Time was when everyone knew their place, and being cultured usually involved having a cut-glass accent and a daddy with deep pockets. You were either a toff, in which case you knew about art history and the classics, or common, where your world wasn't so much a stage, but more of a Shakespearean tragedy.
But after Tony Blair's pledge back in 1997 to "create a classless society", the advent of the internet and ready access to information, along with record investment in the arts leading to free and cut-price entry to museums and galleries, we could all become culture kings and queens.
Now, with the recession and current cuts to the arts you'd think that we'd all be scuttling back to our sofas, but no. Visits to cultural attractions such as the Tate Modern, National Gallery and the V&A actually increased last year.
Throw into the mix that 36% of young people now go to university (compared to 30% in 1994), reality TV giving everyone the chance to showcase (or show off) their wares along with the elevation of celebrity, what can be passed off as 'culture' has actually changed.
Where once the 'high arts' were a closed shop of posh, pontificating and polite clapping, and the workers thought Whistler was someone adept at chirruping to the radio, they're now mashed-up with pop culture, previously the preserve of the masses.
So much so that we have Sir Ian McKellan appearing on Coronation Street; a Nolan sister starring alongside Rolando Villazon, one of the world's greatest tenors, in Popstar to Operastar, street and graffiti art gracing gallery walls and Frieze Art Fair frequented not just by wealthy art buyers, but by anyone who fancies a fun day out, and everyone watching, or at least having an opinion on Strictly Come Dancing (in itself the niche art form of ballroom dancing, re-packaged for a popular audience) and the X Factor.
Yes, the UK is still more riddled with class division than almost any other country - 2009's report by Dr Will Atkinson from the University of Bristol argued that the middle classes are still securing the best jobs and the best education. And last year the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has found that a father's income determines his child's to a greater extent in Britain than in any other wealthy nation. But when it comes to culture it doesn't matter if dad, or mum, is a peer or a postman.
For when looking at how we relate to each other, our friendships, interactions, opinions and judgements, it's about all the 'stuff' outside of work and money that matter. And, lets face it, there's precious little of either in these lean times.
It's not so much a class war, but a battle for culture. On the one hand there are those who'd keep the keys to the tower and say that access for all has led to dumbing down. But the peasants are beating down the gate. Democracy, access, education, knowledge - these genies can't be put back in the bottle. In fact, culture has pretty much become the new class - it has kudos. Taste, and not accent, is becoming the social barometer.
Nowadays, appreciating that Whistler painting is no more a clue to being cultured than voting on Britain's Got Talent. In 1995's Different Class Jarvis Cocker thumbed his nose (well, pulled his pants down, probably) to the upper classes when he hissed : "I can't help it, I was dragged up, grass is something you smoke, birds are something you shag, take your 'Year In Provence' and shove it up your ass." But now he's Eurostar's Cultural Ambassador - indeed, culture does conquer class!
But how do we negotiate our way through this cultural kaleidoscope? If anything from a soap to Shakespeare is artistically valid, what do we choose? There are countless websites, e-zines, magazines, newspapers and pundits telling us what's a must-see.
Perhaps it's best to simply be true to ourselves. It's our personality - and not our class - that determines what we like and don't like, and with information for all we have free choice, not limited options set out by a teacher or if we can afford entry.
And there's kudos in discovering the next big thing, or even the next small thing. As for dumbing down: surely it's not just the upper classes who can decide what's any good?
The class system will probably bow eventually to the rise of the individual. Hopefully, everyone, including employers, will care less about which school you went to, and more on your opinion of an education.
Mr Cocker once cried: "You'll never live like common people, you'll never do whatever common people do". 15 years on poor may not be cool, but culture is. And it's open to common people.