IN hit comedy Keeping Up Appearances, Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced 'Bouquet', remember) devoted her every waking hour to the pursuit of a middle class existence.

Now, according to a new study looking at class in Britain, we're fast becoming an entire nation of Hyacinths, all desperate to live champagne lifestyles on beer money.

It seems more and more of us are spending beyond our means in order to climb the social ladder.

But without the salary to support such a lifestyle, we risk getting deeper and deeper in debt.

Many are using credit cards and personal loans to finance the privileges of the middle and upper classes, such as private schools, second homes, cleaners and gardeners.

Others are enjoying several foreign holidays a year and dressing expensively despite their relatively modest earnings.

Yet the same study found that Leeds has the greatest concentration of "true" middle class than any other place in the country.

So why is this? And what qualifies someone as 'middle class'?

Max Farrar, a sociologist at Leeds Metropolitan University, says the class we belong to is dictated by how much we earn, the lifestyle we lead and the people we know.

Class system

"Traditionally, the class system has been defined by economic, cultural and social capital

"The thinking goes that if you take home a certain amount of money, have a good education, visit the theatre and know the right people at the golf club then you are middle class.

"This study is a reflection of the much-vaunted Leeds success story and the regeneration that has taken place since the slump of the 1970s."

Leeds historian John Ashbee believes the sizeable middle class is a legacy of the diversity of the city's economy down the years.

He argues that the city has managed to escape major recession because there has been such a wide spread of industry and commerce here.

"If one sector has been in the doldrums then the others have kept the city going," he says. "And that has meant jobs.

"That hasn't been the case for other cities, such as Sheffield which really suffered when the steel industry foundered.

"At one time or another just about anything you could think of has been manufactured or produced in Leeds.

"It has been home to lots of engineering of all types, tailoring, mills, chemical production. At one point Leeds was the biggest manufacturer of boots, shoes and slippers.

"Printing was another big industry here and there have been plenty of big employers too. Leeds has never put all its eggs in the same basket.

"That diversity has enabled Leeds to steer clear of the big recessions – even during the Depression era of the 1920s it still kept afloat – and helped create a strong middle class."

The new-found affordability of many consumer goods – often the barometer of class in a capitalist society – has also helped bolster the middle class ranks.

"I think there is a sense in which mass consumption of what used to be seen as luxury goods carries on expanding," says Dr Paul Bagguley, a sociologist at Leeds University.

"People are routinely buying large amounts of clothing as they are relatively cheap compared to the past."

However, although the abundance of middle class households in the city can partly be explained by Leeds's resurgence, there is another factor at work.

Geographical quirks mean wealthy areas outside the city are nevertheless defined as being part of Leeds, skewing the figures.

True picture

"The areas immediately to the north and east such as Harrogate and Wetherby are extremely wealthy and on a par with the richest areas of Cheshire and some of those around London," says Paul Bagguley.

"That is bound to have an effect on studies such as these. It means they don't always give a true picture of what is happening."

Max Farrar agrees.

"There may be the illusion of prosperity but that can be partly explained by these bizarre demographic anomalies and the fact that families on low incomes are getting by on credit," he says.

"The worry is that studies such as this take the focus away from those people who are living in very difficult circumstances.

"We must not become complacent and studies such as this should be taken with a good pinch of salt.

"There is still a two-speed economy in Leeds and persistent long-term unemployment and deprivation in many pockets of the city.

"There are those who are trying to sustain a so-called middle class lifestyle on massive injections of credit and are simply creating tremendous problems for themselves and their families, especially in the current climate.

"If we set too much store by surveys such as this we risk falling into the trap of believing everything they say and doing little to address the problems that continue to exist in Leeds.

"That is the real danger."



The survey said...

Up to 15 million people have racked up debts totalling nearly £35 billion in an effort to keep up "middle class appearances".

Ten per cent of so-called middle class households earn less than £15,000 a year, well below the national average.

Four-and-a-half per cent of people are using unsecured loans to finance private schools, second homes and household staff, with an average debt of of £13,000 per person.

There was a £10,000 variation in average incomes between the middle class (£33,000) and working class (£23,000), the "upper" middle class earned almost £52,000 a year.

The "true" middle class was more likely to employ domestic help in the form of cleaners (34 per cent) and gardeners (20 per cent).

The study was carried out on behalf of financial comparison website Moneysupermarket.com