The class quiz
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Film star Sir Michael Caine was born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in 1933, and retains a Cockney accent. His comment illustrates how class position in Britain is often perceived in terms of superficial things such as your appearance, the food you eat and, perhaps even more importantly, your accent. Being a Cockney (specifically, born within the sound of the bells of Bow Church in east London) remains a source of pride for Caine and many others, although the romantic past of Pearly Kings and Queens has been overtaken by the more abrasive world shown in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Today, the word ‘yob’ (‘boy’ spelled backwards) – a term for a rowdy, aggressive and/or violent young man – is a reminder of the emergence of the underclass, a social group below the working class. Living on terrible council estates known as ‘sinks’, being unemployed, dressing as ‘chavs’ and supporting racist or xenophobic politics, the underclass is a source of social anxiety.
