Posted by Peter Ceresole on December 29, 2006 at 19:05:44 from 80.177.22.49 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Class (was Coots In The North - Father/Daddy/Dad? posted by PeterH on December 29, 2006 at 11:55:39:
there appears to be a tremendous enthusiasm in the UK for dividing people into classes - C2s, D3s, or whatever.
They're properly used only in marketing, to define people by their potential for exploitation. There's a lot of money at stake, so marketroids have done the research. This is then conveniently (and lazily) used by others as a rough indication of 'class'. The laziness is what generates the enthusiasm; somebody else has already done the work. Always a winner.
But every society in every country has class divisions- it's part of human behaviour to want to categorise people, things and events. It makes it possible to handle them, otherwise it's all just stuff.
Class in the sense we're talking about it here exists and is still important. It's now largely a leftover from a time when it was cruel, pernicious and all-prevasive; it's a lot less horrible now. But it's still live and kicking. You don't feel that you are influenced by 'class'. Neither do I. We may or may not be right. But sure as hell, I characterise people in my own mind. And I know that, often as not, I'm wrong. I once got some training in this field and I know that. But I can't help it; the best I can do is not to trust my snap judgements.