Misidentification, confusion and uncertainty: How working-class youth interpret their class identities

This paper investigates how predominantly white, working-class young people (aged 16–22 years old) in London, Rochdale and Morecambe conceptualise class within their lives. Despite facing poverty,inequality and exclusion, these individuals frequently misidentify their class, not out of defensiveness, but out of confusion and uncertainty because the language of class does not resonate with them, with the majority of respondents failing to identify as working-class in clear terms. This occurs against the backdrop of highly visible, politicised narratives pertaining to a ‘left behind’, exclusively white, working-class who are said to live in places like Rochdale and Morecambe. The research contributes to the understanding of how young people interpret their class identities through demonstrating that class is shaped by local dynamics in the context of class decomposition and demobilisation. Ultimately, this paper argues that a lack of awareness about class as identity, did not mean that these young people did not understand wider experiences of inequality and hardship. Rather, there is a disjuncture between how class is lived and how class identities are claimed.