborate code. Deviations are

regarded as ′accents′ and these are generally identified with working class membership.xii

As far as speech and affiliation with class is concerned, two aspects are seen to be

important: Pronunciation and terminology.

Regarding pronuciation the term

shibboleth

has kept its genuine biblical meaning;

class distinctions still seem to be sound distinctions. Since the upper-middle class cannot

be the topmost class in society, they resort to being the most cultured class. Consequently,

they attach great importance to speaking with a cultivated

Received

Pronunciation accent.