Class Signifiers and Perceptions of Authority
Carla Keen, an artist from a working-class background working in theatre, responds to Lucy Mangan’s review of the documentary How to Get Filthy Rich With Gary Stevenson. Mangan described Stevenson as having an “adolescent bullishness,” which Keen argues raises a wider question about how class shapes perceptions of authority. Keen notes that in media, authority is often judged through presentation, with a narrow idea of what expertise looks and sounds like.
Private Education and Media Representation
Research by the Sutton Trust has shown that around half of newspaper columnists and over a third of BBC executives were privately educated, despite private schools educating only a small minority of the population. This suggests that class background influences who is seen as authoritative in public discourse.
Cultural Signals and Audience Interpretation
Stevenson is now wealthy, highly educated, and professionally successful, but class is not only about income or occupation. It also involves cultural signals attached to voice, manner, and presentation. Keen questions who “the viewer” is in Mangan’s statement that Stevenson’s manner raises “a sort of fight-or-flight response in the viewer instead of encouraging engagement.” She argues that audiences bring their own experiences and expectations, and what one person sees as aggression, another may see as frustration or passion.
Stevenson’s Communication Style
Watching the documentary, Keen saw someone attempting to understand people with differing views, allowing interviewees space to explain themselves even when he disagreed. She wonders whether some of the reaction to Stevenson is shaped by his direct communication style, working-class background, and non-received pronunciation accent. These qualities are often interpreted differently from the same confidence expressed through traditionally middle-class modes of speech.
Value of Accessible Economic Discourse
Whether or not people agree with his economic arguments, making complex ideas accessible to those often excluded from these conversations is valuable, Keen concludes.
