Working class describes people whose life chances are shaped by low or insecure income and wealth, weak power at work (including gig or informal work), limited access to elite networks and credentials, and greater exposure to digital, environmental, and health penalties — harms exacerbated by austerity, neoliberal policies, and big-tech platforms. It is both an origin (how you grew up) and a present condition (how you live now). Pride and self-identification matter alongside statistics. Internally, we use Working-Class Origin (WCO) and Working-Class Experience (WCE) separately, as many people will be one or both.

Why This Matters

In the modern world, austerity, precarious platform economies and extractive tech have built an architecture of disconnection that falls hardest on young and working-class people. Our definition makes those structures visible, grounds us in our own work and gives institutions a practical way to act.

Two Parts We Record

Working-Class Origin (WCO): Your background. For example, grew up in a low-income/low-wealth household; parent/carer in routine, semi-routine, or insecure work; first-generation into higher education; eligible for free school meals or means-tested benefits; lived in social housing or care; and had few family networks in professional/managerial jobs.

Working-Class Experience (WCE): Your situation now. Mark WCE when two or more of the below apply:

1. Economic security: low or volatile income/wealth; reliance on means-tested support; housing insecurity or poor-quality housing.
2. Work and precarity: temporary/agency/zero-hours/gig/informal work; limited bargaining power or union coverage.
3. Education and credentials: first-generation into higher education; no degree by 25; attended a non-selective state school.
4. Social capital and belonging: few family/pro networks in professional roles; often made to feel “out of place” in professionalised spaces.
5. Digital penalty: no or patchy broadband/devices; platform-only livelihoods; skills gaps that limit access to services or work.
6. Environmental and health penalty: living in high-pollution/flood-risk or cold, energy-inefficient housing; long-term health or disability that restricts opportunity.

Our Definition of Youth

Youth refers to people aged 15–29. It’s both an age and a transition, as young people move into work, housing, higher education, family life and civic power. In today’s UK, austerity and platform capitalism have stretched and stalled those transitions, so some projects may also include 12–14 (early entry) and 30–35 (delayed transition), where the same barriers apply.