social classes

A system for classifying the population according to social status. According to the classification issued by the UK Office for National Statistics, there are seven classes for those in work and an eighth class for those on benefit:

• 1A — Large employers, senior managers, senior police and service officers, etc. ;

• 1B — Professional people, including teachers, airline pilots, etc. ;

• 2 — Journalists, nurses, actors, lower managers, NCOs, etc. ;

• 3 — Professional sportspeople, secretaries, etc. ;

• 4 — Small employers and the nonprofessional self-employed (e. g. plumbers);

• 5 — Skilled workers, train drivers, foremen, etc. ;

• 6 — Caretakers, gardeners, assembly-line workers, etc. ;

• 7 — Cleaners, dockers, road workers, etc. ;

• 8 — The long-term unemployed and the sick.