Class Flashcards
How many people were paid below minimum wage in 2019?
5 million people were paid below it at £9.30 according to the living wage foundation
What did the social mobility commission 2017 find?
When professionals from a working class background have the same educational attainment, role and experience as their colleagues from a more affluent background but still receive a 17% pay gap
How do odds in managerial differ depending on backgrounds?
2.5 times higher than those from lower class backgrounds
How were unemployment rates for 25 to 29 year olds in 2022?
UK official government statistics found that 3% in these age bracket were unemployed but this rose to 6% for those from a lower class background
What do High Pay Centre figure 2018 show?
The median annual pay of chief executives of the 100 largest companies was £4.85 million which is 145 time higher than the average pay of their employees
What are the NE-SEC eight social classes?
1 - Higher managerial and professional
2 - Lower managerial and professional
3- Intermediate
4 - Small employees and own account workers
5 - Lower supervisory and craft related
6 - Semi-routine
7 - Routine
8 - Unemployed or never worked
What was the average net income of the richest 10%?
It is 10 times higher than the net income than the poorest 10%
What are differences in income?
When considering wealth (property, physical, financial and private pension) with 850 times differences between the richest and poorest 10%
How was absolute poverty defined in 2015?
Through people using foodbanks and pensioners choosing between heating and eating however this is dependent on time and the individual’s social needs
What did the Sutton trust find?
Free school meal children were less likely to achieve 5 or more 5-9 grades at GCSE compared to those who are not
What did the Joseph Rowntree foundation find?
1 in 5 people in 2021 lived in poverty which is the highest number in 25 years. This is disproportionate as this rose to 30% amongst children
How many more working class children would survive if mortality rates were the same as the middle class?
3500
What were foodbank numbers in 2018?
Used by 4 million people in the UK meaning they may suffer from nutritional deficiencies as the produce is processed rather than fresh (Wakeman 2015)
What did Wilkinson and Pickett (2014) find?
Working class people are more likely to die before retirement due to cancer, stroke and heart disease because of the nature of their jobs. This is especially significant in London as there a 25 year life expectancy different between the rich and poor
What are the percentage differences in smoking depending on jobs?
12.7% of those in managerial and professional occupations smoked compared to 28.4% in routine and manual occupations
What is intergenerational mobility?
Moving social class positions between generations
What is intragenerational mobility?
Moving social class positions in a person’s lifetime
What was the OMS survey about mobility?
They conducted a sample of 10,000 men across 2 generations and found a ratio of1:2:4 where for every working class boys that climbed into a professional ladder, 2 middle class and four upper class men did
What percentage of people went to private school?
6%
What are differences in a level results based on free school meals?
Only 16% achieved at least 2 a-levels by the age of 19 compared to 39% of other students
How does class affect getting a degree
80% of upper class children went onto higher education compared to only 14% of lower class people, this is especially concerning as 66% of those in the top 2 NS-SEC social classes had a university degree
What does Wright (1985) say?
The workforce reinforced existing class inequalities through unequal pay, limited opportunities for advancement and the control of labour by those who own the means of production. This is through the concept of contradictory class locations where individuals share proletariat characteristics explaining the growth of the middle class through managers creating a more complex view than the two-fold class model.
What Marxist theories can you link to?
- Marx (1867)
- Bourdieu and capital to legitimise their position through symbolic domination
What is Neo-Marxist Althusser (1970)’s theory on state apparatus?
Repressive state apparatus transmits class ideology through explicit control via the government and the legal system. The ideological state apparatus socialises us to accept the ideology thus reinforcing a false consciousness
What did Bowles and Gintis (1976) argue?
The myth of meritocracy promoted by the education system to legitimise the success of bourgeoise children whilst working class children are taught in school to accept academic failure and adopt qualities required by the capitalist system of obedience and respect
What did Braverman (1974) argue?
Capitalist production methods are designed to deskill workers and reduce their control over the labour process through simple jobs and repetitive tasks making them easily replaceable with machinery for efficiency. This deskilling makes workers vulnerable to exploitation creating dissatisfaction, low moral and mental health problems
What does Hartmann (1979) argue?
She utilises Marxist analysis to suggest that capitalist societies treat women’s oppression as secondary arguing capitalism and patriarchy are intertwined systems that mutually reinforce each other so they both need to be addressed for true female liberation. This because when are socialised to partake in the social reproduction of labour production by producing children and passing on the capitalist ideology
What do Functionalists Davis and Moore (1945) discuss?
Education sifts and sorts individuals into appropriate roles that suit their abilities via examinations and qualifications. If societies are to operate effectively, they have to ensure that their most functionally important and senior positions are operated by those who are talented and efficient hence the need to pay them higher salaries. Stratification therefore encourages all members of society to work to the best of their ability
How does Saunders (1990) defend the right wing version of socialism?
Inequality is essential for people to work hard, take risks and innovate for economic growth. It is a natural outcome of the meritocratic system where individuals are rewarded based on abilities and efforts and government intervention would limit individual initiative through a dependency culture and economic efficiency
What do Weberians Barron and Norris (1976) argue?
They coined the terms the dual labour market demonstrating Weber’s ideas of class as those i the secondary labour market have lower status, less job security and fewer rights than those in the primary labour market (middle class)
What does Weberian Parkin (1968) argue?
They look at tactics to defend/improve your position linking it to social closure by having open and closed social relations and the different motivations as for the middle class, they would want to usurp the upper class and exclude the lower class
What is Murray’s (1984) theory of the underclass?
He argues that over - generous benefits encourage some people to develop a culture in which they don’t take responsibility for their own actions and have an expectation that they will be looked after the state. This can be applied to deviance as:
- Dependency on the state is a lifestyle choice that can be seen as deviant
- Single mothers under socialise their sons with no moral guidance increasing their likeliness to commit crime
- Fatherless teenage girls have children young to find a father figure creating a vicious cycle within the underclass
- Boys feel no need to be fathers
Lack of value consensus develop values such as laziness, dependency and criminality
What does New Right Mead (1986) argue?
The introduction of welfare programmes with mandatory work requirements will break the cycle of poverty by developing work habits and skills to transition into the labour market. This emphasises the importance of personal responsibility in order for them not to repeat the same behaviour
How can Saunders (1990) further link to the New Right?
Homeownership promotes social stability, individual responsibility and economic prosperity. They criticise policies that promote social housing or rent controls as it encourages dependency on the state. They also utilise the concept of equality of opportunity as achievements in society is based on merit so those who are poor, unqualifies and unemployment with multiple deprivation characteristics have increased decency on the state and a culture of fatalism so their attitude and behaviour contributes to their position
