r/Glasgow Tools

I think, though, that you're conflating class and wealth. Middle class people - and upper class people - can be poor and have those experiences, and working class people can often be wealthy and protected in those ways.

Who is more likely to live in a 4-bed detached down a nice safe cul-de-sac in Newton Mearns? The teacher, or the self-employed tradesman? Class has little to do with how protected you are from the shittiness of everyday life. My grandmother was self-declared upper class and could have told you exactly what order to put the spoons out, but spent her life as a single mum with 4 kids in a bedsit.

I don't want to get into a pissing match over poverty, quite the opposite, I grew up in an average street in an average bit of a big UK city, and I absolutely had to deal with all of the things you describe, and like anyone else there were dry periods where my parents were unemployed and food was a luxury. Those experiences are just normal in Thatcher's Britain, any demographic or economic data shows that the median experience is way, way lower down than people think. This is just normal life.

And similarly, in terms of anti-social behaviour, there are many low-income deprived communities across the UK which somehow don't suffer from the same problems Glasgow has. Aggressive behaviour and shitting in closes is awful to deal with no matter what frequency you encounter it or who your dad knows.

I think there is a particularly Scottish attitude - deeply held by many Glaswegians in particular - that looks to inverse snobbery and self-pity as a displacement activity- woe is me and my life in particular, why should I do anything about improving things while *those* folk all eat foie gras and laugh at me. I have certainly had the conversation before where someone accused me of judging them because they had a 'working class' accent, and I had to point out that no, I was judging them because they were being a twat.