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We are now grouped into seven social classes – not just upper, middle and working class, experts claimed today.

At the top end is an elite consisting of just 6% of the population who have more than £140,000 in the bank and degrees from top universities.

At the opposite end of the scale is a so-called "precariat" of 15%, who earn only £8,000 after tax and have savings of £700.

Just one in seven people are now “traditional working class” and it is believed this group may eventually die out.

The new boundaries were revealed by a BBC survey of more than 160,000 people living in Britain.

The “Great British Class Survey”, carried out online, is the largest ever study of its kind.

People who took part answered questions about their income, the value of their home and savings, their cultural interests and hobbies, and the status of people they know.

Divides between an upper, middle and working class were first seen in Britain in the 1800s during the Industrial Revolution.

The new study, carried out in January 2011, shows this traditional model has now “fragmented”.

Social experts believe a more diverse range of occupations may be responsible for changes.

This has produced seven different classes: elite, established middle class, technical middle class, new affluent workers, traditional working class, emergent service workers and the precariat.

At one in four of the population, the “established middle class” is the largest group, with household income of £47,000 and some highbrow tastes in music and food.

“Emergent service workers” are the youngest group, with a mean age of 34 and high proportions of ethnic minorities.

The oldest average age of 66 applies to the “traditional working class” - which makes up just 14% of the population.

Amongst the “precariat” - a combination of the “precarious” and “proletariat” - only one in 30 gain a university education.

London School of Economics and Political Science Professor Mike Savage helped analyse the results.

He said: “Occupation has been the traditional way to define a person’s social class, but economic, social, and cultural dimensions all play an important role.”

Professor Fiona Devine, of the University of Manchester, who was also involved in the research, added: “There has been a growth in inequality leading to a bigger gap between the highest and lowest class.

“We have the super-rich working in London on huge salaries and at the other end of the scale are the unemployed and disabled relying on welfare.

"This gap has really exploded over the last few years.”

Despite the addition of four new classes, Prof Devine believes moving between them may be harder than ever.

She added: “Because of the financial crisis we think it may be harder for people to move through the classes now.

“Working class children looking for their first job could find it more difficult than it would have been 30 years ago.”

A total of 161,458 people from around the UK completed the survey.

The majority (86%) lived in England while 8% lived in Scotland, 3% in Wales and 1% in Northern Ireland. Of that total, 91,458 men (56%) and 69,902 women (43%) completed the survey.

They had an average age of 35 and 145,521 participants (90%) described themselves as ‘white’.

The findings were presented at a conference of the British Sociological Association today.

They will also be published in this month’s Sociology Journal.

The seven social classes

• Elite –the most privileged group in the UK. especially because of their wealth but also have the highest levels of social and cultural capital.

• Established Middle Class – this is the second wealthiest class group and it scores highly on all three capitals. It is the largest and highly gregarious class group and scores second highest for cultural capital.

• Technical Middle Class – this is a small, distinctive new class group that is prosperous but scores low for social and cultural capital. It is distinguished by its social isolation and cultural apathy.

• New Affluent Workers – this young class group is socially and culturally active, with middling levels of economic capital.

• Traditional Working Class – this class scores low on all forms of capital, but is not completely deprived. Its members have a reasonably high house values, which is explained by this group having the oldest average age of 66.

• Emergent Service Workers – this new, young, urban group is relatively poor but has high social and cultural capital.

• Precariat (The precarious proletariat) – this is the poorest, most deprived class and scores low for social and cultural capital.