feature: middle britain

Who’s who in Middle Britain: Bargain hunters Urban networkers

— More likely to read the Daily Mail, — Volunteer at kids’ school
Your quick guide eat fast food — Watch US drama
— See themselves as bottom and the X-Factor
income levels — Brands: Apple, Costa,
— Brands: eBay, Muller, Pizza Express, Sky
8.2 not John Lewis or Sainsbury
24.3 Deserving downtimer
11.3 Daily Mail disciplinarians — More likely to vote Conservative
— Most likely segment to read — Like gardening and eating out
the Daily Mail, more likely to read — Brands: John Lewis, Radio 4,
the Daily Telegraph not Asda or EasyJet
— Less likely to volunteer
— Brands: BA, Cadbury, Sainsbury, Squeezed strugglers
17.5 — Less likely to read a newspaper,
not Channel 4
20.9 more likely to watch soaps
Comfortable greens — More likely to vote Labour
— Watch Antiques Roadshow than other segments
17.8 and Strictly Come Dancing — Brands: Tesco, Co-op, ITV
— More likely to vote but admire people who shop
Liberal Democrat at John Lewis
— Brands: National Trust, Waitrose,
% of middle class not Sky or Coca-Cola

to own their home. People who define themselves as working class are economy is key to them and Labour’s ‘squeezed middle’ appeal will
almost twice as likely to agree that ‘it is a real struggle to make money last resonate, as will the idea behind Ed Miliband’s ‘British promise’; they
till the end of the month’, or that ‘it would be a big financial problem for are anxious about their children
me if I had to replace a large item such as my fridge.’ It should be of being able to match their current
But being middle class is about much more than being more affluent. lifestyle. It should be of concern
It means a different outlook. People who call themselves middle class concern that that Labour is not yet winning
are more confident and optimistic about the future, while working-class Labour is not yet with this group.
people are more likely to see work as a means to an end and more likely winning with Comfortable Greens are

The mind of the middle

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
Reconnecting with Britain’s middle classes is crucial for Labour. Deborah 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’.
Mattinson guides us through the menagerie of the modern-day middle class 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
less driven by money and more
Bargain Hunters 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

A cafetiere, 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
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
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
their career potential is really important. have transformed, so have their lives, and their aspirations.
Deserving Downtimers are the most affluent group. Older, often
retired, they have substantial savings, take more foreign holidays, and Deborah Mattinson is director of BritainThinks and author of
expect their children to be middle class like them. The final group, Talking to a Brick Wall
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 Why don’t you get debating the issues in this piece? It’s
three groups are more achievable for Labour, with a quarter to two- easy to form a Progress reading group. We’ve put together a
fifths of non-Labour voters here prepared to reconsider. short flyer to show you how and give you some pointers for
Bargain Hunters are probably the lowest hanging fruit of these your discussion. Copies are on the reverse of the address
three. Their younger profile matches Labour’s strongest demographics. sheet which came with this magazine or you can visit www.
Often grappling with significant debt, they have the most in common progressonline.org.uk/readinggroup to download more copies.
with Squeezed Strugglers and are unhappy with the government. The

22 Progress April 2011 Progress April 2011 23