Class inequality Flashcards
Individuals from a working class background are less likely to have a professional career than middle/upper classes
Workplace
- Bordieau- w/c lack social (less professional contacts), economic (networking opportunities costing money) and cultural (accent, dress on getting a job) capital
- W/c are 2.5x less likely to have a professional job
There is a pay gap in professional industries
Workplace
- Social mobility commission found a class pay gap, in which those of a w/c background are paid 16% less
- Freidman- a reason for the pay gap is unconcious discrimination, where opportunities/promotions are based on perceptions of who has the ‘right cultural fit’ (accent, lesiure, dress)
Class inequality in the workplace can be seen through differences in job security and work related benefits
Workplace
- Barron and Norris suggest the ‘dual labour market theory’ divides occupations into 2 labour markets:
- Primary labour market- professional jobs, high job security, opportunities for development, work related benefits (sick/holiday pay, pension)
- Secondary labour marker- manual jobs, low job security, less opportunities, few benefits, zero hour contracts, poorer working conditions
There are high levels of income inequality in the workplace, based on class
Workplace
- Amazon workers are paid £11 an hour vs Jeff Bezos (the owner) has a fortune of $120 billion. Those paid minimum wage are disadvantages as they struggle to afford basic necessities (vs upper/middle class)
There is evidence of a digital class divide
Helpser- digital social world
- Helsper- digital underclass= those who cannot afford the latest technology, so cannot access the benefits (education, career, knowledge, services)
There is evidence of a digital class divide
Martens and D’Haenens- digital social world
- Martens and D’Haenens- class has an impact on internt use- working class use the interent less than the middle class. W/C use interent for entertainment, rather than education- placed at a disadvantage
There are class inequalities in offending
Crime
- The working class are over-represented in the prison population
- Reiner says there is a working class bias in the prison population- 74% of prisoners were unemployed or in low paid, unskilled manual jobs
There may be a class bias in the process of policing and criminalisation
Crime
- Chambliss- criminal acts are committed by all classes, but offending is comcentrated in the w/c, due to the way the police operate. Police resources are mostly dedicated to combating street crime, associated with the w/c (e.g. burgarly) vs few resources to white-collar crimes (e.g. tax fraud)
There are class inequalities in victimisation
Crime
- High crime areas tend to be in deprived/inner neighbourhoods, populated by the w/c. Risk of being a victim of violent crime is linked to income
- Kinsey (Merseyide crime survery)- people on low incomes suffer more than those on high incomes as a result of crime, as w/c may be unable to afford home insurance
There are class inequalities within education, according to the FSM data
Education
In 2022, 29% of FSM (free school meal) pupils achieved grade 5+ in GCSE english and maths vs 57% of non FSM pupils. Non FSM pupils are 2X as likely to pass
Smith and Noble- there is a lack of funds in low income families to pay for school resources (e.g. textbooks, laptops, tuition), which leads to kids falling behind. Covid- wealth-related differences led to decreases in educational resources. There is a link between low income kids and higher rates of abscence
Private school students are overrepresented in the top jobs
The Sutton Trust (2019) analysed educational backgrounds of 5,000 people in top jobs. 5X more likely to have been privately educated. Sir Peter Lampl- ‘increasingly divided society’. ‘Power rests within a narrow section of the population’= the 7% who attended private schools and 1% Oxford/Cambridge graduates
