[DoughnutHole]

Honestly the focus on financial stratification here highlights the differences between what class means in the UK and the US.

In the US class distinction is (almost) entirely down to money. If you’re rich you can buy nicer things than someone poorer and so you can be immediately sorted into a higher social class.

In the UK just because you’re rich that doesn’t make you upper class. British society is riddled with subtle dress coding, language, and social cues designed to trip people up and differentiate the nouveau riche from the real old money aristocracy.

[thruway516]

This is generally true but not entirely. The UK like most other countries is becoming more like the US (think tech tycoons, celebrities, 'influencers'). And the US has always had some pockets with similar (though less rigid) class distinctions (think WASPs and places like Martha's vineyard, parts of New England and 'old' New York, many parts of the South).

[oblio]

True, but even in the UK, I imagine that once you have the money, the next generation will be integrated, if you want to. You'll live in the right neighborhood, your kids will go to the right schools, problem solved.

It's just slower and doesn't include you directly, true.

[cjs_ac]

Oh no, 'climbing the greasy pole' takes at least three generations. The 'right neighbourhood' is itself a complicated concept, because the working and middle classes in the UK live cheek-by-jowl. I live in a street of rundown Victorian working-class houses that are so close to each other and the street that everyone has net curtains in their windows to stop passers-by from seeing in, but from my bedroom window I can see into the back gardens of the comfortable 1930s middle-class houses in the next street, which have leafy front gardens to provide privacy. As for schools, much of the middle-middle class and all of the upper-middle and upper class pay fees to educate their children at private schools, some of which charge more than a software engineer's salary in annual fees.

[DoughnutHole]

It takes many generations, really.

Having money doesn’t easily buy you a hereditary lordship. You might be able to buy a load of land but probably not a prestigious ancient estate because the families that own them would usually rather let them fall into disrepair than sell them.

Money will buy your kids a place in prestigious public (read: private) school so they can rub shoulders with upper class kids and have connections when they grow up. But those upper class friends will always know that you and your kids are really just jumped up middle class since your great great great great grandfather wasn’t the Duke of Norfolk or some such.

For reference Kate Middleton’s family are wealthy multi-millionaires, and have been wealthy going back to the 19th century. When she married Prince William the press still waxed lyrical about the fact that the Prince of Wales was marrying a “commoner”.

Really the only rock solid way to wash away the middle class stink from your kids is to marry into the real top level of the upper class.

[Loughla]

Do you know of some examples of dress, language, or social cues? Would it be possible to 'fake it' do you think?

I find it fascinating that being viewed as nuveau riche is a bad thing or 'lesser than' old money, when the money all buys the same access and privilege.

In the states we have New England waspy types that have families that go back to the mayflower or whatever. But it's pretty easy to ingrain yourself in their small society (as long as you have assloads of money), and flat out lie about your background if needed. I'm wondering if it's the same in the UK or not.

[cjs_ac]

You can't fake your way into the upper class in the UK, because they all know each other already. As for behaviour, dress and speech, the standard books are:

* Noblesse Oblige[0] Mostly about vocabulary, and very outdated (1950s)

* The English Gentleman[1] Only about aristocratic men, and comedic in style

* Class: A View from Middle England (Jilly Cooper) Very 1970s

* Watching the English[2] Not specifically about social class, but class comes up a lot.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noblesse_Oblige_(book)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_English_Gentleman

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watching_the_English

[lazide]

Nah, they know who you are and aren’t actually confused about it.

They’ll be friendly, may even invite you to things, but they aren’t confused about who is who.