I have heard British people say “Oh, this is so middle class” in a derogatory manner, and not just in the narrow economic/household income kind of context. What does this mean/imply?
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The middle classes are something of a joke in the UK.
The upper classes are generally indifferent to their status; everyone else is beneath them, so they've no need to flaunt it.
Nobody thinks being part of the lower classes is a good thing, so the lower classes have developed a fiercely defiant pride in being working class, and a "fuck you" attitude towards their "betters".
The middle classes however... They try. They try to be posh, and proper, and correct, and jolly good fellows. But most of all, they try to be seen as these things. They do things because they desire the recognition of having done them. Being charitable is not about helping the needy, it's about being seen as a philanthropist. It is these vanities and affected actions that are the source of the ridicule and mockery.
When you say something is "so middle class" you're saying it's a false vanity, something that is done to impress rather than for the simple joy or necessity of being done.
It's usually used lightheartedly, often in response to a friend doing something that it usually considered posh or the habit of the rich and powerful. For instance: I'm a working class guy, but I have a ritual of having cheese and wine, every Sunday throughout the summer... My friends refer to this as my having "airs and graces" or being "so middle class" or even being a "class traitor".
**EDIT**
Adam M. Steiner brought up a very good point in the comments to this answer, which I had overlooked. As he says himself, it's worth adding, and he's kindly allowed me to do so. Thanks Adam.
"It's also worth adding that the middle class intelligentsia has a very strong sense of superiority and considers both the working class and the upper class,and the "lower middles" to be unsophisticated hedonists and materialists oblivious to the possibility of self improvement (in the moral and educational sense rather than the material sense). So the class war cuts in all directions."
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1. Pretentious. Middle class people blather on about the type of oak used in their worktops, the lack of other British people at their holiday destination of choice. They have things like 'favourite Italian cheeses'.
2. 'First-World' problems. Saying someone is being 'middle class' in the UK typically means that they're fretting about something which really is no great shakes - 'Oh, I can't start the day without my Javan virgin muslin-filtered semi-decaff', etc.
3. Snobbish in a particular way. They will loathe outright snottiness - for example, the ways that some 'overclean-bleach-the-kitchen-no-stuf-in-the-house' working-class types look down on people who don't bleach the kitchen or fret about germss. However, they are expert at moaning on about schools, the appropriate authentic bricks for the extension, bread. Often, their snobbishness is presented as a sort of 'down-to-earth'-ness. Genuinely down-to-earth people are unselfconscious (unless confronted with fake down-to-earth people...).
4. Obsessed with property prices - if they're upper middle class, obsessed with property prices abroad too.
5. Unaware of the ludicrousness of 1-4.
For example, Alec Fane says:
The middle classes however... They try. They try to be posh, and proper, and correct, and jolly good fellows. But most of all, they try to be seen as these things.
Some of them do. Others have a kind of guilt about being middle class and would actually prefer to be seen as being more working class because that gives the impression of being more down-to-earth and "authentic". One test would be to see how a middle class person behaves when talking to someone who is more working class – maybe a plumber or builder they've got round to do some work. I bet a sizeable proportion (including, I admit, me) will try and fit in by talking in a way they wouldn't usually. It's also possible this is more of a male middle class thing.
And Tom Alexander, who admits to coming from an upper class background, says:
That type of phrase is basically an example of elitism, where the person is basically saying "oh, this is so common!" in a disparaging manner
I'm sure the phrase can be used in that way, but no one I know (as a middle class person with generally middle class friends) would do so.
So, aside from the point of view of the people writing these answers, you have to bear in mind that there's no single middle class. To say that a third (or whatever) of the population thinks the same way about something as complex as class, and their place in it, would, of course be over-simplifying.
To talk in terms of newspapers, a middle class person who reads the Times will think differently to one who reads the Daily Mail, who will think very differently to one who reads the Guardian. Partly this is political differences, but it's not just that.
(For those less familiar… the Times is a right-leaning "quality" newspaper that (in my biased opinion) is less quality/intellectual/worthy than its readers like to think. The Daily Mail is a right-wing tabloid with sensationalist, alarmist headlines that, at best, bend the truth. And the Guardian is a left-leaning "quality" newspaper whose readers are seen as soft, hand-wringing, liberal (in the American sense) intellectuals who don't live in the real world. (That's me.))
A (stereotypical) Guardian reader might say something is "so middle class" in a self-deprecating way – "We've got this brilliant recipe for spelt loaves for our bread maker… oh god, that sounds so middle class!"
Whereas I can imagine someone who might objectively/demographically be identified as middle class, but is much more "aspirant" and sees themselves as somehow better, might say something is "so middle class" to distance themselves from what they see as a more common behaviour (like Tom Alexander, above).
And someone who is demographically middle class (in terms of income, home, job, etc) but who thinks of themselves as more working class (perhaps because their parents were working class, or because of where they grew up), would say something is "so middle class" to mock a pretentious, trying-too-hard behaviour that they see as ridiculous (whether it's actually something they'd also be close to doing themselves or not).
As with anything about class, this is a far from clear answer. The short answer to your question is "it depends"!
For many people in the UK, shopping at Waitrose (one of the more up-market supermarket chains, and grocers to the Queen) epitomises middle class-ness. There is a whole strand of entertainment to be derived from some of the remarks by customers allegedly overheard in Waitrose, in fact there is a Facebook page devoted specifically to these Overheard in Waitrose . I slightly prefer the collection here Ten Of The Best 'Overheard In Waitrose' Comments Ever! , because some of the Facebook comments have wandered a little off topic, and even here Hilarious quotes from Waitrose shoppers collected on Facebook page .
When you hear of 5-year olds being politely told, "Lucas, put the falafel down, you've already chosen olives and Manchego as your treat!" or of a woman who routinely buys fillet steak, and is horrified at being offered a very slightly less expensive cut instead, on the grounds that "anyone would think you wanted to kill the poor dog!", you're starting to get some idea of what British people mean by, "Oh, this is SO middle class!"
Additional , cringe-worthy evidence, added late February - just look at this lot, and wince!
These "middle-class problems" are so minor & entitled that they're hilarious
The US concept of "middle class" is different in some important but subtle ways from the UK concept. In the US, the vast majority of people are considered to be middle class. And class is not thought to be inherited across generations so much (although of course, inevitably, it is).
"Middle class" is much more narrowly defined in the UK to include mainly traditional "professionals" of various kinds.
Britain is a constitutional monarchy. That requires that people accept a single family having a perpetual right to rule, wealth and power. It’s extraordinary and it survives to this day (very few people are openly republican in the UK and it’s considered heresy to criticize the Queen in any serious way).
Some people think the monarchy are symbolic. However their privilege is apparent and they regularly intervene in the business of the country.
Secret papers show extent of senior royals' veto over bills
“In one instance the Queen completely vetoed the Military Actions Against Iraq Bill in 1999, a private member's bill that sought to transfer the power to authorise military strikes against Iraq from the monarch to parliament.
She was even asked to consent to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 because it contained a declaration about the validity of a civil partnership that would bind her.
In the pamphlet, the Parliamentary Counsel warns civil servants that if consent is not forthcoming there is a risk "a major plank of the bill must be removed".”
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The easiest way to maintain this privilege is to divide and conquer. Hence a class system which pits workers against managers and the upper classes.
The workers are taught to treat monarchy as inevitable and honorable. “For Queen and Country”. As they can’t hate the upper classes, because that would be too dangerous and destabilizing, a middle class are defined who can absorb their opprobrium.
The middle classes are taught to aspire. However the upper classes know that’s impossible as entry to their ranks is by birth and marriage, not achievement. Hence every attempt at ‘betterment’ is ridiculous.
You can move from the working class to the middle class, but the middle class is so despised that those who do so normally claim to remain working class because that position represents hard work and dignity, not aspiration and yearning.
Those who claim to be ‘upper middle class’ are the perfect distillation of why they’re so despised. Anything to be slightly ‘better’ than the other plebs.
The upper class are taught to believe they’re superior. They’re rewarded with privilege and manage the institutions of the state to preserve their advantage. There is a sophisticated social code which allows them to operate in any environment while silently broadcasting their status to other people in their tribe. They look down on the middle classes as supplicants and recognize the working class as essential. They are the people in power and they defend the monarchy because a level playing-field would make things impossibly hard for empires built on having an in-built advantage.
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