diff --git a/Lib/socket.py b/Lib/socket.py
index b45b4dc8e7d..d2ac5932a28 100644
--- a/Lib/socket.py
+++ b/Lib/socket.py
@@ -129,11 +129,16 @@ def getfqdn(name=''):
 
 class _socketobject:
 
+    class _closedsocket:
+        def __getattr__(self, name):
+            raise error(9, 'Bad file descriptor')
+
     def __init__(self, sock):
         self._sock = sock
 
     def close(self):
-        self._sock = _closedsocket()
+        # Avoid referencing globals here
+        self._sock = self.__class__._closedsocket()
 
     def __del__(self):
         self.close()
@@ -153,12 +158,6 @@ def makefile(self, mode='r', bufsize=-1):
         exec _s % (_m, _m)
 
 
-class _closedsocket:
-
-    def __getattr__(self, name):
-        raise error(9, 'Bad file descriptor')
-
-
 class _fileobject:
 
     def __init__(self, sock, mode, bufsize):