Its not nice to be called a chav town‏

I have found that some people talk about Bracknell as a chav town. Naturally I believe this is unfair as Bracknell is really a young families town with low unemployment and hard working people.

Now I believe when people (by that I believe I mean middle class people generally) use the word chav they mean it for two very generalised groups.

1 Young guys wearing sports gear (not the expensive kind) who don't work or don't want to work and who they want to avoid as they are perceived to be dangerous.

2 Young ladies who have a number of kids and who don't work as they can use benefits to their advantage etc etc.

Now let me clarify that im not having a go at anyone individual or group im just writing about the kind of comments people make down the pub or in general conversations that people just don't write about for fear of being branded a snob or worse. I think it should be ok to approach any subject on a blog although I imagine the red top news papers could easily get away with using words like Chav.

My background is growing up in the Great Holland's council estate in Bracknell with a young family (my mum was a young single mum herself after her first marriage before getting remarried). My dad was a working man who used his printing experience to start his own business with a partner and then buy the council house we lived in, sell it and move out of Bracknell to Crowthorne (so we moved from a working class area to a middle class area). What im trying to say is that im not sure if im working class or middle class, I have a middle class job but I live in perhaps a working class area. I also know people from lots of very varied backgrounds including some people who others would brand a chav based on first look (of course their situations are more complicated then that).

I also don't think that calling people words like Chav is helpful but unfortunately I know what people mean by this word. What they really mean generally are people who don't want to work, live off benefits, don't care about what others think to the point that they have little interest in the wider world (dont vote) and are excluded from the wealthier parts of our society and perhaps have reduced personal goals. I think that this is not a working class grouping from the point of view that if you have no intention to work then how can you be working class.

I truly never really noticed this for myself in Bracknell but others have told me what they think when they pop into town. So I sat in the Bentals cafe with my posh coffee during my lunch break and people watched. I saw 3 young ladies take their 8 kids into the pub at midday, 3 sports cloths wearing young men kicking cans thought town. A couple arguing in the street and a mum grabbing her kid roughly and pushing them while the girl was crying and mum was shouting. Now I have to admit that this is all very stereo typical and it does make me feel sad. I did however see many more people who would not of fallen into the stereotype.

One problem for Bracknell town centre is that it does not attract as varied a cliental as it should and many people just travel to Reading or Camberley instead of Bracknell, including many people who live in Bracknell.

The middle classes just don't understand why people want to live on benefits. There is nothing wrong with bring your kids up full time I believe as there can be many good reasons why. However some people I know off have kids so they don't need to work without actually realising how hard it is to bring kids up. This may seem natural if your part of a culture where your friends have done or do the same thing.

Often its people not really thinking about what they could achieve not knowing what they want and not given a hand with achieving something better. If you don't have respect for yourself or your future then you won't have respect for others or indeed the country we live in. I do feel that doors have been closed for example you need a degree for everything these days where as before you could just go and learn your trade. We need to help people who don't care about themselves to care again to see that there is more to life than this.

Of course this is not an easy task and its not just about education but also about the way we treat each other. People like to stick within their own like minded safe groups, perhaps too much. If we are more polite to each other (even when people are not polite to us) and didn't generalise people into groups (tried to not) then maybe that would be a good start.

But of course it is up to people who fall into benefit culture to pick themselves up too and push themselves to achieve better and realise there is a big world out there with many opportunities you just need to sometimes apply your imagination and thought to improving your own situation.

I think for the most part the political classes tend to not try hard enough to get their vote and are therefore some people are more removed from our democracy. You could say there is a growing exclusion of some part of society because they are not as targeted as say the elderly or middle classes. So they are even less likely to vote and so the cycle continues.

I do think that Bracknell is unfairly seen as a chav town by some as it has plenty of working class and middle class people living within it all trying to make ends meet . If you knocked on every door in Bracknell (I have knocked on a lot of doors in Bracknell too boot) you would find that the vast majority do not fit this Chav Stereotype.

If the town centre was improved then this perception would change. If we mixed a little more all of our attitudes may change for the better and our good points would rub of on each other.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav

http://www.chavtowns.co.uk/