This is completely correct. It's the same reason why an MBA or PhD can be valuable if you want to go the management track. In Europe specifically - especially in the UK - the class based system is still alive and kicking and is based on subtle tells such as education, name, accent and more. It's less overt than in say India, but still very much present.
I really do think the class system holds us back as a society in Britain, George Orwell had a lot to say on this subject in England your England and I fear the decline he describes in the 1940s only accelerated through the 20th century and into the 21st. That essay is a good read for anyone interested in the topic, although of course much has happened since it was written.
I resented being constantly 'corrected' on the local accent I was picking up from school as a child, but now I appreciate that an RP or close to RP accent turns down the difficulty slider in certain British interactions.
It really does. The classic example I think of is Michael Caine discussing when he wanted to do housing renovations, and before he even submitted designs, he had neighbours and councillors complaining it was going to be "vulgar," "nouveau," and "obscene" simply because of his class. He also talked about the concept of working class people furthering the divide, for example his female family members referring to women of the correct class as "proper ladies" and putting themselves down.
I go back to the UK every so often for work. Being in EU countries is really weird, because they don't have 'class systems' (like the brits).
Deference is given to your professional title, doctor, lawyer etc.
Every nation that was a heart of an empire still has lingering class issues. I've been told by Swedes a non-commoner last name can absolutely open some doors. Though nothing comes close to the UK, which is closer to Japan in this regard than the continental Europe.
> Every nation that was a heart of an empire still has lingering class issues
What nation on Earth doesn't have class issues?
Belgium has a class system. Read up on the death of Sanda Dia, very light punishments since all suspects had well connected parents. Lawyers, judges, doctors, surgeons, business executives, entrepreneurs, bankers, corporate directors, politicians, senior civil servants, police officials.
> I resented being constantly 'corrected' on the local accent I was picking up from school as a child, but now I appreciate that an RP or close to RP accent turns down the difficulty slider in certain British interactions.
The accent bit happens in the US too, to an extent. Depending on the accent you grew up with, you get different responses from people in professional or professional-adjacent settings if you forget to switch the knob back to the more homogenized vaguely Iowa-sounding GenAm accent. This covers a gamut of other accents - regional or not (NE, aave, southern, val, etc).
But it's not nearly as bad as RP in England from what I gather - for one, a pretty decent chunk of the population would normally grow up with a GenAm accent with no forcing, unlike in England where it's a pretty hyper local <5% of the native population.
I did what is referred to as a “fun MSc” (pretmaster) in The Netherlands. It’s a Master programme that doesn’t require much effort and doesn’t put you in too much debt but does allow you to put MSc behind your name. Some engineering firms (companies that do engineering as their core business) require all applicants to have an MSc. It is how I got my foot in the door.