So who & what is "Middle Class?"

 This question has intrigued me for for years, I wonder am I a snob?

I asume you mean in Spain 'Eye on Spain' 

If not maybe you are on the wrong web site.

 The English government recently classed everyone who was earning over £25,500 ( €30,000) as middle class which made me wonder that most Pensioners were lowere class.

But what about the ones who live in luxury in Spain with houses which if they were in the UK would be worth a fortune but on less than say £15,000 (€18,000)?

Sorry Gerry,

                                    but I for one don't care what the UK Gov does or says, I live in Spain.

It was to escape the UK Gov  that my British husband,  came to live in Spain.

So can we get back to Eye on Spain ?

Gerry, what has  class to do with money?It's all about attitude!

 I didn't say & I agree with you!

 It's all explained here.  Class system

But take note of the opening statements :

The British class system is complex. So complex that even the British don't understand it, and will spend days debating just which class they, and their ancestors, are in. But the most important thing to remember about the British class system is that it doesn't matter.

I've always believed that, within reason, a person can decide which class they belong to and it's not for someone else to tell them what they are (obviously, it would be ridiculous to call yourself 'upper class' if you're a cleaner down the pub and have no recognised upper class ancestry).  I was brought up very poor, but by my mid 20s had been to University, had a reasonable job and liked the theatre.  Some person who knew nothing about me and my past tried to tell me then that I was middle class, whilst I had a strong working class identity.  He seemed to believe that if you were educated you couldn't be working class.  Also, a lot of people who would have been traditionally defined as middle class now like to redefine themselves as working class, because, as they say, they 'work.'  The unemployed and/or those on benefits, cannot really be called working class if they have never worked and have no intention of ever working.  They have to be called something else really, and I'm not sure there is yet a commonly recognised term, so I shall name them the 'benefits class,' who subscribe to the 'benefits culture.'

In terms of Spain, I've got no idea how the classes might be defined.  Obviously there are very similar types and categories to those that exist in the UK.  It seems that the size of the respective classes or layers in society is different, as there is obviously a swollen unemployed class.  There is also a much more sizeable 'fiddling class,'  in countries like Spain, Greece and Italy, than there is in the UK.  The problem is that the fiddlers are present in all the layers of society, with it being such a corrupt country, so they put a spanner in the works when trying to classify them.

 That's right Bob, as they in the Midlands Black Country "eh mate it dow marra" It just annoyed when the higher Class Newspaper a week or two ago said that anyone over £24,500 was middle class. Perfect answer Bob.

It's all in the mind, education & family upbringing I think. 

It was when driving around Spain last month that I noticed "differences" not only with the Spaniards but also the immigrants.

I think the class system is Spain is very different to Britain. Indeed, the UK is something of a regional oddity in that it's class structure has survived with comparatively minor modifications from the early modern era to the present day, wheras most other European states have had their class sytems heavily influenced by the Napoleonic era and subsequent political and social upheavals. British society has been a lot less affected by this and as a result is something of a coelacanth. I don't think the way we concieve of class is easily exportable.

This is NOT to say that European class societies are classless (this is patently absurd), but simply that the way it is structured and expressed is not easily compared.