Now we are all in a class of our own as 
‘simplistic’ social divisions no longer fit

Just 39 per cent of the population fit the “simplistic” working, middle and upper class system, conventionally defined by occupation, wealth and education, the Great British Class Survey found.

The new classes – based on economic, social and cultural measures such as people’s income, savings, house value, interests and hobbies and social circle – range from the privileged ‘elite’ to the deprived ‘precariat’.

Between them are the established middle class – the second wealthiest – then the technical middle class, a small, prosperous new group with low social and cultural capital.

Next are the new affluent workers, a young, socially and culturally active class group with middling levels of economic capital; the traditional working class, who score low on capital but are not “completely deprived”; and the emergent service workers – a new, young, urban group which is relatively poor but has high social and cultural capital.

More than 160,000 people took part in the study, carried out by Fiona Devine, of Manchester University and Mike Savage, of the London School of Economics, with the help of BBC Lab UK.

Prof Devine said: “It’s what’s in the middle which is really interesting and exciting. There’s a much more fuzzy area between the traditional working and middle class.”

Bob Jeffery, a sociology lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, said it was “landmark” research that questioned old occupation-based class models.

“That has been outdated for quite a long time, since the 1970s and 80s with the collapse of traditional industry and the rise of new occupations and identities,” he said.

“People increasingly identify themselves in terms of their gender or politics – we have a lot of identities now which are competing with traditional class-based identities.”