Evidence of Inequality - Social class

Question 1

Workplace

Mac an Ghail

Answer 1

deindustrialisation has lead to a ‘Crisis of masculinity’ amongst working class males – They face unemployment.

Question 2

Workplace

Willis

Answer 2

Working class males see their future as working in basic manual labour jobs - therefore they do not aspire for more

Question 3

Workplace

McKenzie

Answer 3

Once they’d been made redundant from their steel works job the men in his study felt a loss of identity from their tight knit communities associated with their job. Their loss of role as a breadwinner led to them feeling a loss of status and identity.

Question 4

Workplace

Inequality Briefing (2019)

Answer 4

The top 20% of wealthiest people in the UK own 60% of all the UKs wealth, showing real extremes of rich and poor.

Question 5

Workplace

Scott

Answer 5

The social closure exercised by the upper class ensures they have the highest concentration of wealth. E.g. intermarriage, high culture and the old boy network.

Question 6

Workplace

Milburn

Answer 6

Cosy club‘ UK’s top jobs remain “disproportionately held by people from a narrow range of backgrounds”.

Question 7

Workplace

The High Pay Centre (2012)

Answer 7

The total pay of chief executives of the 100 largest companies on the London Stock Exchange had risen by 49% compared with average increases of less than 3% for their employees. Chief executives average pay = £4.2m, 145 times more than their employees and 162 times more than the average working Britain.

Question 8

Education

Bourdieu

Answer 8

Education system is biased towards the culture of the dominant classes and it devalues the knowledge and skills of the working class through the ‘hidden curriculum’. Furthermore, he argues that the main function of education is social reproduction and education discriminates against the working class because they lack the cultural capital to succeed.

Question 9

Education

Willis

Answer 9

Working class ‘lads’ were fatalistic about their manual labour futures - They were negatively labelled by teachers as a result and did not work hard as they did not see the value of education in relation to their future in unskilled work.

Question 10

Education

Lacey

Answer 10

Setting students meant that those from deprived backgrounds were placed in lower sets.

Question 11

Education

Jackson

Answer 11

Working class ladettes are generally working class and adopt anti-school attitudes – They adopt an assertive femininity around smoking and arguing with teachers - As a result they were negatlively labelled by their teachers.

Question 12

Education

The Department for Education

Answer 12

ttainment 8 measures a student’s average grade across eight subjects based on anything above a grade 5: Those eligible for free school meals (FSM - i.e. students from the most deprived backgrounds) - 34.4% - Those not eligible for FSM - 48.3%

Question 13

Education

Scott

Answer 13

The upper class pay for their children to attend private schools where a culture of privilege is instilled. Their hidden curriculum teaches values such as superiority, conservatism and acceptance of authority. These justify their privilege in terms of public service and common good. They also gain connections with others during this time - Known as ‘the old boy network’ that can later be used to gain ‘top jobs’.

Question 14

Education

Bourdieu

Answer 14

uggests that education helps to socialise students into middle class identities - He states that the whole environment of school is similar to aspects of their home lives. Bourdieu suggests that the middle classes better ‘cultural capital’ meaning they have a wealth of knowledge and leisure interests and also have a comprehensive level of language which serves to advantage them children in the education system. This also explains why the working class do not achieve as highly in education - This is passed on through social reproduction of inequalities

Question 15

education

Kenway

Answer 15

at girls’ private schools, the girls were encouraged to develop high levels of self esteem by devaluing those girls who went to state schools.

Question 16

education

Becker

Answer 16

Argues that middle class pupils are labelled as the ‘ideal pupil’ based on having smart uniforms, articulating themselves and having good knowledge they can use within lessons, therefore teachers label them more positively than working class students leading to their higher attainment in education.

Question 17

Media

Helsper

Answer 17

points out that the government plans to make public services ‘digital by default’ meaning that these individuals will be unable to access them.  They also found out that children from poorer homes are becoming victims of a "digital divide" because their parents lack the skills to help them use the internet as effectively as their middle-class counterparts, says research. Children from better-off backgrounds not only had greater access to the world wide web at home but were more likely to exploit its array of resources.
The ‘digital underclass’ refers to the cohort of people who cannot afford digital communication devices. This lack of devices can lead to disadvantages and inequalities in contemporary society and can mean that they face less social capital as a result.

Question 18

Media

Price

Answer 18

developed the concept of ‘poverty porn’ to describe programmes such as Channel 4’s Benefit Street. Price found this led to the underclass being exploited by the media to shock and entertain audiences. This encourages the underclass to be condemned by the hard working middle and upper classes. Despite using a discourse analysis to find that the shows were produced and designed for viewers to be empathetic to the underclass, many found their own personal experiences of this group to override the meanings behind the documentary.

Question 19

Media

Milliband (Marxist)

Answer 19

tates that the media is the new “opium of the people” in that it distracts us as the working class masses from real social issues faced in a capitalist society. Miliband states that in a capitalist society inequality is inevitable, justifiable and effective for the ruling class to control the masses - The media is just another way we are controlled.

Question 20

Crime

Harding

Answer 20

Working class youths in London face deprivation and turn to crime for income – Harding calls this a ‘Street Casino’ as they turn to crime and gamble with their lives – street capital is gained through committing deviance/criminal activities.

Question 21

Crime

Walmsley et al

Answer 21

41% of prisoners are from the lowest social classes. But only 19% of the overall population.

Question 22

Crime

Youth Lifestyles Survey (1999)

Answer 22

Found that the lowest social classes are more likely to be persistent or serious offenders.