CLASS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Victor BOURIAUD, Adrian CARAGEA

“Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy, Sibiu,
vbouriaud@gmail.com, carageaadrian90@gmail.com
Scientific coordinator: Assist. Prof. Brânduşa-Oana NICULESCU PhD

ABSTRACT
In the United Kingdom, the class system operates with the
following seven classes: the elite, the established middle
class, technical middle class, new affluent workers,
traditional working class, emergent service sector and
precariat. At the top of the pecking order stand the first,
represented by the high ranking nobility, holding the
hereditary titles, wealth and privileges. The other six classes
form the bigger Middle and Working Class. Those who have
been viewed as “white collars”, the Middle Classes, having
access to higher education, were workers living in privately
owned suburban homes, while those from the last classes, the
Working Classes, were unlikely to have access to higher
education and were traditionally described as hard-working,
born into families based upon unskilled labour and without
any social privilege. The paper aims to reveal how the class
system worked and its impact on the United Kingdom.

Keywords: class system, higher education, hierarchy, privileges.

INTRODUCTION
In 2 April 2013, a survey surfaced, changing the perspective over the social classes in the United
Kingdom. The well-known three traditional classes - upper, middle and working - were no longer
enough to comprise and embrace UK’s enduring obsession. The Great British Class Survey
emerged dividing the population of the UK into seven social classes. Researchers from the six
universities involved in the survey used economic, cultural and social indicators to define the
new partition of the population. Economic indicator refers to income and assets; the amount of
cultural interests and activities designates the cultural capital, while the social one is set out by
the quantity and social status of their family, friends, as well as personal and business contacts.
The survey was conducted in 2011 by BBC on 161,000 residents of the UK, developed in
colaboration with academic experts from the six universities (London School of Economics,
University of Manchester, University of York, University of Bergen, University Paris Descartes,
City University London) and finally published in the journal Sociology.
1. Elite Class
Members of the Elite Class, representing only 6% of the population of the United Kingdom, are
the wealthiest and most privileged in the UK. They have extensive social contacts, they are
educated at private schools and top universities, have an average annual savings of over 140,000
pounds and enjoy high cultural activities such as going to the opera and listening to classical
music. According to the survey, they have a large spectre of occupations such as chief executive
officers, marketing and sales directors, financial managers, judges and barristers, higher
education teachers, doctors, advertising and public relations directors, IT and telecommunications
directors, functional managers and directors.