patterns and trends in social class

Question 1

what are the life changes some members of society have that Weber (1948) identified?

Answer 1

-Weber first defined the term life chances to describe how some members of society have much better opportunities than others to achieve the things in life that most people would see as desirable
-these may include:
the chance to live a long and healthy life the chances to achieve good educational qualifications and go onto higher education
the chance to have a fulfilling and well paid job and avoid being made unemployed the chance to own your own home in a desirable area with open spaces and leisure facilities
`the chance to enjoy paid holidays and a range of leisure activities to appreciate cultural amenities like music and art

Question 2

what did Weber say about life chances?

Answer 2

• Weber saw life chances as closely linked to a persons social class background
• the higher a persons social class, the greater their opportunities to achieve desirable things in life, such as those above them
• modern sociologists would point out that other kinds of social inequalities also affect life chances
• for example, women have traditionally had worse life chances in terms of achieving high paid and high status jobs than men

Question 3

what are social class inequalities in income?

Answer 3

• income inequalities are tha basis of many social class inequalities in society like the UK
• a persons income affects their access to a variety of things that might be regarded as desirable in society, including the kind of food they eat, the value, quality and location of their housing, access to transport such as car ownership and ability to afford consumer goods

Question 4

what is income?

Answer 4

-income refers to the flow of money to a person or household over a time period
-for example, monthly or annually
-the main sources of income for people in the UK include:
earnings from employment or self employment state benefits
pensions interest and dividends from savings and investments

Question 5

what are income statistics?

Answer 5

• the family resources survey is a government sponsored survey that provides information about the living conditions and resources of households in the UK
• the annual survey of hours and earnings provides information about the levels, distribution and make up of earnings and hours worked for employees in all industries and occupations
• the ASHE is based on a 1% sample of employees jobs taken from HM revenue and customs pay as you earn records
• the British household panel survey is a form of longitudinal survey began in 1991 and follows the same representative sample of individuals the panel over a period of years which is household based interviewing every adult member of sampled households

Question 6

what are trends in income distribution?

Answer 6

• Britain is one of the most unequal societies in Europe in terms of incomes and has become more unequal in the last 30 years
• from the 1950s to the 1970s, there was a slight narrowing of income inequalities but during the 1980s, inequalities of income increased sharply during the period that Margret Thatcher was Prime Minister
• the government during this period cut rates of income tax for the very rich and also cut the link between earnings and many state benefits
• this meant that though benefits increased with inflation, they gradually lagged behind the rise in earnings, which has generally increased faster than prices
• while the rise in income inequality slowed down in the 1990s, it has increased again in recent years

Question 7

what is the effects of taxes and benefits on income distribution?

Answer 7

• the government takes more in taxes from the rich than the poor and gives more to the poor in benefits than the rich
• however the tax and benefits system is not as redistributive as many people imagine
• in 2013 the poorest 5th of the population paid far less tax in cash terms than the richest 5th but as a proportion of their income the poorest 5th paid more at 37.4% of their incomes compared to 35.1% of the incomes of the richest 5th
• one reason for this is that though direct taxes fall most heavily on the rich, indirect taxes fall most heavily on the poor
• a poor person buying a litre of petrol pays the same duty as a rich person but it represents a much larger share of their income

Question 8

what are incomes of high earners?

Answer 8

• in recent years there has been considerable debate about the salaries of bankers and top executives of large companies
• many such high earners receive not only very large basic salaries but also annual bonuses that are often several times their annual salary
• crit9iscs would point out that even executives of companies that are performing poorly received bonuses, which are supposedly a reward for high performance

Question 9

what did the high pay centre (2012) say about the incomes of high earners?

Answer 9

• in 2012 the High Pay Centre reported that the total pay of chief executives of the 100 largest companies on the London Stock Exchange had risen by 49% during the previous year alone, compared with average increases of less than 3% for their employees
• the rise left the chief executives with average pay of £4.2m
• that was 145 times the average pay of their employees and 162 times the British average wage

Question 10

what are debates against income inequality?

Answer 10

whether income inequalities matter is open to debate

• some sociologists and economics would point to the absolute increase in incomes of almost everyone in UK society over the last 50 years
• while the rich have got richer, poor people are also better off
• an alternative view would point to the relative inequality between rich and poor
• the incomes of the poor have only risen very slowly since the 1970s, while those on middle incomes have enjoyed much larger increases in real terms
• the richest members of society have seen the biggest increase of incomes overall and critics of the way that income is distributed today would argue that we live in an increasingly unjust society as a result

Question 11

what do functionalist and New Right thinkers say about income inequality?

Answer 11

• functionalist and New Right thinkers have argued that unequal rewards are actually beneficial for society as they ensure that those with talent are encouraged to work hard and use their abilities
• this argument is often used as a justification for the high salaries and pbonuses offered to top businesspeople
• it is argued that unless companies in the UK offer large salaries, they will not be able to compete for highly skilled staff with companies in other developed countries in a global market

Question 12

what do Marxist and Weberian thinkers say about income inequality?

Answer 12

• sociologists influenced by Marxist and Weberian perspectives would argue that senior managers and company directors are often in a position to determine their own salaries
• it is the power that such individuals have within their organisations that allows them to create a culture where huge rewards have become the norm
• ordinary workers on the other hand have to bargin for their rewards on the other hand have to bargin for their rewards either individually or through trade unions and may have little opinion but to accept whatever wages and other rewards employers are willing to offer