When I went to the UK in 2009 to do my MA, I was appalled by the continuing existence of the class system. There were brilliant students who were ignored, not invited to supposedly "open" events, marked far harsher, and talked about in very demeaning ways behind their backs, because they didn't have the "right accent", or went to inferior schools for A levels/undergrad. For a Canadian, it was absolutely shocking.
Canada has its own issues too. Right now there is a mega problem with an over abundance of neo-marxism in the post-secondary schools. The problem with Canada is immigration from primarily 'one' country with a ridiculously lower currency value which is very bad (ppp/purchasing power parity) for the working man, who has both financial feet in solely one very highly taxed and highly regulated country with growing unemployment and a bigger issue, mega 'under' employment. The current generation of politicians in power invited these problems in and seemingly, seem to enjoy their status with less critics in the international arena, probably vying for career opportunities for themselves, backed by the reputation of the country which is hard-earned by working Canadians. A class system is most definitely evolving because of this because of immigration in the warehouses, fast food, etc but it hasn't touched teachers, doctors, firemen, policemen, lawyers to the same degree . just yet.
@@chelsey1ize what you are describing isn't neo-marxism, it is neoliberalism. corporate greed is what impoverishes Canadians, not immigrants who come to our country to live a better life and contribute to our economy. please remember that Canada is a country based on immigration and the land dispossession of Indigenous people.
I agree ... and it's always been this way. The aristocracy were connected with the Continental aristocracy. For the middle classes, "sophistication" was to be more like the Continentals.
I feel the lefty middle classes of Britain are the worst with white working / underclass Brits. Socialists are bullies at heart. They will be bigoted against whichever group they can get away with doing it to.
Great video. Impressive young man.I am an American . At the end of WW2 ,my parents were both very poor. My mother couldn't even wear a bride gown to marry my father. I have one of my mother's letters where they saved for an entire year and saved 100 dollars. My father got a PhD in physics and became a professor. My mother became an English teacher. My father wanted me to get an MD, so I did. I love my physician job helping people. My father taught me not to look down on anyone.Resoect and be kind to everyone.When we had a party at my house for the physics department, everyone was invited. He went fishing with people who cleaned the floors. The whole university loved my father. What a great example I had growing up. People who are wealthy or well educated do not have to act snooty. They have a choice. They can choose to act like my father.
The thing is on if you have the power to forth the reach class to do what you think "they have to" do. It is rather they have all to achieve the opposite
I lived in an upper-middle class neighborhood in Maryland and a family moved in from Great Britain. The husband told me that in the US, when a man is successful, others are happy for him. They root for him and cheer him on. In the UK, if a man is successful, people deride him and tell him he is aspiring above his station. This guy was ambitious and hard-working. He much preferred the environment in the US.
No way I'd live in AMERICA you couldnt pay me enough i like being ALIVE not DEAD No FREE HEALTH CARE going BANKRUPT and losing everything if you break a bone I've seen Americans run away from an ambulance because they dont want to pay for an them and people dying becausethey wont go to the HOSPITAL MASS SHOOTERS You can keep that culture all to yourself where PROFIT comes before your WELLBEING and SAFETY with unfettered out of control CAPATALISM Petrified of sending your CHILDREN to SCHOOL not knowing they might not come back ALIVE because of SCHOOL SHOOTERS RAMPANT RACISM COPS EXECUTING PEOPLE DEATH PENALTY MASSIVE DRUG PROBLEMS MENTALLY ILL walking the streets attacking people MASSIVE HOMELESS CITIES POISON FOOD even in EUROPE AMERICAN BREAD is classed as CONFECTIONERY because the amount of SUGAR that's in it SLAVE like WORKING HOURSYour weird "CULT OF ALLIGENCE " But BEST COUNTRY in the WORLD right??😂
@@ContrarianExpatriate There are class systems in every country in the world either you've money or you have and if you haven't your last in the queue it's worse in AMERICA IMO
I am an ex=Brit in the USA. When the Downton Abbey show was on TV several people lamented how great it would have been to live in those times. I (mostly unsuccessfully) told them that it might have been OK as the Lord or Lady, but most people were working class or tradesmen working their tails off for not very much money, and no hope of improvement. The USA, Australia, etc. are countries full of descendants of people who tried to escape that class system. Even when I left the UK (long after the times of Downton Abbey world) I was the subject of put-downs (I heard via my parents) and the inevitable “he won’t make it, he’ll be back when it’s out of his system” comments. Aye, like bloody hell I’ll be back!
I often point out to Americans when they make comments about how great Downton Abbey is, is that it is not a documentary and in real life, servants were treated very badly as the upper classes didn't care about them at all and it was a horrible reality for many.
Not all Americans are that delusional or idealized the upper class. At least many older americans don't. I'm not sure what happened between 50s and today but people born after the 50s seem to have overly rosey view of the world. Maybe they've had it good for too long and don't know what real bad looks like.... I can't say. Personally I've a always preferred Charles Dickens over Julian Fellows or god forbid Jane Austin...😅😆
OMG. I'm American, but also half British (my mother is from London, I'm also a UK citizen), and can I tell you about how much I despised Downton Abbey? First of all - the entire production was obviously aimed at a US audience (because $$$), so it completely relied on the most basic bullshit "British" tropes that would attract an American audience (Wasn't it obvious? The American wife, and the "complicated" relationship between "The Dowager Countess" re her American family members. Plus HIGH TEA!). My (now ex) wife and my in-laws all watched this show, and loved it (it was a soap opera for non soap opera people). I would hide the rage I felt re this program because (i knew) they didn't "get it" - how this show glorified the terrible British class system. All of the servants happily supporting their benevolent overlord family, and accepting that this was just "the way it is" (and this way is best, overall). Of course the the family "patriarch" always knew best - The lord of the manor, at the end of the day, always had the final answer to any issue, and all of his underlings understood his wisdom. Hahahah! Pathetic.
The best thing of being an expat in Britain is to ignore this system and live your life according to your own values irrespective of the preconceived notions about foreigners.
There is no way of ignoring this effective farming system and containment cult. It's a hostage situation with passports and border controls where you are not free to explore independently bellow the 60th parallel. Worse, few grasp the gravity of the situation that places us in.
I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree. I still think the UK is a land of opportunities, despite its issues. But you need to work hard, aim high, and forget about what others think.
Interesting, I have also thought that this is a great benefit of being an expat is your can leave behind your own country’s restrictive system and be immune from your host country’s
I’ve never been an expat in Britain so I can’t really speak responsibly about it, but having been one in Greece, and in Turkey (where class literally is everything), I know that it was much easier for me to mix with upper class people and it would’ve been for a Turkish person. Partially because as an American there are certain perceptions of who or what I am (not necessarily correct), and also because I don’t have a purely local accent that would give me away. In Turkey that would be regional, class and ethnic. Because I did notice that with English people, as soon as you open your mouth you are classified. How they treat you after that classification does also depend on the individual of course, but individuals do exist within a greater reality.
That's true because I was an expat before as well. But it's also easier to ignore the system because you were not raised in it. Your family (may) not be from the country and therefore the system in the country's history is not ingrained in you. It doesn't affect you.
The British class system is one of the reasons the relationship with India worked better than with most other colonies. The Indian caste system was at some level compatible with the British class system.
Seems every country has some form of caste system. The world neither protects nor forgives the poor. For such class, there is no country of their own other than being used as useful idiots in times of crisis and achieving ulterior motives
I am Indian and upper caste and trust me, the caste system was WAY worse than the class system in Europe. The strange thing is that the British Empire emancipated the lower castes and gave them the right to education as well as other rights. Lower caste leaders were thus comparatively pro British Empire.
I grew up in the UK many years ago. We were quite poor. One time, my mom and I were in a humble Café in Oxford that happened to be a hangout for Oxford students. The atmosphere was unbearable in a most subtle way, you could cut it with a knife. They wanted us out of there. Yes, the caste system is real but invisible. They have a way of cutting you down or as you say putting you in your place.
Thank you. You’ve given me so much to think about. I’m American. I was in England two summers ago. I was so excited to go. I think of the Brits as my cousins. My father’s ancestors come from Yorkshire, and my mother’s, from Ireland. But I was dismayed to find an unreciprocating, joyless place. I loved the museums, the historical architecture, the history, etc. But, yes, happiness was missing. I tried not to take it personally, but it did hurt. For example, once, I was in Manhattan as a tourist, and I rolled down the taxi window and said to some local workers, “Hello New Yorkers!” They smiled so big, lifted their arms, and responded, “HEY!” In contrast, in England, I could rarely get a smile or a response to a “Good morning.” I know that they find our exuberance “loud and obnoxious,” but I’m neither. I’m just…happy.
I’m American too & not of British descent- so not on the cousin level. US is huge, and i’ve lived in mostly big cities, it seems to me that you’re coming from a smaller state or perhaps inner US or smaller city - thus a different experience. What i can share is that someone who has lived in most of the big cities in the US - is that America is full of fakery- those big smiles & “have a nice day” are not genuine - nobody cares if you have a nice day. On contrast, i lived in Britain for almost a year - tho the Brits don’t smile, i found them very helpful & mostly genuine- yes, unfortunately the weather plays a role and changes mood but overall, really refreshing & more genuine than the US. Unfortunately, i did noticed the class system, which i didn’t care much about, which is fortunately not in United States - cause we care less who comes from where
I’m from California and lived in Scotland for three years in the 80’s. They were wonderful, friendly people and loved Americans. I wish I could go back!
It’s deep rooted. UK is no longer a real monarchy but the culture of noblemen and peasants is very alive and will be there still for long. It’s ridiculous, even depending on accents you will be classed and treated differently.
My dad was born in Battersea in 1939 and was the first in his family to break out of the working class and become an engineer and buy his own home. He was constantly castigated by his family and relatives for being a traitor to his class being a manager. He was ridiculed for buying his own home when you could get one by the council. Also, on the other hand he was still looked down upon by so-called professionals (lawyers, accountants, doctors etc... People who thought he used his hands as well as his brain). This would manifest itself when he tried to join things like gold clubs. Britain really suppresses its population through a quite indirect and self-regulating way. This is all a massive psy-opp setup by the ruling class, the several dozen centuries old land-owning class/families going back to Anglo Saxon times that controlled the system. Our politicians have zero power and are just theatre. This is noticeably clear these days with the obviously tiered society and different treatment of groups. This is why nothing changes here, and the country is dying.
your comment is insightful but can you blame your dad's relatives for thinking this way ? they don't know better . Now i hope this makes you appreciate how a segment of Black people ( of all backgrounds, really ) react when someone gets big all of sudden when everyone is barely making it . I hope you will defend them because i am done trying to explain this to slow pokes who can't grasp social class peculiarities and nuances and all they have as core argument is the bootstrap mentality. Your dad lucked out but he was 1 out of what 40 people in your family
One can only lament the waste of Human Resources sacrificed to this cultural fetish. Britain cuts its nose off to spite it’s face and is actually, perversely, quite proud of it. Weird and frustrating.
It was called the “crab bucket” by Terry Pratchett. When one crab climbs out the others try to grab its legs and pull it down so that crab does not get above the other. Crabs are hierarchical ..
What you've described in your video, is almost verbatim to my own experience growing up in the UK. The social status of my family was just one or two rungs up the social ladder from the very bottom. By the age of 13 (some 60 years ago) I could see how things were most likely going to turn out for me if I didn't do something about it. The schools I attended were pretty much crap. I've found out several former classmates have ended up dead, mostly from drugs or alcohol abuse, some ended up in prison for murder or selling drugs etc. (all of us from a nice catholic school :) It took me a long time to sort myself out. I left school at the age 14 and 9 months, the earliest legal age at the time I think .Like you I started to travel and then I really started to see how the class structure in the UK had a hand in holding people back, my family included. I left permanently in 1979. Through my travels I eventually met a girl and settled in the US. I enrolled at a technical school and eventually got a job as a technician. Fast forward. I'm now retired after living 25 years in Silicon valley working as an engineer for a semiconductor equipment company. In 2004 I transferred to Singapore with that same company where I finished out my career. I have been retired there now for 6 years. I live a very comfortable life. I would never have achieved anything like it had I stayed in the UK.
You’ve lived the American Dream, Tony. Congratulations on a fulfilling life. You are British, so you understand gratitude and poetic living. Most Americans just want MORE, no matter how prosperous they are. And I sort of raise my hand here 🙂↕️
I took the 11 plus in 1964. I failed. My father was very disappointed in me because of it. For years I thought that I was stupid until I realised that most very bright working class kids are deliberately failed by the examiners because they just want to maintain the status quo.
My dad immigrated from Newcastle in the UK in the 1950s. No one in his family stayed in school past age 14, working class and poor. He was thrilled with the lack of visible classism in Canada where his working class regional accent and lack of formal education weren’t held against him. He went on to have a middle class life, owned his house, lots of outdoor adventures, 3 university educated kids, 4 university educated grandkids. He stayed amazed at the mixing of social classes here in Canada especially in the realm of sports and the outdoors.
I went to University of London (1978) so things may have changed. Back then being an American was perfect. I could hang with aristocrats kids and the working class (my pub) on the same day. Nobody cared. But accents were everything if you were British.I had a freedom in their country that they didn’t have.
My girlfriend says they have a system where they dont want anybody getting ahead, you stay back make overtime they take it off you in tax, you get a payrise they put energy bills up, it is a system designed to keep you down
Do not worry this is everywhere in the world because of ignorance. People think it is a big thing to separate themselves because they do not havethe wisdom of knowing the reality of life. We need to pity all these beings true happiness is never gained by this ignorance
I hate hate hate the class culture in the UK. I came from a council estate from two parents on the disability benefit and then into care. I felt shameful for this. I left the UK 8 years ago to NZ. I was stunned when I got to NZ no one judged me for my upbringing and were shocked that I hid it. Here people mix I have had drinks with all types of people and class is not a thing really. I have done 100 times better here than I would have in the UK as class also locks you out of certain jobs/industries. I tell my friends all the time get out!
Sounds like you made a good choice, I want saw an interview with a woman that was from Northern England and because of her accent she had limited opportunities in the UK. She moved to America and joined NASA as an engineer. She said it herself that with her accent she wasn't going to go much of anywhere in the UK and now she's a lead engineer for NASA that's working on projects to send people to the moon and beyond.
It was written in Lady Chatterley's Lover... "In the class system you could be like the most beautiful butterfly but if you are from a lower class you will be pinned in your place and held there, not allowed to fly free".
The military in the UK is a great example of this. Or, at least it was, when I served 20-25 years ago. The officers were nearly all privately educated, and the enlisted almost always state educated. Didn't really matter how intelligent you were, it was all about the class you were born into. I agree with the general theme of the video, that those in the lower classes do more to maintain this system than they realise. I am glad I left; both the RAF and the UK.
I once applied for a managers roll working at RAF Northolt as a bird scarer, just driving around the runways picking up any objects or fod, and preventing bird strikes. To get the position we had to sit a test, there was myself and another guy who was already serving in the RAF, the instructor purposely left the answers on the table , said don't cheat and left the room..Me being a honest guy answered all the questions and didn't look in the book, the RAF guy looked in the book and was caught reading it by the instructor. I passed with full marks but guess what? They gave the management position to the cheat and offered me a position basically working under the guy who had just cheated.. I was gutted, it would have been my dream job as I was told I could house and fly my hawks at the airfield. .The lower position I was offered meant that I couldn't afford to drive from London to the airfield and pay the mortgage etc.. It's who you know, not what you know.. Oddly enough, I left the UK also..
My parents arrived in Britain from Nigeria to train for work the NHS. My dad to be a doctor and my mum to be a nurse. By the time I was 10 they bought their first house. I was told not to tell anyone in school as my parents thought that I would be bullied. As black people were supposed to be part of the underclass and not supposed to be buying houses. Sad.
My parents were war refugees who moved from West Africa in the 80's. I was fortunate enough to grow up middle class. There was an emphasis on education and RP. My sister is an Oxbridge grad and I have three degrees in English Lit. But in my early years, my parents were definitely working class. We lived in council estates, but that changed as I got older. As I got older, I realised so many flaws in british socioeconomics that were making me unhappy, severely depressed and anxious. So I decided two years ago to set up an online business and move to North Africa. I feel much better here. Costs are lower, the people are more genuine and HAPPIER than the British, and there's more of a social, upbeat vibe in the small city I live in. I never felt this community warmth while living in various parts of the UK.
After doing my A-levels in Zimbabwe, i had a gap year in the UK, i worked for a professional Polo player. He was an absolutely wonderful bloke, who came from a very much middle/working class background. However, i was shocked at how alive and kicking the class system was in the UK.
@@alan-the-maths-tutor i have heard of them, and Ive been asked about that particular family on a few occasions. However, I think they were distant relatives. It's not the most common surname amongst the former colonies- most Barry's that ended up in Southern Africa came across from Cork/Ireland in 1820 and ended up in Eastern South Africa.
@@garethbarry3825 I think they lived on Clark Rd, Suburbs - probably both passed away by now. I knew them around 20 years ago. Owned a farm at Tulbagh. It is a small world sometimes.
@@garethbarry3825 Severine, Rina , Edda etc very common down there. you are an afrikaans from Harare , since we are talking class , you were de facto at the top then the colourds . Zim had a class system that mirrors exactly the UK one now why would you be shocked when the system that birthed you was configurated the exact same way in a new settlement ( so to speak ).
@@PHlophe im not afrikaans at all, not that it really matters. Prior to things going to hell in Zimbabwe, as i said in another comment, class was moving away from being based on race- some of my best friends that i am still in touch with are black people that i am still in touch with. Sadly it was and is still true that by far the majority of impoverished people are black. My point is that in the UK it was somewhat different, in that the relationship between 'class' and 'wealth' wasnt as simple and direct- i met some people in England of aristocratic background who were strugglibg financially, yet were still considered 'upper class.' Conversely, i met some people who were self made and wealthy , 'new money' but still considered 'common.' Not trying to be controversial or antagonistic to anyone.
That class system started in 1066. The descendants of William and his key retainers still own most of the land in Britain. And yes, there is a growing underclass and a rapidly growing "precariat" -- temp or seasonal work, no benefits, rock-bottom wages.
@@_OllyDobson I don't know if they have money. They do have land. Lots of it. Their problem in the modern world was lots of land and not much money. Hence marrying American heiresses a century or more back. Churchill's father married his American mother for her money.
I met a British person who felt that ALL of UKs achievements were due to the aristocracy and NOT the middle class or working classes. Then he won the argument by saying “If we didn’t believe this we wouldn’t have a Queen and House of Lords.” He was right about that. The monarchy institutionalizes the inertia of the class system.
Достижения Великобритании связаны с тем что страна прошла 4 ритма Империи и стала базой современного мира, имперский ритм закончился в 1905 году, скоро Англию ждёт Решающее освобождение
This video is spot on. I was born and bred in a typical working class family in Bolton and took on an apprenticeship (sheet metal) when I left school. My troubles started when I was put in the design office. Suddenly, work mates I had worked with for years and regularly enjoyed a beer together with down at pub refused to speak to me anymore. It got worse when I decided to go to university to study engineering. My whole circle of friends turned against me and even my parents had problems accepting my decision. Through my engineering career working with the managements of numerous companies I've lost my lovely regional accent, but at least I can turn it on whenever I want to. I've never had much of a problem with middle class people, found them accepting and even welcoming. Once in a while someone might make a snide remark about me, but I easily put them in their place. I worked abroad for years, learned 4 languages and just tell them where to go, say in French or German. Both my adult children are solidly upper middle class. One is a graduate civil engineer and the other a designer, married to people working in middle management. They don't know what it means to be working class, sometimes I think they're missing something.
I am from the US. My husband taught at Cambridge the summer of 2012. Which was a dream come true for me because I love the UK. But by the end of the summer I knew why my ancestors left because of the class system. We have many many problems in the US but we believe that you should be able to make your dreams come true no matter where you start in life. Although this was easier for my generation than it is for my daughters
Whilst waiting for my train my hat blew off down onto the tracks, I asked a railway worker to retrieve it for me. He refused saying it was below his station. 😂
i know, its horrific. And theyre nationalising hats i hear. In relation to transport. Its ok if its a privately owned hat outside a station, but you lose a baseball cap on a public tram eg, then they wont retrieve sht. My uncle wore a fedora on a double decker red bus Aldgate last week and he was allowed to pick it up if dropped on the lower deck, but was refused on the upper one. Union rules. The conductor couldnt even wear one. I just dont get why Labour went for hats. I mean winter bobbles, what then.
The upper class can afford to be so absurd, because that safety net of privilege. Very rare for them to end up in squalor, because there’s always money somewhere to save them. In my experience the working class often use the term imposter-syndrome, even when they have become high achievers.
For the upper class everything must come without much effort. "Striving" for something, coming across as if you "need" something is horrifying for them. The very thing the middle- and lower-classes pride themselves, their achievements and hard work, is damning for the upper class.
I’m from Northern Ireland, probably from a lower middle class background. And always notice the thing you mentioned about working class having very little ambition, it’s very sad. I moved to London and wow what a contrast! I’m surrounded by private school students and they’re beyond intimidating. Very confident and self assured, they’ll go right into a presentation and not be queasy or question themselves. Always walking about with an air of confidence even if inexperienced. They will advocate for themselves and not run themselves down. A discussion I had might illustrate this: Me “you’re very intelligent”. PSS “yes I know”. Whereas a working class person would say “no, not really”. They also all speak with a southern accent even if from some town in the north east. It’s odd and a complete culture shock.
Confidence and emotional suppression are key. Whether part of the landed aristocracy in Britain or a colonial administrator in Northern Kenya or Southern India, one was going to be enormously outnumbered by people whose true interests were not aligned with yours. The maintenance of this system relied on those who “governed” displaying absurd levels of confidence and suppressing any expression of emotional weakness so as to persuade the governed that the order of things was right and inevitable.
Sorry my friend but when you are inexperienced and not knowledgeable in the subject but "still confident ", it is usually called arrogance not confidence. (I'm not British, I was born and raised in Eastern Europe)
Interesting. My family came to the US from England in 1623. Although we fought for independence in the Revolution, we maintained a close relationship to our British cousins. A few members of the family have moved back over the years (the Warners of Warner Hall sent a daughter back to marry the Earl of Strathmore). Queen Elizabeth II made my uncle a Knight Commander of the British Empire in 1970, so I’ll admit I love it over there. However, as my aunt always told me, my manners are so awful that no one would ever mistake me for anything other than American, and no amount of a Cambridge education would ever knock that out of me. I’m glad I live where I do. I love the fact that we like to smile at total strangers, and eat BBQ with our fingers. It’s fun being able to feel comfortable with any and all social groups, cultures (maybe not the Saudis … they seem to be forever thinking that I need to be covered head to toe in black cloth). I’m babbling now. I’ll shut up. Time for dinner anyway. 😂
Very well said. I have worked with all levels of society as a live in caregiver...one thing people dont realise is that if you have a pompous or entitled personality, when you are young, you can get away with it, but when you are elderly and have dementia and need a carer, you will drive everyone away from you, I have been screamed at so many times by arrogant elderly....surely its better to be uplifting towards other people?
I left as a young man in 1984. Became an American. Brits can poke fun at Americans all they like. I know I would not have anywhere near the standard of living that I have had I not moved.
Even with the cost of health care in USA? I'm going to assume you are a professional of some kind I can't imagine the USA being a go move for working class. Think thats the main thing other than gun crime perhaps that puts brits of potential move to the states...
@@ricardo8640 since I moved to the US, I had better healthcare, I have insurance. The USA can guarantee you better quality of life by just having bigger, better and more resilient economy than the UK that is literally a third world outside of London with average pay of 30k for engineers. No one will take this job opportunity in the US for fast food work if they are going to pay them 30k. Open your eyes
@@diveguy4291 the U.S. has lots of safe places in every state. And yes, you have to have insurance in order to avoid crazy medical bill. But insurance is better then universal healthcare. You can pick your preferable option by yourself. In the UK, you will pay for crumbling NHS through your taxes anyway and taxes are dead high in the UK right now. So what are you paying for, mate?
@@CactusGirl-x7f Thanks for the reply, I'm still sceptical I've seen how insane American medical bills are, thousands of dollars for an asthma pump that you would get free in UK, I don't see how insurance could cover those expenses and still be lower than what uk taxes for health service, I get the impression Americans avoid medical treatment unless absolutely necessary? I would not say uk is exactly safe these days, but I had a female friend who visited America and got pulled over at gun point by the police for no reason, she had not even committed a driving offence, in uk you would never have a gun pointed at you by police unless you were suspected of carrying a weapon. Admittedly my own visit to the states was great, but there was an emphasis on safety from all the Americans I met warning us to avoid this place or that place, still its a vast country that's fascinating to me.
Truth - Northern lass to California finds her voice… in someways and finds her gaps in many others. But don’t get complacent - there is much work to do to earn all the freedom of the USA.
Remember your ancestors colonized the landmass called North of the America's and thus the upper class of USA during the earlier years of so called independence and before that, people were groomed and taught in the UK. So automatically the masses of USA consider your type as educated because of the history of controlling the minds of USA and international people.
I’m a Canadian 2nd generation. My mother’s mum came to British Columbia as a nanny to a wealthy family of middle class (I think), people. The newspaper ads that lured them here told them they could be lords in this place. Also told them there was no garlic eaters here. Some of what you’re describing I grew up with but I didn’t realize what the terminology meant or the origins of certain behaviours until I lived in London for a year and met relatives that we’d been disconnected from for more than a generation. The class system was an interesting oddity. I observed , living and working there that you couldn’t move up or down in the system without affronting people or making them upset. It was mostly amusing until I began to recognize my mom’s behaviour in some of what I was seeing. She refused an invitation to a party at a lovely neighbours saying we’re not going because we’re just simple folk. I had no idea what she was talking about and I’m not sure she knew either, but now I believe it was a class response triggered by the neighbours accent. Being simple folk was a statement of knowing her place. It’s so insidiously buried in our lives it’s hard to recognize where our behaviour originates from. This was very interesting, thank you.
Years ago in US I worked with a guy from Wales. He went to an American college. Later went to law school and became a lawyer. I asked him why he left Wales and he explained the "class system" there which doesn't allow upward mobility. And he came from an upper middle class background there.
I am an eastern European born in Czechoslovakia and I used to live in several European countries including England and I have to say the English snobbery and class division is something I have never ever seen in eastern European countries. Southern Europe can be snobby but its not as bad as in the UK or Germany. I was absolutely shocked when for example I went for a date and I saw guys interested in me but their first question always was what University did I attend... practically by asking me about my university degree they indirectly wanted to know how wealthy I am. To be honest I find this whole thing so disturbing. I have also seen so many white homeless people in London it was beyond insanity. I've never ever seen anything like that and that was 2010, I cannot even imagine the situation today. I honestly think Capitalism is one giant lie, I had to explain it many times to Americans and also westerners that socialism is NOT what they think it is. The western oligarchy made sure socialism is gonna get a very bad reputation. And I want to say that even though Czechoslovakia was a socialist country people used to dress better, eat healthier, we could afford and OWN housing, we had NO population decline and we had no illegal immigration. Our commies at least were patriots. Now I am not advocating for communism BUT I know for sure Capitalism is a sick system. Its a neofeudal system based on exploitation and murder of the poor.
Russian here. They've been told us for the last 30 years how miserable we are. While in reality communism left us with classless society, decent education and housing. Just compare the percentage of people who own property in post-socialist countries and in Western Europe.
@@snowsnow4231 very true. At first westerners taught me how to hate myself and everything eastern. But after enduring loads of abuse by westerners I was forced to open my eyes. If I told you my life story its heartbreaking what I had to endure and still enduring with this disgusting war we are forced to engage in against our will and against our eastern brothers. The sad part is that Russians never taught us to hate the west, but the west always taught us how to hate Russia.
I have watched the whole video from end to end. During my five decades in the UK ( I am a Sri Lankan citizen in retirement in Sri Lanka) I noted with regret that certain classes of people are deliberately kept down by excluding them from the prestigious professions and businesses. The major highly paid bodies controlling accountancy, law, academia etc. protect themselves from contagion from those lower in the pecking order by making and employing blacklists. If a young man does not have a grammar school or public school background he has a slim chance of becoming a Somebody in the City of London. Certain Oxbridge colleges use similar tactics. I am away from all that now :)
Yes. The same tactic is employed in education. You need to speak "RP" - the accent that says you are a member of the elite club. I don't, therefore I believe that I am blacklisted (probably also due to my political views).
I'm born and bred in the UK and I feel your pain it is true we are very lonely and miserable long hours at work high taxis cost of living is high. I told my 20 year old stepson you have to leave Britain there is nothing here for you he has moved to Norway he has a job there he's happy there cost of living is good clean country to live in no dog s*** on the pavement minimum litter on the ground if you are the parent cannot get out at least support your children to get out.
I am a working class lad from Liverpool, of Irish family. Coming from a rough area in the north of the city my mother was a hairdresser (single parent) worked 3 jobs, life was tough, certain xmasses I had nothing, growing up until 16 I'd never been out of the city (except Ireland) I left Liverpool when I was 16. I then went to Trinity College, Dublin to study history. I wrote plays, screenplays etc. There was nothing in my history that could have pointed to me aspiring to anything seeing I failed at school. I wrote a play about a 16c Spanish Priest could Bartolomew de las Casas (I also speak Spanish now) where is this going I hear you say. My play got a reading and the BBC Historian Michael Wood presented it, he wrote the forward to the play. The play waa rich in language and Wood was convinced (after talking to him, my Scouse accent long gone)I was Oxford educated, upper middle class because only those of the certain echelons of UK/Ire society are deemed good enough to write on such subjects, when I gave him a quick resume of my background, he went deathily quiet, I do not know what to have taken what he said next as a compliment or a patronising insult "Well done you". The point is your class defines you (not always) but it's ingrained in you, you can never really escape it, it is what keeps those in Britain and Ireland in our place, the elites want it that way and nothing will change unless the class system is dissolved and working people (the backbone) are treated as a valuable part of UK society.
Very interesting .. I’m from Texas and learning about the British class system is so interesting . We really don’t have that here . Some of the most run down cowboys here are the most respected and wealthiest . Great video
People forget how brief our existence is and how much infinitely more alike we are than unalike. We are all born to die, some of the happiest people are dead poor and the unhappiest extraordinarily wealthy. The physical world is just an accessory to your internal one, not a determination. Your character is an accumulation of information, not your true being.
We have been bred to believe we all need to own a 3 bed house and a nice whip. but thing is even rent getting too expensive. With lower income ranges and poor parenting the crime rates are going up.
Also being educated does not mean you have logic, common sense or imagination. People think that if someone speaks middle /upper class English has by default all the three traits I mentioned. Big mistake. Once I heard someone using the term EDUCATED MOR ONS. ... That's why across both public and private companies there are countless of incompatant people. This is one of the reasons why UK is falling in so many fields despite being quite well-off.
Thanks for a great video. My dad came over on a British ship during WW2… He was absolutely shocked when he encountered the class system even directed towards him…as a guy coming over to fight for Britain.
I think the class system is at the root of the deep-seated aggression at the heart of the UK. I'm a Brit. I see it all around me. Great video, keep going!
I am a poor white man with an RP accent and two degrees who is employed in a deeply working class profession (agriculture). I am constantly thought of as being wealthy, a 'prig', 'toff', etc. Some have even presumed that I was an imposter or undercover journalist.
@cerdic Be happy with your RP accent and your skills. The unfortunate young man in this video has already destroyed his future. Piercings and tattoos will finish one off in job hunting. As for his unfortunate accent, well, he never really had a chance. No one could mistake this accent for anything but lower class. He says he was taught RP, but I'm hearing uneducated lorry driver. He needs to listen to himself more closely.
@@mt.shasta6097 I do not think you can accurately judge a man by his accent. The man in this video has quite a typical lower middle class accent, with some tinges of regional accent. One of the most educated and gentlemanly men I have ever met had a hoarse working class accent.
@@Bearwithme560 Received Pronunciation. I abbreviated it because I assumed it was well-known. The accent itself is relatively new, having only developed around 200 years ago. Its original purpose was to bring uniformity and elocution to the English language, but it has since acquired a mixed reputation, ranging from elitism to associations with intellect and cultural sophistication.
@@cerdic6586 I fancy myself to be well-read but apparently not as I've never heard of it, but l shall ask out of interest if my Linguist/Speech Pathologist daughter has, or perhaps it's known by another name in Canada. Anyway, thanks for enlightening me.
I actually love your analysis on this and the fact you broke this down in a way that's very understandable. As a french expat I have also notice this living in the UK, people try to put you in a social box and expect you to behave in a certain way. Often because of being an expat they automatically assume you are lower class than them
You are expressing in your words, what I felt in my bones at an early age. The class system not only made me feel irrelevant but it also made me feel angry. I had the opportunity to go to live in Australia and I have been a lot happier. I’m also not afraid to say that royalty and all the privileged hangers on still made me feel like a vassal.
@@meisterlymanu5214 Depends entirely where you live. Sydney Eastern suburbs are nearly as bad as London, however out in the sticks (where we have ALL the services, mind you), costs are a lot lower. Your energy costs are very high; ours are significantly offset by solar generation (all year round), and we certainly don't freeze for eight months of the year. Better quality (and abundance) of seasonal fresh food too, so we enjoy a very affordable, very healthy diet all year round. Emigrated in 2000, never been back (and probably never will).
Fascinating video! I am Canadian & live in an area with many UK expats who are also friends & colleagues. I have heard from several of them that the decision to emigrate was in large part due to the stifling class system & the condescension they experienced because of their accents. As you say, every country has a version of a class system but it is nothing near to what my acquaintances felt at home & they feel freedom here to chart their own paths.
The class system is still subconsciously practised by most folk when it comes to the service industries. Too many people right across the income spectrum still treat service industry staff as servants not equals. If it wasn't for them, there would be no services. 😢
Spot on - I gave up on the class nonsense in the UK a long time ago. I left, and you just reminded me why. And it will never change. Great video, thanks. 👍
@@paulschnyder938 I miss Spain 🇪🇸 so much. Nobody told me about the class system in UK 🇬🇧 and that here everybody thinks it’s normal nobility still own most of the land.
I left Britain as a child to live in the US. I go back to visit my dad. He always says you're lucky to have left this country you're a lot better off in the US. When I visit i'm treated kind of like damaged goods by the locals. People often ask me why did you come back, out of jealousy, distain and genuine curiosity. It does seem grim there, kind of stuck in some victorian past in many respects. Although many people appear to want the country to become more like the U.S. they also dislike Americans for their un British behavior and "improper socialization." Irrationally this dislike for myself and American ways is palpable. I feel discrimination for having escaped even as a child who had no part in the decision.It's a messed up situation something is very toxic about the culture.I can understand my dads point and the point of this presentation, about being better off to have left.It's beautiful island to visit though if you can separate yourself from the social aspect.
The US has its own set of problems and its own entrenched class system that is based on how much money you have, which in turn is also heavily dependent on race. Let's also not get into its myriad of social problems, and the mass proliferation of guns everywhere.
@@jarrowmarrow The British suffer from delusions of grandeur. Desperately trying to feel relevant in a world that has overtaken them and left them behind. It’s become a very unpleasant place to live in nowadays.
@@pineapplesareyummy6352 This video is not about the US and it's not about guns, so not sure why you'd even bring that up here other than that you're annoyed anyone from the US would dare critique anything about the UK. All countries have problems and people from multiple countries here, not just the US, have commented about the class issue.
Also a confidence problem. Im working class and find the middle classes are naturally more confident sometimes irritably so.yes there is snobbery throughout all classes
Perhaps also an anxiety problem? I'm not British, but did postgrad studies in Bristol and it seemed to me that sometimes brits would sometimes be more relaxed interacting with me than amongst each other.
In my state school, and mostly working class town (which my parents think is a rich middle class town), it seems is the working class with confidence and lord it over the middle class when they come into contact..
@@ManDa-c9fthis is the poppy thing he talks about. If someone in the working class is thinking of getting educated and moving into a better pair circle, e.g. starts using long words the working class will dump on them with "you think you're better than us" and they lose their social standing and support network
I have no idea how the algorithm chose this video, but thanks. Very interesting take. I live in the U.S. and we have our own class/race issues. Even north vs south issues. My take is, define who you are and don’t let anyone tell you differently. Peace and blessings to you all.
The way you describe the British lower class knowing their lack of opportunities is exactly how Black American people live when they grow up in poor, disenfranchised communities whose members are regularly imprisoned, schools are terribly underfunded, and drug addiction is pervasive. Many white Americans and even Black people who immigrate to the US from other countries believe Black Americans who say that the country actively works against them are self-defeating or "lazy," but the reality is that we have a similar class system that still segregates some communities (including some poor white communities in a similar way) and creates and maintains conditions that keep people culturally defeated, aware that they are not equal and would have to win the lottery to gain equal opportunities and so, yes, they become "self-defeating" in the sense of accepting the systems that work against them, but they're not really self-defeating; they live in different conditions than the majority of American people do, and there are both institutional and psychological forces that maintain their communities' conditions. As a person in the US, I can only say that British people at least seem more honest about their class system's unfairness than we are here.
It is no better when you are whyte & poor Actually it is way worse The system has welfare for blacks Try getting some if you are whyte😂😂😂 You whyte & poor you f'd
An Elephant in the Room is the education system with the dual streams of public (aka private schools) and the state sector. Until everyone receives the same education, you’re never going to get near to equality and a classless society, without social barriers.
Not many working classes wanted education at all. They didn't do any school work, that was for middle class puftas, and some working class nerds who were losers...
If you wish to make the middle class resent and view the working class with unquantifiable disgust, please, do send them to state schools, where they will learn that the working class indeed are nothing but the petty and envious architects of their own misery.
@@28pbtkh23 Not in the same way. Monarchy literally makes people buy into being "better" than others in some key ways...republics don't have for example.
And yet, millions of people from around the world want to live in that "most unequal country in Europe". Yet, most of the native Brits reminiscent about the "good old Victorian days" and "the nation of servants" when they were literally slaves to the rich, when kids as young as 6 were working dangerous jobs, when millions could not even afford a pair of shoes. Strange, huh? Britain is know not just for social class system. The British also love to indulge in wailing about their social class gap and feeling sorry for themselves. It's the same old story: poor little us, the fat cats are not allowing to do better. That- and not the social class itself- is keeping people miserable.
After 19 years living in the UK I have come to the conclusion that the UK is not really a modern country, it is in fact a pre-modern country. One where the medieval class system, with its feudal forms, is still intact, and one where the modern notion of separation between state and citizenry has not become a reality culturally let alone practically. This separation in Europe was the result of the French revolution, which as we know did not touch Britain, unfortunately for this country. As subjects, the Brits still identify as passive parts of the State (or call it also country if you like). Hence the cultural and social stalemate that the UK remains under forever and ever.
I saw a documentary that claimed that most of downtown London is owned by one man, the Duke of Westminster. Everyone in the center of London has to lease from him, including hospitals and govt buildings, because he refuses to sell. That would be like saying all of Manhattan is owned by one man whose family got it 400 years ago. Most countries have laws that prevent that from happening.
Sad. My husband went to college there in the 90s and decided not to stay there and is now happy, successful and thriving here in the USA. i hope that things change for the better for everyone. 😊
I grew up in a working class area and went to a comprehensive school followed by a technical college where I got my A Levels. I got good enough grades to go to Edinburgh University. This was at the height of the Thatcher era and I really thought class didn't matter any more. How naive I was! Getting good grades and going to a good university doesn't insulate you from snobbery. It just makes you an 'upstart'. If you are from a 'down at heel' background, there is immense pressure to try to pretend to be other than who you are in order to fit in. There were several bizarre social contradictions I observed during my time at Edinburgh. Scots often claimed to be less class-conscious than "the English", but this was patently not true, at least not in Edinburgh. Many of my very middle class classmates were extremely left-wing but even back then I felt it was mostly performative and only skin deep. I moved to New Zealand in 2001.
It's so interesting (and dismaying) to hear someone talk about this in modern Britain. I left the UK in 1982, I have often talked to my American wife about the problem of the British class system. She thought I was being hyperbolic or just imagining it, because it really is such a hard topic to describe unless you have lived it. Even then you are only living in your part of the system. In Glasgow where I grew up you had the added problem of what religion you were, so the first question would always be ''what school did you go to''. Having left the UK and my working-class roots, my life, attitudes and experiences have changed me. That is why I know I can never return to the UK or be accepted back into fold.
I had a first hand experience with this British social more of "know your place" here in the US. I was working as an exterminator/ pest control tech and servicing some multi million dollar condos on Rittenhouse Square which is in Philadelphia PA. The property manager was an older British man and he took me to a resident's condo that had a mouse problem. I had some banter with the resident about the possible sources of the mice and the property manager looked at me as if I "should be seen and not heard". I just thought he was an elitist putz at the time. Quite a long time later I read about this aspect of British "Know Your Place", and it instantly resonated with me in relation to this British property manager. Of course, those social constraints don't apply here in the US and his behavior really stood out to me at the time as rude and condescending. I feel for you Brits who have to live under and endure this backwards and smothering class system.
but we have very few people in tv national network with an accent from southwest, southeast, east, north .... only the average Parisian accent . some are still more equals.
@@jeanmarc5303 Absolutely not true. Former French Prime Minister Jean Casteix speaks with a VERY VERY STRONG South West accent.... François Mitterand was from Charentes. Many, many high calibre people in all French history came from / are from French regions. You clearly don't know what you are talking about. Napoleon was from Corsica and spoke French with a strong Corsican accent ! The French don't care about social class and accents.
As an American I don’t understand why because someone’s great great grandfather was given a title they are entitled to near worship. The descendants of the signers of the US Constitution are not well-know nor revered.
Look up 'The Social Registry'. In the 'South' look up 'cotillion culture'. You also have certain fraternities in certain colleges that are still 'worshiped' and revered.
@@BB-nr3sm But that's a very localized situation. If you went to Alabama or Montana no one would care about Mayflower descendants. It doesn't appear to be that way in the UK. Granted, America is much larger though so that could be part of it.
Of the 102 passengers and crew of the Mayflower, there are between 30 and 35 million descendants. So far to many for there to be an American aristocracy.
This was a very interesting and well thought out synopsis. Sometimes I think that you need to be from outside the UK to really appreciate how harmful and pervasive the class system is in the UK. My father was born to a working class mother from Lambeth and an upper-middle class man who met her on a bus. His family had bettered themselves through the 19th century until they were well and truly middle class. He was a major in the First World War. When my father was born in 1936 out of wedlock, he refused to marry her (he was around 20 years her senior) until he was sure that the child would survive. He treated his wife like dirt, visiting her once a week. My father used to tell me how his mother had plastic flowers (plastic I tell you!) in the hallway like this was shameful. That mixture of having parents from different classes really messed with my dad's childhood. I heard that his dad used to ignore his aunts on his mother's side if he saw them on the street. My dad went to a public school (that means an exclusive private school in the UK) where he was chronically bullied (I suspect because they knew his mum was working class) and that had a lifelong effect on him.
It really shows how cruel people can be. Just because somebody is a different class, doesn't make them any better or worse a person. It is, how it is. Your grandfather should have been more wise and not had relationships with women of a lower class if he thought the working classes were that bad. The same for your grandmother should have stayed away from a man like that as it's not worth being treated badly like that and having contempt for someone. It's bad energy.
@@Lexis001 There’s more. My dad’s dad had a woman he had a long running relationship with that predated his marriage to my grandmother. This lady was his de facto wife and a similar age to him. They had a child together in around 1914. Anyway - this first “wife” died first and was buried. Then my father’s dad died a few years later and was buried in the same plot. When my dad’s mum died a year later, my dad buried her on top. So my dad’s dad was sandwiched between the two women in his life - but in death.
The greatest trick the upper class ever pulled was convincing the lower classes that taking on a mortgage made them "homeowners." With this clever sleight of hand, many people suddenly felt they'd climbed a rung on the social ladder, proudly wearing the title of "middle-class homeowner" and accepting the class system for granted. All the while, they're essentially renting from the bank, but with the added bonus of a 30-year payment plan!
Never heard of underclass. I guess that fits my background as i considered it was, for lack of a better term, dole class. I remember people treating me like a weirdo when i wasn't interested in their interests, say football and lager, and repeatedly being asked "why would you want to do that" in a disparaging way. I don't remember any peer asking genuinely (always felt like being setup for an insult) but i do remember a couple teachers and air cadet officers showing a genuine interest. When i went to uni (Exeter) i first experienced middle and upper class people. Some were incredibly friendly and invited me to their estates to stay. they opened my way to how incredibly wealthy people could be. Others took the piss relentlessly about my ignorance to things about anything that cost a bit of money. Some of it was clearly in jest but sometimes it was meant to hurt you.
This is what I find so frustrating in my career. If you aren't into typical wealthy hobbies like golfing or skiing you're literally looked at as if you're an alien and everyone is no longer interested in a conversation with you. These are such small wealth indicators that really push people apart socially, it's insidious. My family moved to the UK when I was little and only when I go travelling in Europe do I feel a sense of relief, that people would be happy to talk to me and not look down on me for things like eating open top sandwiches, not following expensive sport hobbies, having basic non-branded shoes...
from a foreigner's stand point this was very informative. i am Mauritanian(the last country in the world to "abolish" slavery, west Africa) the worse social organisation backed up by the "religion of peace" where 15% of the population(light skin arabs-berbers) crushes in every aspect the 85%(indigenous africans) thank you
Duke/Duchess: The highest rank in British peerage, typically ruling large estates and having considerable influence historically. Dukes are addressed as "Your Grace." Marquess/Marchioness: One step below a Duke, Marquesses historically controlled large regions on the borderlands of the kingdom. Earl/Countess: Equivalent to a "Count" in other European countries, Earls were responsible for counties or regions. Viscount/Viscountess: Below an Earl, Viscounts usually played a role in overseeing judicial matters in a region. Baron/Baroness: The lowest rank in the peerage, yet still part of the nobility. Many Barons historically owned large estates.
This rule set od different forms of address for different people is something I can’t abide. The king or a duchess or a baron all put their pants on one leg at a time, just like me. You may call it etiquette, but it’s not the same as good manners. I was taught that the purpose of good manners is to create mutual respect in a gathering or conversation, and to make people comfortable. Having to remember someone’s fictional superiority is the opposite of mutual respect discomfort is intended. I’d be kicked out of any function that included someone who needed to be addressed as anything other than ma’am or sir.
@@ml_haskell3854are you American? Americans of a certain background place a premium on good manners but may not even understand what the word deference means. That is what you are describing. Having lived in both US and UK, I can tell you there is a huge difference in people’s attitudes. Subtle, but there.
Robber Barons descended from the Normans. The problem is England had only 1 period without a king (The English Civil War) the restoration of the monarchy has kept the working classes subdued and docile, the fish rots from the head down. I thin k if you got rid of them you'd find quickly a very different society, convinced of that.
In the US we not only do not have a caste system like this, we hold open contempt for it. The idea of being permanently stuck (willingly) in a caste is completely alien to us. In fact, it's pretty much the opposite. You are expected to be ambitious. You are expected not to be satisfied with your current station. If you are not ambitions, you will be seen as a failure or a loser. If you are content with your lot in life, a lot of other Americans will criticize you for it. It's not American to do that. If you are successful (either through your own efforts or otherwise), you have to guard your success...because there are other Americans below you that will happily cannibalize you to their own benefit.
In a way, both attitudes seem unhealthy. It's bad to be 'put in your place' and accept your lowely level. At the same time, I can't imagine it's good to feel unshamed, or as a failure for not getting ahead in life, as a lot of that is beyond your control.
@@skycloud4802 - Oh, I agree. I'm not defending the American system. Just explaining it. It's not as bad as it was in the 80s, but it's still like that. Status is fluid in America...you can be born rich and fall into poverty. And if you do, you will not retain any of your "rich" status. Nobody is going to care that you came from a rich family, or what your last name is. If you try to name drop, you'll be seen as pretentious/needy/deluded, and likely mocked. And it is completely independent of income level. If you re poor, you are expected to work towards not being poor. If you are middle class, you are expected to work towards being rich. If you are rich, you are expected to work towards being richer.
This is a really interesting topic, not because you are explaining UK social class, but that a social class system still exists in many developed countries. It could be because of the age of countries, for Europe over thousands of years , different groups settling in the areas. In the U.S. that didn’t happen, so there really isn’t a class system here. It is also interesting that people don’t easily break out of those class systems….when there are so many opportunities to do so.
I come from underclass background, and hope to move up to be an honest working class. My struggle is that I have no formal qualifications and several mental health issues that I'm working through. I gravitate towards minimalism to ease the financial burden.
hey man - thanks for the video Just watching this now makes me realise my hesitation to socialise with other Brits abroad. I used to live in Vietnam and before accepting a job there, I knew I would be working in a team of mostly Brits, and I remember being really hesitant about it ... I now realise that I was basically dreadding classist bullying ... and yep! that's exactly what happened. Sure I got bullied a bit, but I also didn't like seeing other people be treated differently simply because of their class and where they were from in the UK. It is certainly one of the things I despise the most about the UK.
@@williamswayuk Yes, if you're white and come from a rich family then it's much easier to get a job than someone who is white (or any other race) and doesn't come from a rich family, even if the other person (who could also be white or another race but doesn't come from a rich family) is more competent or deserving. It's not racism (because there are plenty of white people who don't benefit from this at all) but it's classism. The richest white people in South Africa come from wealthy families and the richest non-whites in South Africa don't (they're self-made).
That’s only true for the Eaton, harrow lot. There are more companies than private schools, plenty of people work hard to get a top spot. But the majority do happen to have gone to private school
The English upper class has many things in common with the Spanish upper class, both consider themselves different from their own people. The English upper class considers itself descended from the Normans of William the Conqueror and the Spanish from the Visigoths who started the Reconquista. Both try to differentiate themselves from their people as much as possible, they even have a different accent. In Spain, the upper class of Madrid is differentiated by its accent, which also occurs with the English upper class. However, the English and Spanish upper classes opted for different strategies to differentiate themselves from the emerging bourgeoisie, the English upper class chose elitism, with schools and universities "only" for the elites and the appearance of the dandy phenomenon. The Spanish upper class opted for populism, adopting tastes and customs of the lower classes, bullfighting, flamenco,..., which were only acceptable if performed by the aristocracy but not by the bourgeoisie. Until relatively recent times, only aristocrats and the lower classes went to flamenco clubs. A countess could spend the night in a flamenco club and this was considered a sign of closeness to the people, whereas if a bourgeois woman did so, she was considered a miscreant. This strategy of the Spanish aristocracy was very successful because it meant that the lower Spanish classes saw the aristocracy as closer than the bourgeois of the middle classes.
I'm an American who went to the university of surrey ... you have to realize that most Americans idolize England. After having spent waaay too much time in England... all of that envy was wrung out of me fast. To see grown men in the afternoon drunk waiting for the pubs to reopen.... and the list starts. This is the first time in forever that anyone opened up and talked about this ... keep it up.... it's super important!
@@51bpm- I agree, my view is that some Brits hate the french because they were sort of colonised/conquered and mistreated by the french (specifically the Norman’s from france) throughout English history, actually some Brits say that the entrenched feudalistic class system in England was introduced or brought over by the Norman’s, And they hate Germans because of ww2 and maybe because some feel jealous of Germans?!
"know you place", someone once pointed out that if you ever see anyone who's working class talking to an upper-class person there's a kind of baked in deference. A touch of the forlock, "yes sir, no sir" kind of thing. The upper-classes have an arrogant self-confidence that's baked into their psyche from birth, they can walk into rooms and just dominate everything 'cos they've had a this air of self-confidence instilled in them from birth that they are the natural born leaders of the country. I'm Gen-X, born in the East End of London, left school at 17, worked my arse off as an IT techie for 35 years and I've got "new money", a nice house, fat pensions, all that but I'm still that snotty, working class scumbag from the East End. I've worked in City wealth management companies where you meet a lot of upper middle-class and upper-class, very self-confident, high educated people. They treat you with respect so long you remember your place, you're a working class oik, you're good at engineering and machines ( IT in this case) a modern grease-monkey, keep the machines running, touch of the forlock and keep out of sight. I know my place and I don't give a shit. My parents told me from birth that life is shit but while the system tries to screw you, then you screw it back. My mum told me at age 8 that the school system is a brainwashing factory, that they only teach you enough to allow you to work as a wage-slave for your whole life, so I know what other kids didn't. I hate school 'cos they wouldn't work fast enough, lessons were slow and boring, they'd only teach you by rote, I wanted to learn, learn faster and faster and more inetesting stuff, so I learned on my own what I needed to know to get the job I wanted in the late 1980s. Now I know why schools are shit, they need to you be barely useful, know your place, work your arse off until you drop dead on the factory floor at 85. Nah, I'm working as long as need to get what I need, then I'm out, about 5-10 year max now for me.
Douglas Murray said the same thing when referring to how encouraging Americans were when starting something new/challenging whereras the UK its meet with cynicism or outright hatred. Stemming from a mindset that amounts to stay on your place or who do you think you are. And Douglas is very patriotic but couldn't help notice this flaw
@biggiesmalls3096. As a foreigner who has lived in the UK many years, there are small minded people everywhere, but the venom and hatred underneath is unique to the UK.
I learnt one thing that changed my mind to everything. The system locks you in and your class matters. The upper and elite make money from all middle, working and lower class in every way. The more you are locked into debt the more they can control you. You see this in all the lower classes spend their money on things commercialism. You are sold from a kid that things, houses, cars, clothes your status matters. It matters to the elite and rich because they are making money off you and you will be paying it back all your life but never moving up in wealth. The rich and upper class and elites save their money and buy assets. Then their asserts make them money. Passive income. But the mega rich are always looking to take any money they can off the lower classes. Think banks, credit cards, utility companies that are tied to rich people’s pension funds. Pay day loans, food prices, all of it owned by elite rich people. Then there are groups who work on keeping that power and wealth in this tiny group. That’s the government’s and corparations. Further to this what’s the answer. Well my opinion don’t buy into it all the shit of you need all that stuff. I would say get some skills online things you can teach English and such then travel with a view to owning nothing but having multiple income streams that gives you option to build assets. Buying a house working in a job that will probably dissolve and going shopping all the time will not keep you happy.
But there are connections between working class and upper class. These groups doesn’t have to put on a facade (they don’t care about trends or showing signs of success) and they often interact as employee and employer or neighbours. The worst group by far is the middle class. They detest everyone, including themselves.
Absolutely spot on I am working class my closest friends are working class made good millionaires real diamonds makes me laugh the looking down they get from the middle class snobs who are normally in debt up to their eyeballs competing.
100% The middle class are horrendously patronizing and hypocritical in their treatment of and attitudes towards working class people. Those who have made it to the actual upper classes tend to be too busy furthering themselves to bother with this garbage.
@@oldishandwoke-ish1181 "their prejudices" is pretty othering language for somebody who's meant to be woke... or is it ok for you to be prejudiced against working class people and label us as bigots because you have a Guardian article about how it's ok to be prejudiced when YOU lot do it? 🤡
Entering UK from any European country (central, western or eastern) classes, divisions, inequality is something possible to notice almost immediately. Okay, there are richer and and poorer people everywhere, but in other European countries people feel like they have the same value!! Not in the UK - where some people are seen as so much less than others. i.e. First thing they ask you in work is what's your post-code area or where did you go to school etc. Often only after 5min-long conversation level of respect drops drastically, like ''bye forever, don't talk to me anymore, you don't fit to my background''. In other European countries people can achieve very similar or exact things, even if they come from very different backgrounds. Nobody cares or asks you if you came from lords, dukes, or your dad is just a mechanic. It would be rude and judgmental to ask that, as well. That's why people feel more equal, more free and they have more will to change anything. In UK lower class feels like they cannot do or achieve anything and that they don't have any power - that's very sad and medieval almost. They are just badly manipulated and excluded by some.
I've had similar conversations with people in the past whereby once they found out I am working class, the conversation stopped in it's tracks. Sad really but I'm glad how much of a snob they show themselves to be straight away so I can avoid them.
The landscape is amazing, especially at the beginning of the video.
22 дня назад+3
As a child (1968-1978) I lived next door to a British immigrant family in US. This family started a construction business and became quite wealthy. They were able to move from our middle class neighborhood to a very upper class neighborhood. The kids all got into top US universities. Some time after this I ran into the matriarch of this family and she told me that they NEVER could have achieved this success in the UK due to the class system in place. If I remember they were from a working class situation in Birmingham.
I work with foreigners from all over the western world. The ones with the most judgemental attitudes have always been the Brits. If you're British and reading this, please remember the centre of the Earth is not an island.
This is very common in the USA also. I worked in a manufacturing facility. And the people that worked in the office side of the business acted as if they were above the blue collar people. But at the end of the day these people who worked on the office side had the exact same life.
hiya, middle class spaniard immigrant in the UK :-) All the issues you describe on your video stopping class mobility happen too in Spain, same same, so I believe it's not a British thing but more of a 'European thing'. I've lived in the US for a long time and this did not happen (or it it but to a much lesser degree). Thank you for your content, after many years I'm still trying to 'navigate' your culture (which I might add is a massive cultural clash as a spaniard!). This is very informative and really helps me understand English people.
I am also Spanish 🇪🇸 and I am sorry but in Spain nobility doesn’t have as much money and power as they have in UK. Also buying a house or land in Spain is easier. And Spain doesn’t have “the unattainable class system “ that England 🏴 has.
It doesn't happen in the USA as much because it's a far more Tribal Society and power/influence has always been situated in the sword and religion- US citizen.
One of the modern times problems we don't talk about enough. I'm an outsider, but it's not difficult to spot the tension among social classes in the UK. The weird thing is everyone seems to ignore it. Upper class pretends to care about others, middle class is busy proving themselves to be better, working class is always in the fighting mode against others. This isn't the case for everyone, but note something you cannot see either. Such an unsettling state. How could you be happy in an environment like this?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the main difference between the Brit and Indian caste systems that in the UK being upper class gives you an advantage in any field one desires to enter, whereas in India the castes are more oriented towards certain occupations?
The class system is definitely alive and kicking in the UK, especially England. I thought it was on the wane but the Brexit divide showed it is stark. The bile and bitterness of that debate and class divide was incredible, the hatred and vindictiveness especially by many Remainers towards those who voted for Brexit was shocking. I never realised how much that divide was, and how much hatred there was. We now realise that we have a certain class who control things, jobs, power, the media, and politics, and if challenged will stop at nothing to defend their interests. So deep, so entrenched so visceral and real.
I remember coming to the UK and being taken for the upper class. People were treating me somehow differently. I thought it was because i was a foreigner. But they all just assumed i was from an upper class family judging by my accent. I was a young linguist scholar who learned English from the tapes. The Queens speeches, BBC presenters😅
There was a bit of that when I moved out of the suburbs of my Northern Town. I had just started University and my mother moved away from the area where I was raised, whenever I returned to that Northern Town and bumped into people I knew there was unfriendly hostility towards me - it's not as if they gave a damn about me (my so called working class friends) after we all left school at 16, it was just like crickets at night once we all left school, like as if our friendships never mattered and this was the late 1980s. Each man for himself then it was, so be it.
If you think about it. It’s the same mentality that exists in hoods in the United States and the United Kingdom. ‘How you gonna leave your people behind’.
@@shoazdon7000 oh yes, Im American and many of the things Olly is saying has an American version as well. Fanatic churches also play a big role here in keeping people down.
I've lost count of the amount of times I've been called a traitor or some variant. For going to university, for moving to a nicer area. When I would bring a girl home from a nice upbringing I would always be on edge, waiting for someone to say something 😂 My grandparents who could literally afford a mortgage, never got one and stayed in a council house because "they're working class, always have been".
German factory of business managers speak of all the workers at every level as "Mitarbeiter", or "colleague." They do not seem to look down on the lower class or working class.
This is quite new. 30 years ago there existed "arbeiter= workers" and "angestellte=employees" . Don't know who was pushing to flatten that out , workers are obviously employed and employees do some work .
Britain isn't miserable because of the class system - Its miserable because its in the middle of an identity crisis. Its gone from being the world's greatest empire, and global cultural center of reference to a struggling little grey damp country on the margins of Europe in less than century & its people can't come to terms with it. Loss of empire, loss of global power and relevance, delusions of grandeur, slowness to adapt to the changing world, lack of significant natural resources, undereducated, unproductive workforce, lack of modern homegrown industries - with mediocre politicians and Brexit as a further catalyst in the past decade. Add to that some of the worst weather in the world and you have a truly awful country that would drive anyone without money and options to depression or worse
When I went to the UK in 2009 to do my MA, I was appalled by the continuing existence of the class system. There were brilliant students who were ignored, not invited to supposedly "open" events, marked far harsher, and talked about in very demeaning ways behind their backs, because they didn't have the "right accent", or went to inferior schools for A levels/undergrad.
For a Canadian, it was absolutely shocking.
Which university was that?
Canada has its own issues too. Right now there is a mega problem with an over abundance of neo-marxism in the post-secondary schools. The problem with Canada is immigration from primarily 'one' country with a ridiculously lower currency value which is very bad (ppp/purchasing power parity) for the working man, who has both financial feet in solely one very highly taxed and highly regulated country with growing unemployment and a bigger issue, mega 'under' employment. The current generation of politicians in power invited these problems in and seemingly, seem to enjoy their status with less critics in the international arena, probably vying for career opportunities for themselves, backed by the reputation of the country which is hard-earned by working Canadians. A class system is most definitely evolving because of this because of immigration in the warehouses, fast food, etc but it hasn't touched teachers, doctors, firemen, policemen, lawyers to the same degree . just yet.
@@theaverrainecyclemorgansmi5388 second that being from Liverpool gives u a special insight into people’s prejudices on ALL levels
This is entirely made up
@@chelsey1ize what you are describing isn't neo-marxism, it is neoliberalism. corporate greed is what impoverishes Canadians, not immigrants who come to our country to live a better life and contribute to our economy. please remember that Canada is a country based on immigration and the land dispossession of Indigenous people.
Upperclass Brits show more kinship with upper class from other countries than their own working class countrymen.
I agree ... and it's always been this way. The aristocracy were connected with the Continental aristocracy. For the middle classes, "sophistication" was to be more like the Continentals.
I feel the lefty middle classes of Britain are the worst with white working / underclass Brits. Socialists are bullies at heart. They will be bigoted against whichever group they can get away with doing it to.
Absolutely. That's why they're so chilled with globalisation.
Because the British working class is horrible and their access to money makes them more horrible still
That's how it is globally. Elites from everywhere have more in common with each other
The UK is a poor country, with a lot of rich people in it.
💯!
Welcome to neoliberalism, baby!
The UK is a middle income country attached to London
Facts!!!
The UK is not poor, it is one of the richest countries in the world.
Great video. Impressive young man.I am an American . At the end of WW2 ,my parents were both very poor. My mother couldn't even wear a bride gown to marry my father. I have one of my mother's letters where they saved for an entire year and saved 100 dollars. My father got a PhD in physics and became a professor. My mother became an English teacher. My father wanted me to get an MD, so I did. I love my physician job helping people. My father taught me not to look down on anyone.Resoect and be kind to everyone.When we had a party at my house for the physics department, everyone was invited. He went fishing with people who cleaned the floors. The whole university loved my father. What a great example I had growing up. People who are wealthy or well educated do not have to act snooty. They have a choice. They can choose to act like my father.
Lovely story. You were so lucky. If only everyone had the same values instilled in them growing up.
You think this is not prevalant in USA
BEAUTIFUL STORY, YOUR FATHER UNDERSTOOD THAT WE ARE ONLY HUMANS AND WE WILL NOT REMAIN HERE FOREVER.
The thing is on if you have the power to forth the reach class to do what you think "they have to" do. It is rather they have all to achieve the opposite
….معدتش….معدتش
I lived in an upper-middle class neighborhood in Maryland and a family moved in from Great Britain. The husband told me that in the US, when a man is successful, others are happy for him. They root for him and cheer him on. In the UK, if a man is successful, people deride him and tell him he is aspiring above his station. This guy was ambitious and hard-working. He much preferred the environment in the US.
No way I'd live in AMERICA you couldnt pay me enough i like being ALIVE not DEAD
No FREE HEALTH CARE going BANKRUPT and losing everything if you break a bone I've seen Americans run away from an ambulance because they dont want to pay for an them and people dying becausethey wont go to the HOSPITAL
MASS SHOOTERS
You can keep that culture all to yourself where PROFIT comes before your WELLBEING and SAFETY with unfettered out of control CAPATALISM
Petrified of sending your CHILDREN to SCHOOL not knowing they might not come back ALIVE because of SCHOOL SHOOTERS
RAMPANT RACISM
COPS EXECUTING PEOPLE
DEATH PENALTY
MASSIVE DRUG PROBLEMS
MENTALLY ILL walking the streets attacking people
MASSIVE HOMELESS CITIES
POISON FOOD even in EUROPE AMERICAN BREAD is classed as CONFECTIONERY because the amount of SUGAR that's in it
SLAVE like WORKING HOURSYour weird "CULT OF ALLIGENCE "
But BEST COUNTRY in the WORLD right??😂
In the USA, there is similar class envy in the working and lower classes. It is only in the Middle class and up where success is not so resented.
@@ContrarianExpatriate There are class systems in every country in the world either you've money or you have and if you haven't your last in the queue it's worse in AMERICA IMO
@@lanierosenberg It feels like many Brits treat us, Americans, that way, too.
@@ContrarianExpatriate Some.
I am an ex=Brit in the USA. When the Downton Abbey show was on TV several people lamented how great it would have been to live in those times. I (mostly unsuccessfully) told them that it might have been OK as the Lord or Lady, but most people were working class or tradesmen working their tails off for not very much money, and no hope of improvement. The USA, Australia, etc. are countries full of descendants of people who tried to escape that class system. Even when I left the UK (long after the times of Downton Abbey world) I was the subject of put-downs (I heard via my parents) and the inevitable “he won’t make it, he’ll be back when it’s out of his system” comments. Aye, like bloody hell I’ll be back!
I often point out to Americans when they make comments about how great Downton Abbey is, is that it is not a documentary and in real life, servants were treated very badly as the upper classes didn't care about them at all and it was a horrible reality for many.
Not all Americans are that delusional or idealized the upper class. At least many older americans don't. I'm not sure what happened between 50s and today but people born after the 50s seem to have overly rosey view of the world. Maybe they've had it good for too long and don't know what real bad looks like.... I can't say. Personally I've a always preferred Charles Dickens over Julian Fellows or god forbid Jane Austin...😅😆
OMG. I'm American, but also half British (my mother is from London, I'm also a UK citizen), and can I tell you about how much I despised Downton Abbey? First of all - the entire production was obviously aimed at a US audience (because $$$), so it completely relied on the most basic bullshit "British" tropes that would attract an American audience (Wasn't it obvious? The American wife, and the "complicated" relationship between "The Dowager Countess" re her American family members. Plus HIGH TEA!). My (now ex) wife and my in-laws all watched this show, and loved it (it was a soap opera for non soap opera people). I would hide the rage I felt re this program because (i knew) they didn't "get it" - how this show glorified the terrible British class system. All of the servants happily supporting their benevolent overlord family, and accepting that this was just "the way it is" (and this way is best, overall). Of course the the family "patriarch" always knew best - The lord of the manor, at the end of the day, always had the final answer to any issue, and all of his underlings understood his wisdom.
Hahahah!
Pathetic.
The show didn't give us the details about servants not having their bedrooms heated and not having hot water for washing.
@@minniemoe4797 Also cast-off clothing, even for senior butlers. Pure drivel.
The best thing of being an expat in Britain is to ignore this system and live your life according to your own values irrespective of the preconceived notions about foreigners.
There is no way of ignoring this effective farming system and containment cult. It's a hostage situation with passports and border controls where you are not free to explore independently bellow the 60th parallel. Worse, few grasp the gravity of the situation that places us in.
I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree. I still think the UK is a land of opportunities, despite its issues. But you need to work hard, aim high, and forget about what others think.
Interesting, I have also thought that this is a great benefit of being an expat is your can leave behind your own country’s restrictive system and be immune from your host country’s
I’ve never been an expat in Britain so I can’t really speak responsibly about it, but having been one in Greece, and in Turkey (where class literally is everything), I know that it was much easier for me to mix with upper class people and it would’ve been for a Turkish person. Partially because as an American there are certain perceptions of who or what I am (not necessarily correct), and also because I don’t have a purely local accent that would give me away. In Turkey that would be regional, class and ethnic. Because I did notice that with English people, as soon as you open your mouth you are classified. How they treat you after that classification does also depend on the individual of course, but individuals do exist within a greater reality.
That's true because I was an expat before as well. But it's also easier to ignore the system because you were not raised in it. Your family (may) not be from the country and therefore the system in the country's history is not ingrained in you. It doesn't affect you.
The British class system is one of the reasons the relationship with India worked better than with most other colonies. The Indian caste system was at some level compatible with the British class system.
Seems every country has some form of caste system. The world neither protects nor forgives the poor. For such class, there is no country of their own other than being used as useful idiots in times of crisis and achieving ulterior motives
I am Indian and upper caste and trust me, the caste system was WAY worse than the class system in Europe. The strange thing is that the British Empire emancipated the lower castes and gave them the right to education as well as other rights. Lower caste leaders were thus comparatively pro British Empire.
@@mudra5114do second and third generation indian migrants in the UK still take the cast system into account in daily life?
@@waynemongo Some do. Not all. There are some who are old school.
@@waynemongo Some do, not all.
I grew up in the UK many years ago. We were quite poor. One time, my mom and I were in a humble Café in Oxford that happened to be a hangout for Oxford students. The atmosphere was unbearable in a most subtle way, you could cut it with a knife. They wanted us out of there. Yes, the caste system is real but invisible. They have a way of cutting you down or as you say putting you in your place.
You didn’t grow up in the uk stop lying, we spell mom, mum. Everybody knows that 😂😂😂😂
Maybe he is mixed American/British
?
Thats your perception and doesnt necessarily have anything to do with the truth.
He said he grew up in the UK many years ago. Obviously he left and probably has been in the US for a long time.
@@leonhenry4861 discriminating because he spells Mom a certain way???? Point proven.
Thank you. You’ve given me so much to think about. I’m American. I was in England two summers ago. I was so excited to go. I think of the Brits as my cousins. My father’s ancestors come from Yorkshire, and my mother’s, from Ireland. But I was dismayed to find an unreciprocating, joyless place. I loved the museums, the historical architecture, the history, etc. But, yes, happiness was missing. I tried not to take it personally, but it did hurt. For example, once, I was in Manhattan as a tourist, and I rolled down the taxi window and said to some local workers, “Hello New Yorkers!” They smiled so big, lifted their arms, and responded, “HEY!” In contrast, in England, I could rarely get a smile or a response to a “Good morning.” I know that they find our exuberance “loud and obnoxious,” but I’m neither. I’m just…happy.
Try Poland, the people are extremely reserved unless one is a friend.
I’m American too & not of British descent- so not on the cousin level. US is huge, and i’ve lived in mostly big cities, it seems to me that you’re coming from a smaller state or perhaps inner US or smaller city - thus a different experience. What i can share is that someone who has lived in most of the big cities in the US - is that America is full of fakery- those big smiles & “have a nice day” are not genuine - nobody cares if you have a nice day. On contrast, i lived in Britain for almost a year - tho the Brits don’t smile, i found them very helpful & mostly genuine- yes, unfortunately the weather plays a role and changes mood but overall, really refreshing & more genuine than the US. Unfortunately, i did noticed the class system, which i didn’t care much about, which is fortunately not in United States - cause we care less who comes from where
I’m from California and lived in Scotland for three years in the 80’s. They were wonderful, friendly people and loved Americans. I wish I could go back!
@@lisayoung5136 English & Scottish are different- hope you know that, Americans are known for not knowing foreign identities
Dude, it's true. I'm also a very happy person and the British think I drain them of their energy. Because they can't keep up. They're just miserable
It’s deep rooted. UK is no longer a real monarchy but the culture of noblemen and peasants is very alive and will be there still for long. It’s ridiculous, even depending on accents you will be classed and treated differently.
Ofcourse you get judged from your accent? The Racists make the majority of this used-to-be great Kingdom
Being King is a lot of work. Now the "betters" get all the benefits, with none of the work.
@@LordGeneralOHara I disagree with that . Racism is not the issue here.Its classism.
My dad was born in Battersea in 1939 and was the first in his family to break out of the working class and become an engineer and buy his own home. He was constantly castigated by his family and relatives for being a traitor to his class being a manager. He was ridiculed for buying his own home when you could get one by the council. Also, on the other hand he was still looked down upon by so-called professionals (lawyers, accountants, doctors etc... People who thought he used his hands as well as his brain). This would manifest itself when he tried to join things like gold clubs. Britain really suppresses its population through a quite indirect and self-regulating way. This is all a massive psy-opp setup by the ruling class, the several dozen centuries old land-owning class/families going back to Anglo Saxon times that controlled the system. Our politicians have zero power and are just theatre. This is noticeably clear these days with the obviously tiered society and different treatment of groups. This is why nothing changes here, and the country is dying.
your comment is insightful but can you blame your dad's relatives for thinking this way ? they don't know better . Now i hope this makes you appreciate how a segment of Black people ( of all backgrounds, really ) react when someone gets big all of sudden when everyone is barely making it . I hope you will defend them because i am done trying to explain this to slow pokes who can't grasp social class peculiarities and nuances and all they have as core argument is the bootstrap mentality. Your dad lucked out but he was 1 out of what 40 people in your family
yeah he was surrounded by idiots. The water was coming in they chastised him for jumping in the boat. great...they enjoyed their beer and fgs though.
One can only lament the waste of Human Resources sacrificed to this cultural fetish. Britain cuts its nose off to spite it’s face and is actually, perversely, quite proud of it. Weird and frustrating.
It was called the “crab bucket” by Terry Pratchett. When one crab climbs out the others try to grab its legs and pull it down so that crab does not get above the other. Crabs are hierarchical ..
@@NoFaithNoPain - the idea of the ‘crab bucket’ is common to many cultures. I first heard about it from an Indian who had never heard of Pratchett.
What you've described in your video, is almost verbatim to my own experience growing up in the UK. The social status of my family was just one or two rungs up the social ladder from the very bottom. By the age of 13 (some 60 years ago) I could see how things were most likely going to turn out for me if I didn't do something about it. The schools I attended were pretty much crap. I've found out several former classmates have ended up dead, mostly from drugs or alcohol abuse, some ended up in prison for murder or selling drugs etc. (all of us from a nice catholic school :) It took me a long time to sort myself out. I left school at the age 14 and 9 months, the earliest legal age at the time I think .Like you I started to travel and then I really started to see how the class structure in the UK had a hand in holding people back, my family included. I left permanently in 1979. Through my travels I eventually met a girl and settled in the US. I enrolled at a technical school and eventually got a job as a technician. Fast forward. I'm now retired after living 25 years in Silicon valley working as an engineer for a semiconductor equipment company. In 2004 I transferred to Singapore with that same company where I finished out my career. I have been retired there now for 6 years. I live a very comfortable life. I would never have achieved anything like it had I stayed in the UK.
Hey yo how’s life in Singapore? You should get interviewed by Max Chernov
Absolutely right- Social mobility in Europe is non existent-
Absolutely soul crushing to be born less than middle class. (Trust me, they too are mocked by the upper class.)
You’ve lived the American Dream, Tony. Congratulations on a fulfilling life. You are British, so you understand gratitude and poetic living. Most Americans just want MORE, no matter how prosperous they are. And I sort of raise my hand here 🙂↕️
I took the 11 plus in 1964. I failed. My father was very disappointed in me because of it. For years I thought that I was stupid until I realised that most very bright working class kids are deliberately failed by the examiners because they just want to maintain the status quo.
My dad immigrated from Newcastle in the UK in the 1950s. No one in his family stayed in school past age 14, working class and poor.
He was thrilled with the lack of visible classism in Canada where his working class regional accent and lack of formal education weren’t held against him. He went on to have a middle class life, owned his house, lots of outdoor adventures, 3 university educated kids, 4 university educated grandkids.
He stayed amazed at the mixing of social classes here in Canada especially in the realm of sports and the outdoors.
Canada is ruined now, due to mass 3rd world immigration.
Class in Canada? What is that?
I went to University of London (1978) so things may have changed. Back then being an American was perfect. I could hang with aristocrats kids and the working class (my pub) on the same day. Nobody cared. But accents were everything if you were British.I had a freedom in their country that they didn’t have.
My girlfriend says they have a system where they dont want anybody getting ahead, you stay back make overtime they take it off you in tax, you get a payrise they put energy bills up, it is a system designed to keep you down
Bingo
It really is...................and why do I stay here? because my family are here and I can't be without them.
Do not worry this is everywhere in the world because of ignorance. People think it is a big thing to separate themselves because they do not havethe wisdom of knowing the reality of life. We need to pity all these beings true happiness is never gained by this ignorance
I hate hate hate the class culture in the UK. I came from a council estate from two parents on the disability benefit and then into care. I felt shameful for this. I left the UK 8 years ago to NZ.
I was stunned when I got to NZ no one judged me for my upbringing and were shocked that I hid it. Here people mix I have had drinks with all types of people and class is not a thing really. I have done 100 times better here than I would have in the UK as class also locks you out of certain jobs/industries.
I tell my friends all the time get out!
Judge the man, not his past.
Sounds like you made a good choice, I want saw an interview with a woman that was from Northern England and because of her accent she had limited opportunities in the UK. She moved to America and joined NASA as an engineer. She said it herself that with her accent she wasn't going to go much of anywhere in the UK and now she's a lead engineer for NASA that's working on projects to send people to the moon and beyond.
@@chetmcdonald its very true
On a side note..salute to the UK for their opposition to infant male circ. 🍺
It was written in Lady Chatterley's Lover...
"In the class system you could be like the most beautiful butterfly but if you are from a lower class you will be pinned in your place and held there, not allowed to fly free".
It’s not 1928 anymore
@@28pbtkh23still true though.
The military in the UK is a great example of this. Or, at least it was, when I served 20-25 years ago. The officers were nearly all privately educated, and the enlisted almost always state educated. Didn't really matter how intelligent you were, it was all about the class you were born into. I agree with the general theme of the video, that those in the lower classes do more to maintain this system than they realise. I am glad I left; both the RAF and the UK.
I once applied for a managers roll working at RAF Northolt as a bird scarer, just driving around the runways picking up any objects or fod, and preventing bird strikes. To get the position we had to sit a test, there was myself and another guy who was already serving in the RAF, the instructor purposely left the answers on the table , said don't cheat and left the room..Me being a honest guy answered all the questions and didn't look in the book, the RAF guy looked in the book and was caught reading it by the instructor. I passed with full marks but guess what? They gave the management position to the cheat and offered me a position basically working under the guy who had just cheated.. I was gutted, it would have been my dream job as I was told I could house and fly my hawks at the airfield. .The lower position I was offered meant that I couldn't afford to drive from London to the airfield and pay the mortgage etc.. It's who you know, not what you know.. Oddly enough, I left the UK also..
My parents arrived in Britain from Nigeria to train for work the NHS. My dad to be a doctor and my mum to be a nurse. By the time I was 10 they bought their first house. I was told not to tell anyone in school as my parents thought that I would be bullied. As black people were supposed to be part of the underclass and not supposed to be buying houses.
Sad.
Read about the Oklahoma City, OK USA, wealthy black community bombed and burnt out by irate rioting white neighbors. Sadly, your parents were wise.
My parents brought a house in 1967 and there parents thought they were stupid as council houses were cheap to rent very strange culture
My parents were war refugees who moved from West Africa in the 80's. I was fortunate enough to grow up middle class. There was an emphasis on education and RP. My sister is an Oxbridge grad and I have three degrees in English Lit. But in my early years, my parents were definitely working class. We lived in council estates, but that changed as I got older. As I got older, I realised so many flaws in british socioeconomics that were making me unhappy, severely depressed and anxious. So I decided two years ago to set up an online business and move to North Africa. I feel much better here. Costs are lower, the people are more genuine and HAPPIER than the British, and there's more of a social, upbeat vibe in the small city I live in. I never felt this community warmth while living in various parts of the UK.
After doing my A-levels in Zimbabwe, i had a gap year in the UK, i worked for a professional Polo player. He was an absolutely wonderful bloke, who came from a very much middle/working class background. However, i was shocked at how alive and kicking the class system was in the UK.
I knew a couple called Barry from Bulawayo. Her name was Severine. Long shot I know. They had a son called Mike who passed away some years ago.
@@alan-the-maths-tutor i have heard of them, and Ive been asked about that particular family on a few occasions. However, I think they were distant relatives. It's not the most common surname amongst the former colonies- most Barry's that ended up in Southern Africa came across from Cork/Ireland in 1820 and ended up in Eastern South Africa.
@@garethbarry3825 I think they lived on Clark Rd, Suburbs - probably both passed away by now. I knew them around 20 years ago. Owned a farm at Tulbagh. It is a small world sometimes.
@@garethbarry3825 Severine, Rina , Edda etc very common down there. you are an afrikaans from Harare , since we are talking class , you were de facto at the top then the colourds . Zim had a class system that mirrors exactly the UK one now why would you be shocked when the system that birthed you was configurated the exact same way in a new settlement ( so to speak ).
@@PHlophe im not afrikaans at all, not that it really matters. Prior to things going to hell in Zimbabwe, as i said in another comment, class was moving away from being based on race- some of my best friends that i am still in touch with are black people that i am still in touch with. Sadly it was and is still true that by far the majority of impoverished people are black. My point is that in the UK it was somewhat different, in that the relationship between 'class' and 'wealth' wasnt as simple and direct- i met some people in England of aristocratic background who were strugglibg financially, yet were still considered 'upper class.' Conversely, i met some people who were self made and wealthy , 'new money' but still considered 'common.' Not trying to be controversial or antagonistic to anyone.
That class system started in 1066. The descendants of William and his key retainers still own most of the land in Britain. And yes, there is a growing underclass and a rapidly growing "precariat" -- temp or seasonal work, no benefits, rock-bottom wages.
we had an aristocracy before 1066
@@9n3- But not composed of Normans lording it over Anglo-Saxons and Celts, nor one so predatory and determined to keep everyone else down.
@@arshadali2312 So it's okay to have a boot on your neck if the guy shares your ethnic DNA, got it.
We need some Old Money Upper Classes in here to show us their Norman family trees
@@_OllyDobson I don't know if they have money. They do have land. Lots of it. Their problem in the modern world was lots of land and not much money. Hence marrying American heiresses a century or more back. Churchill's father married his American mother for her money.
I met a British person who felt that ALL of UKs achievements were due to the aristocracy and NOT the middle class or working classes. Then he won the argument by saying “If we didn’t believe this we wouldn’t have a Queen and House of Lords.” He was right about that. The monarchy institutionalizes the inertia of the class system.
Well, I am from post Soviet Union country. I believe Romanovs and their servants only held as back.
@@Adil_Turysbek_TVRCif we're being real if it remain under the empire it probably would have industrialized at a healthier rate
Достижения Великобритании связаны с тем что страна прошла 4 ритма Империи и стала базой современного мира, имперский ритм закончился в 1905 году, скоро Англию ждёт Решающее освобождение
This video is spot on. I was born and bred in a typical working class family in Bolton and took on an apprenticeship (sheet metal) when I left school. My troubles started when I was put in the design office. Suddenly, work mates I had worked with for years and regularly enjoyed a beer together with down at pub refused to speak to me anymore. It got worse when I decided to go to university to study engineering. My whole circle of friends turned against me and even my parents had problems accepting my decision. Through my engineering career working with the managements of numerous companies I've lost my lovely regional accent, but at least I can turn it on whenever I want to.
I've never had much of a problem with middle class people, found them accepting and even welcoming. Once in a while someone might make a snide remark about me, but I easily put them in their place. I worked abroad for years, learned 4 languages and just tell them where to go, say in French or German.
Both my adult children are solidly upper middle class. One is a graduate civil engineer and the other a designer, married to people working in middle management. They don't know what it means to be working class, sometimes I think they're missing something.
I am from the US. My husband taught at Cambridge the summer of 2012. Which was a dream come true for me because I love the UK. But by the end of the summer I knew why my ancestors left because of the class system. We have many many problems in the US but we believe that you should be able to make your dreams come true no matter where you start in life. Although this was easier for my generation than it is for my daughters
Whilst waiting for my train my hat blew off down onto the tracks, I asked a railway worker to retrieve it for me. He refused saying it was below his station. 😂
My nearest is Clapham Junction. Being English, it's important I know my station.
Unlike a carpet, a dog or an egg, you can't beat a good pun!😂
😅😅😅
i know, its horrific. And theyre nationalising hats i hear. In relation to transport. Its ok if its a privately owned hat outside a station, but you lose a baseball cap on a public tram eg, then they wont retrieve sht. My uncle wore a fedora on a double decker red bus Aldgate last week and he was allowed to pick it up if dropped on the lower deck, but was refused on the upper one. Union rules. The conductor couldnt even wear one. I just dont get why Labour went for hats. I mean winter bobbles, what then.
@@meisterlymanu5214 Well, Kemal Ataturk outlawed the wearing of the Fez in Turkey so they would not be the first.
The upper class can afford to be so absurd, because that safety net of privilege. Very rare for them to end up in squalor, because there’s always money somewhere to save them. In my experience the working class often use the term imposter-syndrome, even when they have become high achievers.
But what do you expect them to do? Just give all their money away so they can be members of the underclass as well?
Upper class doesn’t mean money. There are hereditary lords in ex-council estates. It doesn’t mean they aren’t aristocracy (the highest of the high).
@@denismichaeljames it's evil and immoral
@@ajs41exactly. Some people are born into wealth and good for them. For the rest of us, there's beauty in the struggle.
For the upper class everything must come without much effort. "Striving" for something, coming across as if you "need" something is horrifying for them. The very thing the middle- and lower-classes pride themselves, their achievements and hard work, is damning for the upper class.
I’m from Northern Ireland, probably from a lower middle class background. And always notice the thing you mentioned about working class having very little ambition, it’s very sad.
I moved to London and wow what a contrast! I’m surrounded by private school students and they’re beyond intimidating. Very confident and self assured, they’ll go right into a presentation and not be queasy or question themselves. Always walking about with an air of confidence even if inexperienced. They will advocate for themselves and not run themselves down. A discussion I had might illustrate this:
Me “you’re very intelligent”.
PSS “yes I know”.
Whereas a working class person would say “no, not really”.
They also all speak with a southern accent even if from some town in the north east.
It’s odd and a complete culture shock.
Confidence and emotional suppression are key. Whether part of the landed aristocracy in Britain or a colonial administrator in Northern Kenya or Southern India, one was going to be enormously outnumbered by people whose true interests were not aligned with yours. The maintenance of this system relied on those who “governed” displaying absurd levels of confidence and suppressing any expression of emotional weakness so as to persuade the governed that the order of things was right and inevitable.
Sorry my friend but when you are inexperienced and not knowledgeable in the subject but "still confident ", it is usually called arrogance not confidence. (I'm not British, I was born and raised in Eastern Europe)
Interesting. My family came to the US from England in 1623. Although we fought for independence in the Revolution, we maintained a close relationship to our British cousins. A few members of the family have moved back over the years (the Warners of Warner Hall sent a daughter back to marry the Earl of Strathmore). Queen Elizabeth II made my uncle a Knight Commander of the British Empire in 1970, so I’ll admit I love it over there.
However, as my aunt always told me, my manners are so awful that no one would ever mistake me for anything other than American, and no amount of a Cambridge education would ever knock that out of me. I’m glad I live where I do. I love the fact that we like to smile at total strangers, and eat BBQ with our fingers. It’s fun being able to feel comfortable with any and all social groups, cultures (maybe not the Saudis … they seem to be forever thinking that I need to be covered head to toe in black cloth).
I’m babbling now. I’ll shut up. Time for dinner anyway. 😂
Totally
Very well said. I have worked with all levels of society as a live in caregiver...one thing people dont realise is that if you have a pompous or entitled personality, when you are young, you can get away with it, but when you are elderly and have dementia and need a carer, you will drive everyone away from you, I have been screamed at so many times by arrogant elderly....surely its better to be uplifting towards other people?
The upper class does not think that way as a general rule.
I left as a young man in 1984. Became an American. Brits can poke fun at Americans all they like. I know I would not have anywhere near the standard of living that I have had I not moved.
Even with the cost of health care in USA? I'm going to assume you are a professional of some kind I can't imagine the USA being a go move for working class. Think thats the main thing other than gun crime perhaps that puts brits of potential move to the states...
the standard of living in superior in europe.
you get ONE medical bill and your standard of living goes flying out the window.
@@ricardo8640 since I moved to the US, I had better healthcare, I have insurance. The USA can guarantee you better quality of life by just having bigger, better and more resilient economy than the UK that is literally a third world outside of London with average pay of 30k for engineers. No one will take this job opportunity in the US for fast food work if they are going to pay them 30k. Open your eyes
@@diveguy4291 the U.S. has lots of safe places in every state. And yes, you have to have insurance in order to avoid crazy medical bill. But insurance is better then universal healthcare. You can pick your preferable option by yourself. In the UK, you will pay for crumbling NHS through your taxes anyway and taxes are dead high in the UK right now. So what are you paying for, mate?
@@CactusGirl-x7f Thanks for the reply, I'm still sceptical I've seen how insane American medical bills are, thousands of dollars for an asthma pump that you would get free in UK, I don't see how insurance could cover those expenses and still be lower than what uk taxes for health service, I get the impression Americans avoid medical treatment unless absolutely necessary? I would not say uk is exactly safe these days, but I had a female friend who visited America and got pulled over at gun point by the police for no reason, she had not even committed a driving offence, in uk you would never have a gun pointed at you by police unless you were suspected of carrying a weapon. Admittedly my own visit to the states was great, but there was an emphasis on safety from all the Americans I met warning us to avoid this place or that place, still its a vast country that's fascinating to me.
Funnily enough though, now I live in the US, all Brits are regarded as upper class, so I’ve experienced an upgrade in socioeconomic status.
Really ? Can I ask you from where in the UK did you move to US? Also I suppose it’s not the same living in Ny or Texas
@@fatimateresa19 ur mom
My English friend is automatically considered "fancy" in South Africa with her thick Yorkshire accent 😀
Truth - Northern lass to California finds her voice… in someways and finds her gaps in many others. But don’t get complacent - there is much work to do to earn all the freedom of the USA.
Remember your ancestors colonized the landmass called North of the America's and thus the upper class of USA during the earlier years of so called independence and before that, people were groomed and taught in the UK. So automatically the masses of USA consider your type as educated because of the history of controlling the minds of USA and international people.
I’m a Canadian 2nd generation. My mother’s mum came to British Columbia as a nanny to a wealthy family of middle class (I think), people. The newspaper ads that lured them here told them they could be lords in this place. Also told them there was no garlic eaters here. Some of what you’re describing I grew up with but I didn’t realize what the terminology meant or the origins of certain behaviours until I lived in London for a year and met relatives that we’d been disconnected from for more than a generation. The class system was an interesting oddity. I observed , living and working there that you couldn’t move up or down in the system without affronting people or making them upset. It was mostly amusing until I began to recognize my mom’s behaviour in some of what I was seeing. She refused an invitation to a party at a lovely neighbours saying we’re not going because we’re just simple folk. I had no idea what she was talking about and I’m not sure she knew either, but now I believe it was a class response triggered by the neighbours accent. Being simple folk was a statement of knowing her place. It’s so insidiously buried in our lives it’s hard to recognize where our behaviour originates from. This was very interesting, thank you.
Years ago in US I worked with a guy from Wales. He went to an American college. Later went to law school and became a lawyer. I asked him why he left Wales and he explained the "class system" there which doesn't allow upward mobility. And he came from an upper middle class background there.
I am an eastern European born in Czechoslovakia and I used to live in several European countries including England and I have to say the English snobbery and class division is something I have never ever seen in eastern European countries. Southern Europe can be snobby but its not as bad as in the UK or Germany. I was absolutely shocked when for example I went for a date and I saw guys interested in me but their first question always was what University did I attend... practically by asking me about my university degree they indirectly wanted to know how wealthy I am. To be honest I find this whole thing so disturbing. I have also seen so many white homeless people in London it was beyond insanity. I've never ever seen anything like that and that was 2010, I cannot even imagine the situation today. I honestly think Capitalism is one giant lie, I had to explain it many times to Americans and also westerners that socialism is NOT what they think it is. The western oligarchy made sure socialism is gonna get a very bad reputation. And I want to say that even though Czechoslovakia was a socialist country people used to dress better, eat healthier, we could afford and OWN housing, we had NO population decline and we had no illegal immigration. Our commies at least were patriots. Now I am not advocating for communism BUT I know for sure Capitalism is a sick system. Its a neofeudal system based on exploitation and murder of the poor.
Научись гордиться своей страной и делай ее красивой, вот и всё. Пусть наслаждаются своим капитализмом на западе, они заслужили.
The thumbs up was for your effort.
Russian here. They've been told us for the last 30 years how miserable we are. While in reality communism left us with classless society, decent education and housing. Just compare the percentage of people who own property in post-socialist countries and in Western Europe.
@@snowsnow4231 very true. At first westerners taught me how to hate myself and everything eastern. But after enduring loads of abuse by westerners I was forced to open my eyes. If I told you my life story its heartbreaking what I had to endure and still enduring with this disgusting war we are forced to engage in against our will and against our eastern brothers. The sad part is that Russians never taught us to hate the west, but the west always taught us how to hate Russia.
@@snowsnow4231 I have replied but they are deleting my comments
I have watched the whole video from end to end. During my five decades in the UK ( I am a Sri Lankan citizen in retirement in Sri Lanka) I noted with regret that certain classes of people are deliberately kept down by excluding them from the prestigious professions and businesses. The major highly paid bodies controlling accountancy, law, academia etc. protect themselves from contagion from those lower in the pecking order by making and employing blacklists. If a young man does not have a grammar school or public school background he has a slim chance of becoming a Somebody in the City of London. Certain Oxbridge colleges use similar tactics. I am away from all that now :)
Yes. The same tactic is employed in education. You need to speak "RP" - the accent that says you are a member of the elite club. I don't, therefore I believe that I am blacklisted (probably also due to my political views).
I feel for you :)
Doesn't Sri Lanka have a class system? It is a human issue.
Er, it is based on money and contacts :)
How many servants does your family employ?😎
I'm born and bred in the UK and I feel your pain it is true we are very lonely and miserable long hours at work high taxis cost of living is high. I told my 20 year old stepson you have to leave Britain there is nothing here for you he has moved to Norway he has a job there he's happy there cost of living is good clean country to live in no dog s*** on the pavement minimum litter on the ground if you are the parent cannot get out at least support your children to get out.
I am a working class lad from Liverpool, of Irish family. Coming from a rough area in the north of the city my mother was a hairdresser (single parent) worked 3 jobs, life was tough, certain xmasses I had nothing, growing up until 16 I'd never been out of the city (except Ireland) I left Liverpool when I was 16. I then went to Trinity College, Dublin to study history. I wrote plays, screenplays etc. There was nothing in my history that could have pointed to me aspiring to anything seeing I failed at school. I wrote a play about a 16c Spanish Priest could Bartolomew de las Casas (I also speak Spanish now) where is this going I hear you say. My play got a reading and the BBC Historian Michael Wood presented it, he wrote the forward to the play. The play waa rich in language and Wood was convinced (after talking to him, my Scouse accent long gone)I was Oxford educated, upper middle class because only those of the certain echelons of UK/Ire society are deemed good enough to write on such subjects, when I gave him a quick resume of my background, he went deathily quiet, I do not know what to have taken what he said next as a compliment or a patronising insult "Well done you".
The point is your class defines you (not always) but it's ingrained in you, you can never really escape it, it is what keeps those in Britain and Ireland in our place, the elites want it that way and nothing will change unless the class system is dissolved and working people (the backbone) are treated as a valuable part of UK society.
Very interesting .. I’m from Texas and learning about the British class system is so interesting . We really don’t have that here . Some of the most run down cowboys here are the most respected and wealthiest . Great video
"I ain't got a dime! but what I got is mine! I ain't rich but looord I'm freee! Amarillo by morning! Amarillo is where I'll beeee!".
People forget how brief our existence is and how much infinitely more alike we are than unalike.
We are all born to die, some of the happiest people are dead poor and the unhappiest extraordinarily wealthy.
The physical world is just an accessory to your internal one, not a determination.
Your character is an accumulation of information, not your true being.
We have been bred to believe we all need to own a 3 bed house and a nice whip. but thing is even rent getting too expensive. With lower income ranges and poor parenting the crime rates are going up.
Well said! We can’t take our money to heaven with us, life is fleeting & precious.
Yes but I think it can be very hard to break free from a set of values you have grown up with.
Thank you Sadhguru.
@@CUNDUNDO Sadhguru doesn't exist.
Read Thomas Hardy novels. He beautifully illustrated the struggles of precocious individuals struggling in vain to surmount the English class system.
Agree. Works of genius.
I often felt like Jude the Obscure
June the Obscure, also look at the novels of Dickens, riddled with class references.
I love your great British author, Thomas Hardy.
Public schools are very much the starting point of the class system. Ensuring the working class are poorly educated is also important.
Also being educated does not mean you have logic, common sense or imagination. People think that if someone speaks middle /upper class English has by default all the three traits I mentioned. Big mistake.
Once I heard someone using the term EDUCATED MOR ONS.
...
That's why across both public and private companies there are countless of incompatant people. This is one of the reasons why UK is falling in so many fields despite being quite well-off.
Bantu education
Not possible to afford 40 000 a year for each kid. It is up to parents decide whether they invest in their kids future or have losers later on😂😂😂😂
@@Always1happycos everyone has 40.000 laying around waiting to be dashed out 😅😅😅
All over europe same staff. The rothchilds, i blame them
Thanks for a great video. My dad came over on a British ship during WW2… He was absolutely shocked when he encountered the class system even directed towards him…as a guy coming over to fight for Britain.
I think the class system is at the root of the deep-seated aggression at the heart of the UK. I'm a Brit. I see it all around me. Great video, keep going!
I am a poor white man with an RP accent and two degrees who is employed in a deeply working class profession (agriculture). I am constantly thought of as being wealthy, a 'prig', 'toff', etc. Some have even presumed that I was an imposter or undercover journalist.
@cerdic Be happy with your RP accent and your skills. The unfortunate young man in this video has already destroyed his future. Piercings and tattoos will finish one off in job hunting. As for his unfortunate accent, well, he never really had a chance. No one could mistake this accent for anything but lower class. He says he was taught RP, but I'm hearing uneducated lorry driver. He needs to listen to himself more closely.
@@mt.shasta6097 I do not think you can accurately judge a man by his accent. The man in this video has quite a typical lower middle class accent, with some tinges of regional accent. One of the most educated and gentlemanly men I have ever met had a hoarse working class accent.
What is an RP accent, and why did you abbreviate it?
@@Bearwithme560 Received Pronunciation. I abbreviated it because I assumed it was well-known. The accent itself is relatively new, having only developed around 200 years ago. Its original purpose was to bring uniformity and elocution to the English language, but it has since acquired a mixed reputation, ranging from elitism to associations with intellect and cultural sophistication.
@@cerdic6586 I fancy myself to be well-read but apparently not as I've never heard of it, but l shall ask out of interest if my Linguist/Speech Pathologist daughter has, or perhaps it's known by another name in Canada. Anyway, thanks for enlightening me.
I actually love your analysis on this and the fact you broke this down in a way that's very understandable. As a french expat I have also notice this living in the UK, people try to put you in a social box and expect you to behave in a certain way. Often because of being an expat they automatically assume you are lower class than them
People who leave their class to improve their situation are often maligned as traitors. They're called strivers.
You are expressing in your words, what I felt in my bones at an early age. The class system not only made me feel irrelevant but it also made me feel angry. I had the opportunity to go to live in Australia and I have been a lot happier. I’m also not afraid to say that royalty and all the privileged hangers on still made me feel like a vassal.
I knew someone from Australia who also once mentioned how bad the class system is compared to Australia.
how those property prices doing.. not that Uk isnt far behind.
@@meisterlymanu5214 Depends entirely where you live. Sydney Eastern suburbs are nearly as bad as London, however out in the sticks (where we have ALL the services, mind you), costs are a lot lower. Your energy costs are very high; ours are significantly offset by solar generation (all year round), and we certainly don't freeze for eight months of the year. Better quality (and abundance) of seasonal fresh food too, so we enjoy a very affordable, very healthy diet all year round. Emigrated in 2000, never been back (and probably never will).
Fascinating video! I am Canadian & live in an area with many UK expats who are also friends & colleagues. I have heard from several of them that the decision to emigrate was in large part due to the stifling class system & the condescension they experienced because of their accents. As you say, every country has a version of a class system but it is nothing near to what my acquaintances felt at home & they feel freedom here to chart their own paths.
The class system is still subconsciously practised by most folk when it comes to the service industries. Too many people right across the income spectrum still treat service industry staff as servants not equals.
If it wasn't for them, there would be no services. 😢
Spot on - I gave up on the class nonsense in the UK a long time ago. I left, and you just reminded me why. And it will never change. Great video, thanks. 👍
Paul, even in France , it is just as rigid . so nowhere to escape to
@@PHlophe Is it? I'm surprised. I've lived in Spain for 35 years, and I've not noticed too much of it.
@@paulschnyder938 I miss Spain 🇪🇸 so much. Nobody told me about the class system in UK 🇬🇧 and that here everybody thinks it’s normal nobility still own most of the land.
@@fatimateresa19 hola! eres española pero vives en Inglaterra?
@@paulschnyder938 Por ahora 🤣
I left Britain as a child to live in the US. I go back to visit my dad. He always says you're lucky to have left this country you're a lot better off in the US. When I visit i'm treated kind of like damaged goods by the locals. People often ask me why did you come back, out of jealousy, distain and genuine curiosity. It does seem grim there, kind of stuck in some victorian past in many respects. Although many people appear to want the country to become more like the U.S. they also dislike Americans for their un British behavior and "improper socialization." Irrationally this dislike for myself and American ways is palpable. I feel discrimination for having escaped even as a child who had no part in the decision.It's a messed up situation something is very toxic about the culture.I can understand my dads point and the point of this presentation, about being better off to have left.It's beautiful island to visit though if you can separate yourself from the social aspect.
Unfortunately, the US is now headed down this path.
The US has its own set of problems and its own entrenched class system that is based on how much money you have, which in turn is also heavily dependent on race. Let's also not get into its myriad of social problems, and the mass proliferation of guns everywhere.
@@jarrowmarrow The British suffer from delusions of grandeur. Desperately trying to feel relevant in a world that has overtaken them and left them behind. It’s become a very unpleasant place to live in nowadays.
@@pineapplesareyummy6352 This video is not about the US and it's not about guns, so not sure why you'd even bring that up here other than that you're annoyed anyone from the US would dare critique anything about the UK. All countries have problems and people from multiple countries here, not just the US, have commented about the class issue.
Also a confidence problem. Im working class and find the middle classes are naturally more confident sometimes irritably so.yes there is snobbery throughout all classes
Perhaps also an anxiety problem? I'm not British, but did postgrad studies in Bristol and it seemed to me that sometimes brits would sometimes be more relaxed interacting with me than amongst each other.
I better not post too many comments on this page because I totally disagree with what most people believe about the class system in the UK.
@@ajs41 I think you don't see it.. Are you not british.. if you weren't raised in it, how would you comprehend
In my state school, and mostly working class town (which my parents think is a rich middle class town), it seems is the working class with confidence and lord it over the middle class when they come into contact..
@@ManDa-c9fthis is the poppy thing he talks about. If someone in the working class is thinking of getting educated and moving into a better pair circle, e.g. starts using long words the working class will dump on them with "you think you're better than us" and they lose their social standing and support network
I have no idea how the algorithm chose this video, but thanks. Very interesting take. I live in the U.S. and we have our own class/race issues. Even north vs south issues.
My take is, define who you are and don’t let anyone tell you differently. Peace and blessings to you all.
The way you describe the British lower class knowing their lack of opportunities is exactly how Black American people live when they grow up in poor, disenfranchised communities whose members are regularly imprisoned, schools are terribly underfunded, and drug addiction is pervasive. Many white Americans and even Black people who immigrate to the US from other countries believe Black Americans who say that the country actively works against them are self-defeating or "lazy," but the reality is that we have a similar class system that still segregates some communities (including some poor white communities in a similar way) and creates and maintains conditions that keep people culturally defeated, aware that they are not equal and would have to win the lottery to gain equal opportunities and so, yes, they become "self-defeating" in the sense of accepting the systems that work against them, but they're not really self-defeating; they live in different conditions than the majority of American people do, and there are both institutional and psychological forces that maintain their communities' conditions. As a person in the US, I can only say that British people at least seem more honest about their class system's unfairness than we are here.
Based whitey. America is still better off with classism though
It is no better when you are whyte & poor
Actually it is way worse
The system has welfare for blacks
Try getting some if you are whyte😂😂😂
You whyte & poor you f'd
An Elephant in the Room is the education system with the dual streams of public (aka private schools) and the state sector. Until everyone receives the same education, you’re never going to get near to equality and a classless society, without social barriers.
Not many working classes wanted education at all. They didn't do any school work, that was for middle class puftas, and some working class nerds who were losers...
If you wish to make the middle class resent and view the working class with unquantifiable disgust, please, do send them to state schools, where they will learn that the working class indeed are nothing but the petty and envious architects of their own misery.
@@BluntofHwicce fucking hell yeah.. shit
Can you attend a private school if you can come up with the money?
@@ManDa-c9f working class don't need education, they need to learn their place
i'm working class and even i understand that
« The UK is the most unequal country in Europe » (study by Oxford University Professor Danny Dorling)
Utter bollocks. There are class systems in every European country.
@@28pbtkh23 Not in the same way. Monarchy literally makes people buy into being "better" than others in some key ways...republics don't have for example.
And strangely we keep voting to keep it that way.
@@28pbtkh23No way. England has an unattainable upper class and nobility that still hold money and power in a way the rest of Europe can only dream of.
And yet, millions of people from around the world want to live in that "most unequal country in Europe". Yet, most of the native Brits reminiscent about the "good old Victorian days" and "the nation of servants" when they were literally slaves to the rich, when kids as young as 6 were working dangerous jobs, when millions could not even afford a pair of shoes. Strange, huh? Britain is know not just for social class system. The British also love to indulge in wailing about their social class gap and feeling sorry for themselves. It's the same old story: poor little us, the fat cats are not allowing to do better. That- and not the social class itself- is keeping people miserable.
After 19 years living in the UK I have come to the conclusion that the UK is not really a modern country, it is in fact a pre-modern country. One where the medieval class system, with its feudal forms, is still intact, and one where the modern notion of separation between state and citizenry has not become a reality culturally let alone practically.
This separation in Europe was the result of the French revolution, which as we know did not touch Britain, unfortunately for this country.
As subjects, the Brits still identify as passive parts of the State (or call it also country if you like). Hence the cultural and social stalemate that the UK remains under forever and ever.
yeah, prime minister is king's son.
or is he?
rishi too. so is liz. she's queen's daughter actually .
It’s a stalemate state.
The irony is a similar situation also persists in supposedly more modern republics. The titles are gone but the attitude remains.
@@ivok9846 this is precisely the ignorance that holds the UK back.
@@Boababa-fn3mr evidently you haven't lived in modern European republics.
I saw a documentary that claimed that most of downtown London is owned by one man, the Duke of Westminster. Everyone in the center of London has to lease from him, including hospitals and govt buildings, because he refuses to sell. That would be like saying all of Manhattan is owned by one man whose family got it 400 years ago. Most countries have laws that prevent that from happening.
It’s true
Sad. My husband went to college there in the 90s and decided not to stay there and is now happy, successful and thriving here in the USA. i hope that things change for the better for everyone. 😊
I grew up in a working class area and went to a comprehensive school followed by a technical college where I got my A Levels. I got good enough grades to go to Edinburgh University. This was at the height of the Thatcher era and I really thought class didn't matter any more. How naive I was! Getting good grades and going to a good university doesn't insulate you from snobbery. It just makes you an 'upstart'. If you are from a 'down at heel' background, there is immense pressure to try to pretend to be other than who you are in order to fit in. There were several bizarre social contradictions I observed during my time at Edinburgh. Scots often claimed to be less class-conscious than "the English", but this was patently not true, at least not in Edinburgh. Many of my very middle class classmates were extremely left-wing but even back then I felt it was mostly performative and only skin deep.
I moved to New Zealand in 2001.
It's so interesting (and dismaying) to hear someone talk about this in modern Britain. I left the UK in 1982, I have often talked to my American wife about the problem of the British class system. She thought I was being hyperbolic or just imagining it, because it really is such a hard topic to describe unless you have lived it. Even then you are only living in your part of the system. In Glasgow where I grew up you had the added problem of what religion you were, so the first question would always be ''what school did you go to''.
Having left the UK and my working-class roots, my life, attitudes and experiences have changed me. That is why I know I can never return to the UK or be accepted back into fold.
I had a first hand experience with this British social more of "know your place" here in the US. I was working as an exterminator/ pest control tech and servicing some multi million dollar condos on Rittenhouse Square which is in Philadelphia PA. The property manager was an older British man and he took me to a resident's condo that had a mouse problem. I had some banter with the resident about the possible sources of the mice and the property manager looked at me as if I "should be seen and not heard". I just thought he was an elitist putz at the time. Quite a long time later I read about this aspect of British "Know Your Place", and it instantly resonated with me in relation to this British property manager. Of course, those social constraints don't apply here in the US and his behavior really stood out to me at the time as rude and condescending. I feel for you Brits who have to live under and endure this backwards and smothering class system.
France gave a very good exemple on how to deal with an upper class full of themselves.
but we have very few people in tv national network with an accent from southwest, southeast, east, north .... only the average Parisian accent . some are still more equals.
@@jeanmarc5303 Absolutely not true. Former French Prime Minister Jean Casteix speaks with a VERY VERY STRONG South West accent.... François Mitterand was from Charentes. Many, many high calibre people in all French history came from / are from French regions. You clearly don't know what you are talking about. Napoleon was from Corsica and spoke French with a strong Corsican accent ! The French don't care about social class and accents.
@@garnray8568 sorry, I didn't see good old Napo on tv .
France (socialist & bureaucratic) has better upward mobility than the US. WTF ???
I am speaking about the french revolution, they set na example the rest of Europe should have followed.
As an American I don’t understand why because someone’s great great grandfather was given a title they are entitled to near worship. The descendants of the signers of the US Constitution are not well-know nor revered.
Look up 'The Social Registry'. In the 'South' look up 'cotillion culture'. You also have certain fraternities in certain colleges that are still 'worshiped' and revered.
In New England, we know the Mayflower descendants, and they are definitely revered.
@@BB-nr3sm But that's a very localized situation. If you went to Alabama or Montana no one would care about Mayflower descendants. It doesn't appear to be that way in the UK. Granted, America is much larger though so that could be part of it.
Of the 102 passengers and crew of the Mayflower, there are between 30 and 35 million descendants. So far to many for there to be an American aristocracy.
@@Ecojock Nobody gives a "F" about that stuff except the moms pushing their kids into it. Everyone else yawns at it.
This was a very interesting and well thought out synopsis. Sometimes I think that you need to be from outside the UK to really appreciate how harmful and pervasive the class system is in the UK. My father was born to a working class mother from Lambeth and an upper-middle class man who met her on a bus. His family had bettered themselves through the 19th century until they were well and truly middle class. He was a major in the First World War. When my father was born in 1936 out of wedlock, he refused to marry her (he was around 20 years her senior) until he was sure that the child would survive. He treated his wife like dirt, visiting her once a week. My father used to tell me how his mother had plastic flowers (plastic I tell you!) in the hallway like this was shameful. That mixture of having parents from different classes really messed with my dad's childhood. I heard that his dad used to ignore his aunts on his mother's side if he saw them on the street. My dad went to a public school (that means an exclusive private school in the UK) where he was chronically bullied (I suspect because they knew his mum was working class) and that had a lifelong effect on him.
oh god, that's sort of like my life as a millenial but more extreme. It just ruined me.
It really shows how cruel people can be. Just because somebody is a different class, doesn't make them any better or worse a person. It is, how it is. Your grandfather should have been more wise and not had relationships with women of a lower class if he thought the working classes were that bad. The same for your grandmother should have stayed away from a man like that as it's not worth being treated badly like that and having contempt for someone. It's bad energy.
That's just sickening but thanks for sharing.
@@Lexis001 There’s more. My dad’s dad had a woman he had a long running relationship with that predated his marriage to my grandmother. This lady was his de facto wife and a similar age to him. They had a child together in around 1914. Anyway - this first “wife” died first and was buried. Then my father’s dad died a few years later and was buried in the same plot. When my dad’s mum died a year later, my dad buried her on top. So my dad’s dad was sandwiched between the two women in his life - but in death.
@@alan-the-maths-tutor What a story!
The greatest trick the upper class ever pulled was convincing the lower classes that taking on a mortgage made them "homeowners." With this clever sleight of hand, many people suddenly felt they'd climbed a rung on the social ladder, proudly wearing the title of "middle-class homeowner" and accepting the class system for granted. All the while, they're essentially renting from the bank, but with the added bonus of a 30-year payment plan!
spot on! how no one sees this is beyond me
Meet your strawman
Void ab initio ...All mortgages FRAUD
But homeownership and home value appreciation is probably the only way most people will change class.
Maggie believed if the lower classes owned their council house their less likely to strike.
The British Class system, or as I prefer to call it, the British Basket Case System
Caste system
Never heard of underclass. I guess that fits my background as i considered it was, for lack of a better term, dole class.
I remember people treating me like a weirdo when i wasn't interested in their interests, say football and lager, and repeatedly being asked "why would you want to do that" in a disparaging way. I don't remember any peer asking genuinely (always felt like being setup for an insult) but i do remember a couple teachers and air cadet officers showing a genuine interest.
When i went to uni (Exeter) i first experienced middle and upper class people. Some were incredibly friendly and invited me to their estates to stay. they opened my way to how incredibly wealthy people could be. Others took the piss relentlessly about my ignorance to things about anything that cost a bit of money. Some of it was clearly in jest but sometimes it was meant to hurt you.
This is what I find so frustrating in my career. If you aren't into typical wealthy hobbies like golfing or skiing you're literally looked at as if you're an alien and everyone is no longer interested in a conversation with you. These are such small wealth indicators that really push people apart socially, it's insidious. My family moved to the UK when I was little and only when I go travelling in Europe do I feel a sense of relief, that people would be happy to talk to me and not look down on me for things like eating open top sandwiches, not following expensive sport hobbies, having basic non-branded shoes...
from a foreigner's stand point this was very informative. i am Mauritanian(the last country in the world to "abolish" slavery, west Africa) the worse social organisation backed up by the "religion of peace" where 15% of the population(light skin arabs-berbers) crushes in every aspect the 85%(indigenous africans) thank you
Wdym religion of peace?? Do you believe in Ancient Egyptian Paganism or SMTH?
@@LordGeneralOHara yes iam a kaffir
@@KadduCheikhAntaYikes the K word is such a racist term in Southern Africa.
Duke/Duchess: The highest rank in British peerage, typically ruling large estates and having considerable influence historically. Dukes are addressed as "Your Grace."
Marquess/Marchioness: One step below a Duke, Marquesses historically controlled large regions on the borderlands of the kingdom.
Earl/Countess: Equivalent to a "Count" in other European countries, Earls were responsible for counties or regions.
Viscount/Viscountess: Below an Earl, Viscounts usually played a role in overseeing judicial matters in a region.
Baron/Baroness: The lowest rank in the peerage, yet still part of the nobility. Many Barons historically owned large estates.
This rule set od different forms of address for different people is something I can’t abide. The king or a duchess or a baron all put their pants on one leg at a time, just like me. You may call it etiquette, but it’s not the same as good manners. I was taught that the purpose of good manners is to create mutual respect in a gathering or conversation, and to make people comfortable. Having to remember someone’s fictional superiority is the opposite of mutual respect discomfort is intended. I’d be kicked out of any function that included someone who needed to be addressed as anything other than ma’am or sir.
@@ml_haskell3854are you American? Americans of a certain background place a premium on good manners but may not even understand what the word deference means. That is what you are describing.
Having lived in both US and UK, I can tell you there is a huge difference in people’s attitudes. Subtle, but there.
No mention of the King????
Robber Barons descended from the Normans. The problem is England had only 1 period without a king (The English Civil War) the restoration of the monarchy has kept the working classes subdued and docile, the fish rots from the head down. I thin k if you got rid of them you'd find quickly a very different society, convinced of that.
Fancy names ways of talking to for what are in reality parasites!
What a brilliant summation.. Keep speaking the truth!
You're a legend mate! It's like finding a soul mate brother from another mum! 🙂
Truly inspirational, thank you 👍
In the US we not only do not have a caste system like this, we hold open contempt for it. The idea of being permanently stuck (willingly) in a caste is completely alien to us.
In fact, it's pretty much the opposite. You are expected to be ambitious. You are expected not to be satisfied with your current station. If you are not ambitions, you will be seen as a failure or a loser. If you are content with your lot in life, a lot of other Americans will criticize you for it. It's not American to do that. If you are successful (either through your own efforts or otherwise), you have to guard your success...because there are other Americans below you that will happily cannibalize you to their own benefit.
In a way, both attitudes seem unhealthy. It's bad to be 'put in your place' and accept your lowely level. At the same time, I can't imagine it's good to feel unshamed, or as a failure for not getting ahead in life, as a lot of that is beyond your control.
@@skycloud4802 - Oh, I agree. I'm not defending the American system. Just explaining it. It's not as bad as it was in the 80s, but it's still like that. Status is fluid in America...you can be born rich and fall into poverty. And if you do, you will not retain any of your "rich" status. Nobody is going to care that you came from a rich family, or what your last name is. If you try to name drop, you'll be seen as pretentious/needy/deluded, and likely mocked.
And it is completely independent of income level. If you re poor, you are expected to work towards not being poor. If you are middle class, you are expected to work towards being rich. If you are rich, you are expected to work towards being richer.
This is a really interesting topic, not because you are explaining UK social class, but that a social class system still exists in many developed countries. It could be because of the age of countries, for Europe over thousands of years , different groups settling in the areas. In the U.S. that didn’t happen, so there really isn’t a class system here. It is also interesting that people don’t easily break out of those class systems….when there are so many opportunities to do so.
I come from underclass background, and hope to move up to be an honest working class. My struggle is that I have no formal qualifications and several mental health issues that I'm working through. I gravitate towards minimalism to ease the financial burden.
Wishing you good luck from Belgium!
hey man - thanks for the video
Just watching this now makes me realise my hesitation to socialise with other Brits abroad. I used to live in Vietnam and before accepting a job there, I knew I would be working in a team of mostly Brits, and I remember being really hesitant about it ... I now realise that I was basically dreadding classist bullying ... and yep! that's exactly what happened. Sure I got bullied a bit, but I also didn't like seeing other people be treated differently simply because of their class and where they were from in the UK. It is certainly one of the things I despise the most about the UK.
Too much. Pathetic!
@@FHi349 I wasn't talking to you
A veritable caste system.
kids from private schools go straight to CEO with no experience in the UK, ive never seen a toff work anywhere else
It's also like that in South Africa
@@TshepoKotelo an interesting point about SA. Would you say there is a class system over there?
@@williamswayuk Yes, if you're white and come from a rich family then it's much easier to get a job than someone who is white (or any other race) and doesn't come from a rich family, even if the other person (who could also be white or another race but doesn't come from a rich family) is more competent or deserving. It's not racism (because there are plenty of white people who don't benefit from this at all) but it's classism. The richest white people in South Africa come from wealthy families and the richest non-whites in South Africa don't (they're self-made).
That’s only true for the Eaton, harrow lot. There are more companies than private schools, plenty of people work hard to get a top spot. But the majority do happen to have gone to private school
Have you ever worked for a slug who came from no where and rose to the top. No manners, etiquette or anything else.
The English upper class has many things in common with the Spanish upper class, both consider themselves different from their own people. The English upper class considers itself descended from the Normans of William the Conqueror and the Spanish from the Visigoths who started the Reconquista. Both try to differentiate themselves from their people as much as possible, they even have a different accent. In Spain, the upper class of Madrid is differentiated by its accent, which also occurs with the English upper class. However, the English and Spanish upper classes opted for different strategies to differentiate themselves from the emerging bourgeoisie, the English upper class chose elitism, with schools and universities "only" for the elites and the appearance of the dandy phenomenon. The Spanish upper class opted for populism, adopting tastes and customs of the lower classes, bullfighting, flamenco,..., which were only acceptable if performed by the aristocracy but not by the bourgeoisie. Until relatively recent times, only aristocrats and the lower classes went to flamenco clubs. A countess could spend the night in a flamenco club and this was considered a sign of closeness to the people, whereas if a bourgeois woman did so, she was considered a miscreant. This strategy of the Spanish aristocracy was very successful because it meant that the lower Spanish classes saw the aristocracy as closer than the bourgeois of the middle classes.
I'm an American who went to the university of surrey ... you have to realize that most Americans idolize England. After having spent waaay too much time in England... all of that envy was wrung out of me fast. To see grown men in the afternoon drunk waiting for the pubs to reopen.... and the list starts. This is the first time in forever that anyone opened up and talked about this ... keep it up.... it's super important!
... also regarding brexit ... of course it was going to happen. The Brits hate Deutschland .... but I've learned that they truly despise the french.
@@51bpm-
I agree, my view is that some Brits hate the french because they were sort of colonised/conquered and mistreated by the french (specifically the Norman’s from france) throughout English history,
actually some Brits say that the entrenched feudalistic class system in England was introduced or brought over by the Norman’s,
And they hate Germans because of ww2 and maybe because some feel jealous of Germans?!
Um. Neither I nor anyone I know idolizes England. In fact I hate the limey cunts.
"know you place", someone once pointed out that if you ever see anyone who's working class talking to an upper-class person there's a kind of baked in deference. A touch of the forlock, "yes sir, no sir" kind of thing. The upper-classes have an arrogant self-confidence that's baked into their psyche from birth, they can walk into rooms and just dominate everything 'cos they've had a this air of self-confidence instilled in them from birth that they are the natural born leaders of the country.
I'm Gen-X, born in the East End of London, left school at 17, worked my arse off as an IT techie for 35 years and I've got "new money", a nice house, fat pensions, all that but I'm still that snotty, working class scumbag from the East End. I've worked in City wealth management companies where you meet a lot of upper middle-class and upper-class, very self-confident, high educated people. They treat you with respect so long you remember your place, you're a working class oik, you're good at engineering and machines ( IT in this case) a modern grease-monkey, keep the machines running, touch of the forlock and keep out of sight. I know my place and I don't give a shit.
My parents told me from birth that life is shit but while the system tries to screw you, then you screw it back. My mum told me at age 8 that the school system is a brainwashing factory, that they only teach you enough to allow you to work as a wage-slave for your whole life, so I know what other kids didn't. I hate school 'cos they wouldn't work fast enough, lessons were slow and boring, they'd only teach you by rote, I wanted to learn, learn faster and faster and more inetesting stuff, so I learned on my own what I needed to know to get the job I wanted in the late 1980s. Now I know why schools are shit, they need to you be barely useful, know your place, work your arse off until you drop dead on the factory floor at 85. Nah, I'm working as long as need to get what I need, then I'm out, about 5-10 year max now for me.
You are living the American dream. Americans might be broke as s**t but do not have forelocks to tug.
Douglas Murray said the same thing when referring to how encouraging Americans were when starting something new/challenging whereras the UK its meet with cynicism or outright hatred. Stemming from a mindset that amounts to stay on your place or who do you think you are. And Douglas is very patriotic but couldn't help notice this flaw
Surely that’s the same everywhere to an extent? It’s a human thing? That’s my opinion, your always gonna get jealous and spiteful people
@@biggiesmalls3096 Having lived in several European and Asian countries, I can tell you that it is most pronounced among the British.
@biggiesmalls3096. As a foreigner who has lived in the UK many years, there are small minded people everywhere, but the venom and hatred underneath is unique to the UK.
Creativity is easily squashed here and murray shd know all about that with his grift for culture wars.
Douglas Murray is a complete up-himself bell end, who has a backwards view of the world Wouldn't trust his analysis at all.
I learnt one thing that changed my mind to everything. The system locks you in and your class matters. The upper and elite make money from all middle, working and lower class in every way. The more you are locked into debt the more they can control you. You see this in all the lower classes spend their money on things commercialism. You are sold from a kid that things, houses, cars, clothes your status matters.
It matters to the elite and rich because they are making money off you and you will be paying it back all your life but never moving up in wealth.
The rich and upper class and elites save their money and buy assets. Then their asserts make them money. Passive income. But the mega rich are always looking to take any money they can off the lower classes. Think banks, credit cards, utility companies that are tied to rich people’s pension funds. Pay day loans, food prices, all of it owned by elite rich people. Then there are groups who work on keeping that power and wealth in this tiny group. That’s the government’s and corparations.
Further to this what’s the answer. Well my opinion don’t buy into it all the shit of you need all that stuff. I would say get some skills online things you can teach English and such then travel with a view to owning nothing but having multiple income streams that gives you option to build assets. Buying a house working in a job that will probably dissolve and going shopping all the time will not keep you happy.
Culture of alcoholism, and the mentality of living from the government. Lack of interest in improvement.
One of the best videos explaining the class system from real experience. Honest, straight to the point. Well done.
But there are connections between working class and upper class. These groups doesn’t have to put on a facade (they don’t care about trends or showing signs of success) and they often interact as employee and employer or neighbours.
The worst group by far is the middle class. They detest everyone, including themselves.
Absolutely spot on I am working class my closest friends are working class made good millionaires real diamonds makes me laugh the looking down they get from the middle class snobs who are normally in debt up to their eyeballs competing.
They also share an honesty about their prejudices - sexism, racism .....
Upper middle class, I would say - agree.
100%
The middle class are horrendously patronizing and hypocritical in their treatment of and attitudes towards working class people.
Those who have made it to the actual upper classes tend to be too busy furthering themselves to bother with this garbage.
@@oldishandwoke-ish1181 "their prejudices" is pretty othering language for somebody who's meant to be woke... or is it ok for you to be prejudiced against working class people and label us as bigots because you have a Guardian article about how it's ok to be prejudiced when YOU lot do it? 🤡
Entering UK from any European country (central, western or eastern) classes, divisions, inequality is something possible to notice almost immediately. Okay, there are richer and and poorer people everywhere, but in other European countries people feel like they have the same value!! Not in the UK - where some people are seen as so much less than others. i.e. First thing they ask you in work is what's your post-code area or where did you go to school etc. Often only after 5min-long conversation level of respect drops drastically, like ''bye forever, don't talk to me anymore, you don't fit to my background''. In other European countries people can achieve very similar or exact things, even if they come from very different backgrounds. Nobody cares or asks you if you came from lords, dukes, or your dad is just a mechanic. It would be rude and judgmental to ask that, as well. That's why people feel more equal, more free and they have more will to change anything. In UK lower class feels like they cannot do or achieve anything and that they don't have any power - that's very sad and medieval almost. They are just badly manipulated and excluded by some.
I've had similar conversations with people in the past whereby once they found out I am working class, the conversation stopped in it's tracks. Sad really but I'm glad how much of a snob they show themselves to be straight away so I can avoid them.
The landscape is amazing, especially at the beginning of the video.
As a child (1968-1978) I lived next door to a British immigrant family in US. This family started a construction business and became quite wealthy. They were able to move from our middle class neighborhood to a very upper class neighborhood. The kids all got into top US universities. Some time after this I ran into the matriarch of this family and she told me that they NEVER could have achieved this success in the UK due to the class system in place. If I remember they were from a working class situation in Birmingham.
I work with foreigners from all over the western world.
The ones with the most judgemental attitudes have always been the Brits. If you're British and reading this, please remember the centre of the Earth is not an island.
Islands are way better than some big island with Yankees and Over-Nationals
That is wrong, the centre of the Earth is an island. It's just not Britain. It's Long Island.
Between rich and poor, we all eat and shit the same.
We all eat and shit the same, but the rich piss on the poor unfortunately.
The rich eat top quality and healthy food. The poor eat cheap, processed food.
This is very common in the USA also. I worked in a manufacturing facility. And the people that worked in the office side of the business acted as if they were above the blue collar people. But at the end of the day these people who worked on the office side had the exact same life.
I thought USA was supposed to not have a class system 😮
hiya, middle class spaniard immigrant in the UK :-) All the issues you describe on your video stopping class mobility happen too in Spain, same same, so I believe it's not a British thing but more of a 'European thing'. I've lived in the US for a long time and this did not happen (or it it but to a much lesser degree). Thank you for your content, after many years I'm still trying to 'navigate' your culture (which I might add is a massive cultural clash as a spaniard!). This is very informative and really helps me understand English people.
I am also Spanish 🇪🇸 and I am sorry but in Spain nobility doesn’t have as much money and power as they have in UK. Also buying a house or land in Spain is easier. And Spain doesn’t have “the unattainable class system “ that England 🏴 has.
It doesn't happen in the USA as much because it's a far more Tribal Society and power/influence has always been situated in the sword and religion- US citizen.
One of the modern times problems we don't talk about enough. I'm an outsider, but it's not difficult to spot the tension among social classes in the UK. The weird thing is everyone seems to ignore it. Upper class pretends to care about others, middle class is busy proving themselves to be better, working class is always in the fighting mode against others. This isn't the case for everyone, but note something you cannot see either. Such an unsettling state. How could you be happy in an environment like this?
As an Indian it's freaking eerie just how similar our class system is!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the main difference between the Brit and Indian caste systems that in the UK being upper class gives you an advantage in any field one desires to enter, whereas in India the castes are more oriented towards certain occupations?
The class system is definitely alive and kicking in the UK, especially England. I thought it was on the wane but the Brexit divide showed it is stark. The bile and bitterness of that debate and class divide was incredible, the hatred and vindictiveness especially by many Remainers towards those who voted for Brexit was shocking. I never realised how much that divide was, and how much hatred there was. We now realise that we have a certain class who control things, jobs, power, the media, and politics, and if challenged will stop at nothing to defend their interests. So deep, so entrenched so visceral and real.
I remember coming to the UK and being taken for the upper class. People were treating me somehow differently. I thought it was because i was a foreigner. But they all just assumed i was from an upper class family judging by my accent. I was a young linguist scholar who learned English from the tapes. The Queens speeches, BBC presenters😅
"You're a traitor to your roots"
Jesus, thats a very toxic mentality
There was a bit of that when I moved out of the suburbs of my Northern Town. I had just started University and my mother moved away from the area where I was raised, whenever I returned to that Northern Town and bumped into people I knew there was unfriendly hostility towards me - it's not as if they gave a damn about me (my so called working class friends) after we all left school at 16, it was just like crickets at night once we all left school, like as if our friendships never mattered and this was the late 1980s. Each man for himself then it was, so be it.
@@RolandoRatas - they were probably still smarting over Thatcherism and Tory government.
If you think about it. It’s the same mentality that exists in hoods in the United States and the United Kingdom. ‘How you gonna leave your people behind’.
@@shoazdon7000 oh yes, Im American and many of the things Olly is saying has an American version as well. Fanatic churches also play a big role here in keeping people down.
I've lost count of the amount of times I've been called a traitor or some variant. For going to university, for moving to a nicer area. When I would bring a girl home from a nice upbringing I would always be on edge, waiting for someone to say something 😂 My grandparents who could literally afford a mortgage, never got one and stayed in a council house because "they're working class, always have been".
German factory of business managers speak of all the workers at every level as "Mitarbeiter", or "colleague." They do not seem to look down on the lower class or working class.
They understand that labor is a social contract, not a business deal.
This is quite new. 30 years ago there existed "arbeiter= workers" and "angestellte=employees" .
Don't know who was pushing to flatten that out , workers are obviously employed
and employees do some work .
Britain isn't miserable because of the class system - Its miserable because its in the middle of an identity crisis. Its gone from being the world's greatest empire, and global cultural center of reference to a struggling little grey damp country on the margins of Europe in less than century & its people can't come to terms with it. Loss of empire, loss of global power and relevance, delusions of grandeur, slowness to adapt to the changing world, lack of significant natural resources, undereducated, unproductive workforce, lack of modern homegrown industries - with mediocre politicians and Brexit as a further catalyst in the past decade. Add to that some of the worst weather in the world and you have a truly awful country that would drive anyone without money and options to depression or worse