The problem with trying to define class | Letters

2026-02-10 - 17:05

Defining class for the purpose of legislation is a non-starter, writes Michael Chapman. Plus a letter from Patrick Yarker Further to your editorial on class becoming a legally protected characteristic (30 January), I note a letter from an unnamed solicitor (Letters, 5 February) who says she is “definitely working class”, but does not explain how she knows that. She admits there is a problem in defining what it is so, I assume, she has her own personalised definition. And therein lies the problem. Everyone has their own idea of what they mean by class. Accent, postcode, housing tenure, income, job type – all relating either to oneself or to one’s parents. I have even been told it relates to grandparents’ jobs. Continue reading...