C1 SA - Culture & Identity - Topic 8, Social Class Identity - The Middle Class

Question 1

STUDY - Savage (1995) - 4 types of middle class identity

Answer 1

Professionals - culture capital
Managers in private business
Self employed owners of small businesses
The entrepreneurial group

Question 2

What does “white collar” mean?

Answer 2

Have a middle class identity, skills less important due to technology. Sociologists suggest that they may have more in common with working class. 
Rarely mix with manual workers and spend their leisure time very differently

Question 3

Middle class values

Answer 3

Social aspiration - language and accent 
Social anxiety 
Conservatism - preserving tradition
Social comparability 
Domesticity - home and garden focus of suburban lifestyle

Question 4

STUDY - Fox (2004) - diversity of middle class

Answer 4

Upper middles, middle middles, lower middles - unlikely that everyone in middle class shares a common experience or identity

Question 5

7 key ideas about traditional middle class identity

Answer 5

White collar / non manual jobs
High levels of social mobility
Strong networks and connections
Deferred gratification-save early, gain later
Educational achievement and uni
Owning homes in desirable places
Cultural capital, holidays and appreciation of high culture

Question 6

STUDY - King and rayner (1981) - child centredness

Answer 6

Pass on educational opportunities and attitudes required for educational success

Question 7

STUDY - Douglas (1964) - Middle class parents and children’s education

Answer 7

Middle class parents take more interest in their children’s education

Question 8

STUDY - Newson & newson (1963)

Answer 8

More skilled in child rearing practices

Question 9

STUDY - Bourdieu (1977)

Answer 9

Education system biased in favour of the middle class