A cafetier, posh tea, Fair Trade chocolate and an iPhone. ‘Show me what symbolises being middle class nowadays’, I ask focus group members. The most popular item? A cafetiere. ‘Maybe I’m a snob but I like fresh coffee, I won’t have instant.’ Others produce similar small tokens of a middle-class mindset: Twinings tea, Green and Black’s chocolate, an iPhone.
In BritainThinks’ new survey, Speaking Middle English, 71 per cent now define themselves as middle class. That represents a massive 33.6 million votes. And those 33.6 million people are more interested in politics (79 per cent compared with 64 per cent of working-class identifiers) and, importantly, more likely to turn out and vote (69 per cent compared with 55 per cent of the working class). They are also more likely to be ‘floating’ voters – nearly one in five – and more likely to be politically active: they are twice as likely to be members of a political party, at five per cent, than those who identify as working class.
This group of self-defined middle class is much larger than that generated by the ‘objective’ ABC1 groupings. These categories comprise just over half of the population, with skilled manual workers, shopworkers and the unemployed (C2DE social class) described as ‘working class’. But, as the academic Marshall McLuhan observed, perception is reality. And perceptions have changed dramatically in the past 20 years.
In the 1990s, when asked the same class question, people in focus groups would shrink from placing themselves in the middle. It was what they aimed to become, but not what they were. Back then, C1C2 voters described their aspiration as ‘bettering themselves’ compared with their working-class parents.
Through the two decades that followed, many did just that. They became the first generation in their families to own their homes, to send their children to university and to go abroad on holiday.
Just 21 per cent now believe that class is contingent on occupation. Other factors might include education, our parents’ class, the kind of home we live in, our accent and the clothes we wear. But focus groups reveal a more subtle qualification suggested by that cafetiere – our social class is, at least in part, determined by the small everyday choices that we make about how we live.
BritainThinks’ survey found the middle classes are better off than the working classes, with an average household income of £12,000 per year or more, and that they are twice as likely to have a personal pension or savings greater than one month’s salary. They are three times more likely to own their home. People who define themselves as working class are almost twice as likely to agree that ‘it is a real struggle to make money last till the end of the month’, or that ‘it would be a big financial problem for me if I had to replace a large item such as my fridge.’
But being middle class is about much more than being more affluent. It means a different outlook. People who call themselves middle class are more confident and optimistic about the future, while working-class people are more likely to see work as a means to an end and more likely to believe government doesn’t do enough for people like them.
Our survey is, though, clear that the 71 per cent ‘middle class’ are not a homogenous group, but fall into six distinctive segments. Two of the groups, Bargain Hunters and Squeezed Strugglers, are feeling the pinch. The latter are more likely to be female and single parents. They are worried about the future in general and finances in particular. Bargain Hunters are also more likely to be women. They agree strongly that ‘I am always on the hunt for a bargain’ and that ‘I’d rather take on debt than cut back on spending’.
Other groups, though, are more comfortably off. Comfortable Greens are relatively wealthy, interested in foreign affairs and active in their community. They try to buy ethical and environmentally friendly goods, and belong to the National Trust. Urban Networkers are young, often single, and, as the name suggests, urban. They are more likely to have middle-class parents and believe that fulfilling their career potential is really important.
Deserving Downtimers are the most affluent group. Older, often retired, they have substantial savings, take more foreign holidays, and expect their children to be middle class like them. The final group, Daily Mail Disciplinarians, is also older and male. These are most likely to believe that Britain is a ‘soft touch for immigrants’ and least likely to agree that ‘gay people should have the same rights as heterosexuals’.
Right now, Labour wins with only one of the groups: the smallest one, Squeezed Strugglers. Two of the groups, Deserving Downtimers and Daily Mail Disciplinarians, seem out of reach as both give the Conservatives a share of the vote of over 50 per cent. The remaining three groups are more achievable for Labour, with a quarter to two-fifths of non-Labour voters here prepared to reconsider.
Bargain Hunters are probably the lowest hanging fruit of these three. Their younger profile matches Labour’s strongest demographics. Often grappling with significant debt, they have the most in common with Squeezed Strugglers and are unhappy with the government. The economy is key to them and Labour’s ‘squeezed middle’ appeal will resonate, as will the idea behind Ed Miliband’s ‘British promise’; they are anxious about their children being able to match their current lifestyle. It should be of concern that Labour is not yet winning with this group.
Comfortable Greens are less driven by money and more motivated by what is happening in their community, concern for the environment and an altruistic anxiety about young people. They may well have voted Liberal Democrat in the past but are disillusioned with the government and Nick Clegg in particular.
Urban Networkers pose a different challenge. Confident and ambitious, they are more trusting of consumer brands than they are of politics. Optimistic about the future but time-poor, especially if they have young families, connecting with them will be about really demonstrating an understanding of their busy lives.
Labour cannot be confident of electoral success without winning more of the middle-class vote. Its performance is currently poor. As it embarks on the most far-reaching policy review since the 1990s the party must show that it understands how, as its target voters’ self-perceptions have transformed, so have their lives, and their aspirations.
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