Evidence - Social Class Inequalities Flashcards
Income + Wealth - Mac an Ghail (Working class - Disadvantage)
States that deindustrialisation has lead to a ‘Crisis of masculinity’ amongst working class males – They face unemployment.
Income + Wealth - Joseph Rowntree Foundation (Working class - Disadvantage)
found that around 18% of workers in the bottom fifth of hourly pay rates say they would like to work more hours, but they are not available. Lack of affordable, flexible childcare and the cost and availability of transport often restricts the hours they can work.
Income + Wealth - Equality Trust (Working class - Disadvantage)
found that 0.1% of the top earners in the UK hold an average income of £1,000,970 in comparison to an average salary of £12,969 held by 90% of the UK
Income + Wealth - Scott (Middle/Upper class - Advantage)
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.
Income + Wealth - Milburn (Middle/Upper class - Advantage)
‘Cosy club‘ UK’s top jobs remain “disproportionately held by people from a narrow range of backgrounds”.
Income + Wealth - Rowlingson and Mullineux (Middle/Upper class - Advantage)
Wealthy people can become insulated from the lives of others (social closure), they have more political influence and this can be a threat to the democratic process. Those on higher incomes are also more likely to receive an inheritance of high value.
Education - Jackson (Working class - Disadvantage)
Working class ladettes are generally working class and adopt anti-school attitudes – They adopt an assertive femininity around smoking and arguing with teachers.
Education - Bourdieu (Working class - Disadvantage)
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.
Education - Willis (Working class - Disadvantage)
Working class males see their futures as working in basic manual labour jobs like their fathers therefore they do not aspire for more - This means that they create anti-school subcultures and are negatively labelled by teachers.
Education - Scott (Middle/Upper class - Advantage)
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’.
Education - Kenway (Middle/Upper class - Advantage)
At girls’ private schools, the girls were encouraged to develop high levels of self esteem by devaluing those girls who went to state schools.
Education - Becker (Middle/Upper class - Advantage)
Argues that middle class pupils are labelled as the ‘ideal pupil’, therefore teachers label them more positively leading to their achievement in education.
Media - Milliband (Working class - Disadvantage)
argued that the media is the new ‘opium of the people’, which replaced Marx’s observation that religion is the ‘opium of the people’, in that it distracts us as the working class masses from real social issues faced in a capitalist society. Milliband suggests that inequalities are presented as inevitable, justifiable and effective for society. The proletariat accepts the values of the ruling class, despite not being in their best interest, the media is just another way in which we are controlled
Media - Price (Working class - Disadvantage)
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.
Media - Jones (Working class - Disadvantage)
Discusses the use of the word chav (council housed and violent) and explains this has become a way of describing working class culture and people. He developed the concept of ‘chavtainment’ to describe shows that portray a negative view of the working class as ‘bigoted, slothful and aggressive’, This has changed the views from working class being described as ‘salt of the earth’ to ‘scum of the earth.’
