Identity: Social Class Flashcards
Who are the working class?
The working class used to form the majority of the population, but it is shrinking. It was traditionally made up of manual workers and those with trades.
Hutton (1995)
Argues that the decline in trade union memberships and the dispersal of working-class communities has now worn down working-class identity. Unlike the underclass, the working class are often seen as a hard-working, straight-talking identity.
Skeggs (1997)
Studied working-class women who felt humiliated by the ways in which others judged and dismissed them due to their working-class background. As a result, the women made an effort to show they are respectable, taking care in how they dressed, their leisure pursuits and home decorations.
Who are the underclass?
This term was originally used by sociologists from conflict perspectives who wanted to draw attention to the rejection and exclusion that people faced by those who were at the very bottom of society, the ones who lacked opportunities in terms of education, health and earning good money. However, the term is now often used in a negative way to describe those who rely on benefits and are blamed for their own situation due to the choices they have made.
Murray (1984)
Argues that over-generous benefits encourage some people to develop a culture, or set of norms and values, in which they do not take responsibility for their own actions and have an expectation that they will be ‘looked after by the state’. This group are also often portrayed in very negative ways in the media, such as on ‘The Jeremy Kyle Show’ and ‘Shameless’.
Who are the middle class?
The middle class are now seen as the majority of the population. They are likely to have been university-educated and to own their own homes. However, these features now apply to more and more of the population as access to home ownership and education has spread, more people are self-employed, and there are fewer people working in manual jobs or trades. Because of this, the middle class are a very diverse group, containing a wide variety of people with different incomes, attitudes and lifestyles.
Fox (2004)
Discusses ‘upper middles’, ‘middle middles’ and ‘lower middles’ to show these differences within the middle class. There is also a big difference between public-sector job, such as teachers and nurses, and private-sector jobs, such as lawyers and bankers. Therefore, it is unlikely that every one of middle class sees themselves with the same identity.
Who are the upper class?
Traditionally, the upper class are those with inherited wealth, often in the form of land.
Mackintosh and Mooney (2004)
Pointed out that a key feature of the upper class is their invisibility. The upper class function on ‘social closure’, meaning that their education, leisure time and daily lives are separated from and partially invisible to the rest of the population. However, it could be argued that this group is declining in numbers and power, and that the new “super-rich”, based on achieved rather than ascribed (inherited) status, are now much more significant.
