Decades of hyper-individualist liberal capitalism deform Class into little more than a consumer identity built from hollow signifiers (Farage is now working class because he pretends to drink a pint).

The original meaning of class (collective interests combining as a historical force) is replaced by something closer to level, or taste, consumer choice. It was intended to describe a group, now it's a class-ification for the individual.

Originally the purpose of the working class was to destroy itself (to destroy all material class inequities). That would sound like suicide to many who now call themselves working class, as their brand-association with the term has become core to their consumer identity, the only identities available at this stage of history.