There's no simple alignment....
None at all. I remember seeing something from across the Atlantic that described sales managers and doctors as 'upper-middle class' and found that quite confusing, also something describing factory workers and mechanics as 'middle class' which seemed amusing to me. I did see a simple classification into professionally/financially independent and non-independent which made more sense.
In the UK it's shifting and because of aspirationality there are people who'd describe themselves as middle class who aren't and people who are very middle class who'd describe themselves as classless. Essentially there it's more about tastes and culture than anything else and for marketing purposes people are divided by marketeers into 'tribes'.
Traditionally (and more or less now) it works this way, with Londoners and very rural people not quite fitting the patterns. Regionality (or nationality thinking of Wales and Scotland) is also a factor, as is immigration, sexuality, educational level. This, by the way, is just my take on it.
The upper class. Large landowners who usually marry other landowners. They have stately homes though don't necessarily own them nowadays. Have horses and like either shooting things or rewilding land.
The upper-middle class. The cultural/educational elite. Usually privately educated at the better schools, sometimes with a tradition of military service. It's in some ways the class they you have to be born into. You can pass, but never be fully accepted by them unless you know the secret passwords. Steadily merging with the upper class although the lines have always been blurred. Kippers or croissants for breakfast. Like French cuisine (and know how to cook it) as well as traditional British things like Eton Mess or Pond pudding. Read The Times or the Guardian. Win crossword competitions.
The middle-middle class. Usually own their own nice (often old) home, usually well educated. Listen to Radio 4. Drink real coffee and have original art on their walls. have wine with meals. Muesli and brown toast for breakfast. They love shakshuka but as an evening meal.Usually Anglican, or Jewish but can also be Muslim, Hindu, Quaker etc. nowadays. Work in professions like medicine, law, journalism, education. People with less well-paying jobs can also fall into this class depending on tastes and lifestyle. Sometimes own established family firms. Often drive modest and/or old cars, don't watch much television. Other people clean their houses. Read the Daily Telegraph or The Guardian. Write crossword competitions.
The lower-middle class. Accountants, managers, salesmen. Probably drink instant coffee, eat breakfast cereals and have repro art on their walls. Can earn quite a lot of money and buy into a very materialistic cultural package. Have taken at least one holiday in Florida. Think chardonnay is a type of wine rather than a type of grape and have drunk prosecco within the past 6 months. Like fancy cars and are acutely aware of their social status. Most of their friends are local and always have barbecues in the summer. Think that Liz Truss. Read the Daily Telegraph or sometimes the Mail. Watch netflix. Unreligious, but possibly Methodist (in the north) or Muslim/Hindu nowadays. Enter crossword competitions. Pretend not to do the lottery.
The upper-working class. Same sort of jobs as the lower middle, plus the better paid factory jobs. Have a nice shiny new car on credit and like prosecco and holidays in warm places. Watch even more TV than the lower-middle class and can name at least five current soap opera characters. Read the Daily Mail or Express and have a netflix account. have been to Florida too and to Disneyland Paris. Went to Italy once but didn't like it, especially when they asked for latte and were surprised to get a glass of milk. May well have 'vertical blinds' somewhere in their house. Every political party courts those people since they're a vast demographic. One is frequently successful in tricking them, the other gets their votes every decade or so when they remember they're being shat on. More likely to vote Labour in the North and Tory in the south. Love the lottery.
The normal working class. Get shat on by every other class, often earn minimum wage or a couple of quid more. Used to have good housing, a chance to get on in life and enough. Now the food bank is all too near and they can't afford the 500 quid train fare to take the family for a day trip to London. High fat, high sugar diet but living longer because they can't afford the pub or cigs any more. Have the words "Live, Laugh, Love' written somewhere in their house. One is frequently successful in tricking them, the other gets their votes every decade or so when they remember they're being shat on. More likely to vote Labour in the North and Tory in the south. Always voted Labour but easily tricked in these days of mass media. Forget to buy lottery tickets.
This is just a half lighthearted take on it while I'm sat bored in a hotel room somewhere. Jilly Cooper's humorous book Class, written in about 1980, still nails it. Grayson Perry did a really good TV series called 'All in the Best Possible Taste' a while ago. He divides the middle classes into the fiercley independent and the strongly conformist which fits. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_in_the_Best_Possible_Taste_with_Grayson_Perry
Marketeers now use a whole different thing, the Seven Tribes of Britain since most people nowadays don't fit into the traditional categories. I did the quiz and apparently am 'cultural elite.
bbc.com/news/uk-22007058
Where the Royal Family fit isn't obviously apparent; not all of them are typical upper class (some of the Kents) and they have relatives who don't easily fit into the class system. About Poland, the cities are materialistic, the countryside more complicated.
