My class position became very clear to me in the year twenty-twenty. To make sense of this, some background is needed. I am from Latvia and come from a working-class family that has always lived paycheck to paycheck. I am also the first person in my family to go to university. When I first moved to Scotland (I previously lived in Ireland), my family's housing situation had shifted. We went from living in a lovely 3-bedroom house to a tiny 2-bedroom flat. It is clear that I come from a low socio-economic background, and I am aware of this. I always knew I did not have the same opportunities as some of my peers. For example, my parents supported and helped me get into university.

However, I did not think that my class position would make the impact on my life that it nearly did. Fast forward to 2020, I lived in a council flat with my working-class family; despite this, I was a bright student with good grades in secondary school. 2020 was my last year of school, and, as everyone knows, it was the year of COVID-19. This meant that my grades relied on my class progress, but I was not worried as I had succeeded well in my coursework. So, imagine my shock when I received a ‘D’ grade in advanced higher history (my favourite subject). It came out on the news that this was due to the postcode discrimination fiasco. Many students across the UK had been given lower than their predicted grades due to the assumption of their postcode. It then emerged that the exam board had decided to lower tens of thousands of grades from the original awards recommended by teachers. In total, 124,564 exam results -- roughly 25% of those issued by the SQA -- were downgraded’ (The Independent, 2020, in Osborne, 2020).  It then occurred to me that my Latvian background may have also impacted this. As Gorski (2012) reveals, the assumptions underlying the language deficiency stereotype have been shown to negatively impact assessments of student performance when language is assumed to be a marker of intelligence. While my teacher appealed my grade and I got my predicted ‘B’, my class position became very prominent to me. It made me realise that no matter what I had done, the system would treat working-class people differently because of the associated stereotypes.

Gorski, Paul C. “Perceiving the Problem of Poverty and Schooling: Deconstructing the Class Stereotypes That Mis-Shape Education Practice and Policy.” Equity & Excellence in Education, vol. 45, no. 2, Apr. 2012, pp. 302–319, https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2012.666934. Accessed 21 Jan. 2020.

For some context, I come from a working-class background and have always stayed in the ‘rougher’ areas in Ayr. These areas are often described as deprived and, for lack of a better phrase: “full of junkies”. While I have lived in highly deprived places like Lochside and Dalmilling (South Ayrshire Council, 2023) for over six years , I do not feel at ease in this spatial context.  I feel more at ease in areas my friends are from, known for being higher-class areas.

I think several factors contribute to this feeling, including my attendance at university, my social circle consisting mainly of middle-class or upper-class friends, and my self-perception. This isn't meant to imply any disdain for my neighbours, as I genuinely like them. Instead, it suggests that various life elements have made me feel distinct from my home environment. To illustrate, there is a corner shop across my house, and I often feel like an outcast in it. I am surrounded by people who act and have different manners from me, yet we live in the same area.

However, while I do feel more comfortable in higher-class areas. I also do not fully fit into them as they are not areas I grew up in, resulting in me feeling like an imposter. Because of these mixed spatial feelings, I feel like I am living in spatial alienation, unsure of where I belong.

Therefore, I doubt the idea of elective belonging and challenge the notion that space solely determines spatial comfort. I tend to feel uncomfortable in my space and other people’s spaces. This suggests that space and belonging are very subjective experiences and that social comfort has much more complex factors. 

Jeffery, B. (2016). ‘I Probably Would Never Move, but Ideally Like I’d Love to Move This Week’: Class and Residential Experience, Beyond Elective Belonging. Sociology, 52(2), pp.245–261. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038516668124.

South Ayrshire Council (2023). Shaping Places for Wellbeing -Ayr Profile (draft). [online] South Ayrshire Council. Available at: https://hscp.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/media/9188/6-1-IJB-Report-GIRFAN-June-2023-App-1/pdf/6.1_IJB_Report_GIRFAN_June_2023_App_1.pdf?m=638218420712070000.

Having explored the concept of poverty porn and its prevalence in traditional media like television (Jensen, 2014). It is crucial to reflect on its impact on personal perceptions. Upon viewing an episode of Benefit Street, my observations and reflections shed light on the complexities of this portrayal. It would be untruthful if I said that I did not find myself assessing these individuals based on their appearances and actions on TV. This portrayal of laziness and shamelessness makes it hard for anyone without a sociological lens to sympathise with these individuals, especially when shame is seen as the only feeling that claimants should feel (Jensen, 2014). However, these personal reflections also prompt consideration of broader shifts within the media landscape.

Over recent years, there has been a significant shift from traditional media landscapes, like televisions and newspapers, to newer forms of media, such as smartphones (Dolan et al., 2015). This has led to social media platforms like TikTok.With the rise of new platforms like TikTok, there's a noticeable departure from traditional portrayals of the working class, leading to a more diverse range of representations.

On TikTok, I constantly see more working-class representation through different accounts. One compelling account that exemplifies this trend is 'TheWisdomFamily,' which offers a candid glimpse into the daily life of a single mother navigating challenges in a two-bedroom council house. This is not the only account I have seen; I have noticed that videos such as ‘Cook dinner with me as a single skint mum’ have become viral and inspire many people. These examples showcase the diversity of working-class experiences and challenge conventional stereotypes perpetuated by traditional media. By portraying authenticity and resilience, accounts like 'TheWisdomFamily' prompt reconsidering how we perceive and engage with the working class in today's digital age.

In essence, I feel that the recent shift from traditional media has perpetuated how the working class is seen online. When I view videos like this, I feel a sense of support and likeness for these individuals. As individuals gain agency over their narratives, there is a growing opportunity for empathy, understanding, and support for diverse experiences within class and everyday life.

Dolan, R., Conduit, J., Fahy, J. and Goodman, S. (2016). Social media engagement behaviour: a uses and gratifications perspective. Journal of Strategic Marketing, [online] 24(3-4), pp.261–277. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819888720.

Jensen, T. (2014). Welfare Commonsense, Poverty Porn and Doxosophy. Sociological Research Online, 19(3), pp.1–7. doi:https://doi.org/10.5153/sro.3441.

For me, music has always been associated with class. For clarification, my parents were young and had me at 18 years old, and I was born in Latvia. Because of this, throughout my adolescence, I grew up around dance, rave and house music, the sort of music you would find in a club. My family and friends would also listen to this music, so it became customary for me. I never questioned their taste in music and even grew a liking for it.

It was only in the first year of secondary school that I began associating class with music taste, and I started to feel like an outcast. Where my family and friends would listen to the genres described above, my peers and their families would listen to British pop like Oasis Idles, The Smiths, The Clash, etc. I associated myself with distaste and someone of a low culture because of the music I was brought up around, and I could not understand why.  These thoughts consumed me so much that I changed my identity to fit in. At their peak, some British pop bands contained nationalist and Xenophobic elements, wearing their Britishness with pride (Cloonan, 1997).  As someone from Latvia, I was unfamiliar with this and did not convey the same sense of Britishness as some of these bands promoted.

 I consider this form of music highbrow because my old friends often had strong opinions on what bands should be supported and which could not. In essence, they were music snobs; they did not respect or give any other genre the time of day. Music became integral to their sense of self, intended to convey a particular understanding or message, and when compared to Techno music, these genres couldn't be more different. I began to give it middle-class connotations due to the knowledge surrounding it. For example, The Idle’s songs often conveyed political messages. This conveyed a marker of social status that reinforced associations of music and class, as I did not know much about politics or the ideologies these artists promoted.

Upon reflection, I associated dance music with low brow because of its moral panics, such as the perceived threat to social norms and values and its association with drug use (Hesmondhalgh,1998). Techno-music is often just noise, whereas British pop music conveys a message that is often political. Additionally, the xenophobic nature and the Britishness of British pop were something that always made me feel out of place. These genres were usually associated with the working class (Hesmondhalgh, 1998), but as a working-class migrant, I could not relate less because of how these individuals represented this genre. Ashamed of the ways of being stereotyped as a low-class migrant, I would hide my music taste to be perceived as a higher class, but I would feel anxious whenever it came to discussing any British pop song as I thought I lacked knowledge. (Like seriously, who makes music into a lecture?)

It is safe to say now that I have entirely accepted my techno/house music self, and my indie playlist is very much neglected (was it ever loved in the first place?). I have linked both below to humour you.

Cloonan, M. (1997). State of the nation: ‘Englishness,’ pop, and politics in the mid‐1990s. Popular Music and Society, 21(2), pp.47–70. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/03007769708591667.

Hesmondhalgh, D. (1998). The British Dance Music Industry: A Case Study of Independent Cultural Production. The British Journal of Sociology, 49(2), p.234. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/591311.

Class and art can be seen in graffiti and its association with a lower class, with references to violence and vandalism (Huges,2009, p.5). In particular, I want to talk about the Alloway Project, one of the posher places in Ayr. This project aimed to change a “scary, badly-lit, graffiti place” to an “destination that would bring people to our wee village” (Scott, 2023). The project aims to get artists from Ayrshire College to paint a mural on the tunnel to make it more likeable, a project run by an Ayr local that has some sort of fame (I cannot remember his name or why he is a prominent figure in Ayr). While I agree that the tunnel looks unappealing now, featuring vandalised graffiti text, I think there is something to be said about the fact that students (with a further education background) are asked to make the location more appealing.

As a popular site for graffiti artists, this project takes that art form away from those individuals. This perpetuates the idea that graffiti is not an accepted art form unless it is done under a project run by a middle-class man; it kind of makes me think, is art only acceptable if the middle class approves it? (I say he is middle-class, but he might be high-class. I am unsure, as Google is not clear, but he definitely has money). Why is a planned/ controlled mural accepted but not a creative and colourful graffiti piece? Is it because of the class stereotypes associated with it, and does this breed a lack of mistrust?

Using Bourdeu’s concept of habitus, I think that graffiti is not subjective and is actually influenced by class biases and social structures (Allan& Hollingworth, 2013).People's perceptions and judgements of what is accepted as valuable

and are shaped by their social backgrounds and cultural capital.

If it were up to me, the site would have been turned into a free wall where graffiti was allowed to express itself in a way that was appealing to the public; this, I feel, would also reduce graffiti vandalism. Something similar was done at Shred Skatepark in Ayr, normalising graffiti artists and giving them an area to express themselves without the stigma associated with class biases. This has given graffiti artists a positive name and revealed their creative side, showcasing that it is an art.

I have attached a piece of work done on the Shred-Free wall as an example.

Allen, K. and Hollingworth, S. (2013). ‘Sticky Subjects’ or ‘Cosmopolitan Creatives’? Social Class, Place and Urban Young People’s Aspirations for Work in the Knowledge Economy. Urban Studies, 50(3), pp.499–517. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098012468901.

Hughes, M. (2009). Street Art & Graffiti Art: Developing an Understanding. [online] Available at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=art_design_theses.

Scott, M. (2023). About | Alloway Railway Tunnel ART. [online] www.allowaytunnel.org.uk. Available at: https://www.allowaytunnel.org.uk/about [Accessed 8 Mar. 2024].

When I googled if this was true, it turns out rugby fans did get more transport put on, as stated by ScotRail (Quinn, Edinburgh News, 2024). Upon further discussion, he also motioned that rugby games are catered with glasses of wine, etc., and this type of treatment is not present at football games.  This got me thinking about the stratification of spectatorship and how football fans are not treated as fairly as rugby fans. According to several Google sources, rugby fans are well-behaved compared to football fans, who were often described as violent (Slabbert& Ukpere, 2010, p.269), which could be a reason for the mistreatment. But then, would you still not put more trains on to avoid rowdy crowds being trapped together? When I relate this to my experiences at visiting both football and rugby games (both not by choice), I did feel a notable difference between where I felt more comfortable.

We went on to say this was more likely because of the socioeconomic differences associated with the viewers of the sport. The funny thing is, while he is not a rugby spectator, his family and relatives are, and what do you know, they are all high-class/high-middle-class people. So, when I went to a Rugby game with them, you can imagine I felt very out of place as someone from a lower-class background. I felt like I had to put on an act and present myself better, which was crazy to me as we were literally at a match, and I have never felt I had to act this way at a football game. And from comparing the two, rugby games have a better reputation and much more respect than football games.

As Bourdieu argues, sports can be class-based, and Pope (2015) uses Bourdieu’s work on class and sport to say that these class distinctions also apply to spectatorship. This can be seen through my and my boyfriend's assumption that rugby is a higher-class sport and football is not through our expirinces of visiting both.

Pope, S. (2015). ‘It’s Just Such a Class Thing’: Rivalry and Class Distinction between Female Fans of Men’s Football and Rugby Union. Sociological Research Online, 20(2), pp.1–14. doi:https://doi.org/10.5153/sro.3589.

Slabbert, M., & Ukpere, W. I. (2010). "Comparing the behaviour of rugby and football fans in South Africa." Acta Academica, 42(1), 266-284

Quinn, D. (2024). "Rugby fans get more transport put on than football fans, says ScotRail." Edinburgh News [https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/traffic-and-travel/scotrail-issues-travel-advice-and-adds-extra-carriages-ahead-of-scotlands-six-nations-match-against-england-4526125]