Social Class And Identity

Question 1

What is a social class?

Answer 1

A group of people with similar status, sharing comparable levels of power and wealth

Question 2

What is stratification?

Answer 2

Society has layers, with the wealthy at the top and the poor at the bottom

Question 3

Which theory is social class a key area of focus for?

Answer 3

Marxists

Question 4

What are the bourgeoisie?

Answer 4

• The ruling classes
• Own the means of production
• Maintains a position of power

Question 5

What are the proletariat?

Answer 5

• Working class
• Sell their labour in exchange for a wage
• Wage will always be less than the work is worth

Question 6

What would Marxists say is the social structure on which other features rest?

Answer 6

Social class

Question 7

Who spoke about the underclass?

Answer 7

Murray

Question 8

Who spoke about cultural capital?

Answer 8

Bourdieu

Question 9

Who spoke about cultural deprivation?

Answer 9

Sugarman

Question 10

What are the two dimensions of social class?

Answer 10

Objective and subjective

Question 11

What is the objective dimension of social class?

Answer 11

Aspects of social class that exist independently of people’s thought and ideas

Question 12

What is the subjective dimension of social class?

Answer 12

People’s personal perception of the social class they think they belong to

Question 13

What is cultural capital?

Answer 13

The accumulation of knowledge, behaviour and skills that someone can tap into to demonstrate someone’s social status or standing, judged by knowledge, accent, clothing, hobbies etc.

Question 14

What does Bourdieu argue backs up cultural capital?

Answer 14

Economic (money) and social (connections) capital

Question 15

What is the concept of relativity?

Answer 15

Someone may be considered poor in one country but rich in another

Question 16

Who argues that consumption is more important than social class?

Answer 16

Post modernists

Question 17

What do post modernists say about class as a source of identity?

Answer 17

• Consumption is more important
• Class based assumptions about leisure time is out dated
• Choice outweighs social class, anyone can go to opera or theatre

Question 18

What did Marshall say about social class identity?

Answer 18

Economic changes have made it fragmented, manual labour jobs are less common

Question 19

What does Sounders say about social class identity?

Answer 19

We live in an equal opportunity meritocracy so social class isn’t relevant anymore

Question 20

Who are the three main groups in the upper class?

Answer 20

• Traditional- royalty/ ‘old rich’
• Owners of industry- ‘corporate rich’
• Stars of entertainment- celebrities

Question 21

What features of upper class subculture did Scott identify?

Answer 21

• Socialisation
• Education
• Lifestyle and leisure time

Question 22

How does Lawler suggests the middle class secures its identity?

Answer 22

Through taste

Question 23

How does Lawler say working class people are viewed by the middle class?

Answer 23

Viewed as worthless, frightening and threatening, with bad clothes, food, and behaviour

Question 24

Does Jones echo or challenge Lawler’s view on how the middle class treat the working class?

Answer 24

Jones echos it, saying working class are treated as ‘scum of the earth’ and stereotyped as chavs

Question 25

What are the 5 groups of middle class?

Answer 25

• The professionals
• Managers in the private sector
• Self employed small business owners
• Financial and creative middle class
• Lower middle class

Question 26

Why has the traditional working class declined?

Answer 26

Many industries have closed down such as mining, fishing, docking, etc.

Question 27

Who says the traditional working class had strong moral values?

Answer 27

Hoggart

Question 28

What caused the traditional working class to have strong moral values?

Answer 28

Risk of unemployment or ill health

Question 29

What 3 particular values did Hoggart acknowledge within the working class?

Answer 29

• Imediate gratification- enjoying pleasures now not later
• Present orientation- focus on here and now not long term
• Fatalism- accepting the situation they are in

Question 30

When did the new working class first emerge?

Answer 30

1960s

Question 31

Who came up with the underclass?

Answer 31

Murray

Question 32

How did Murray characterise the underclass?

Answer 32

• High illegitimacy, family instability, lone parenthood
• Drunkeness
• Crime, benefit fraud, drug use
• Exclusion from school/ educational failure
• Work shy attitude, living off benefits

Question 33

What did Jones say about the underclass view of the working class?

Answer 33

• Demonisation of the working class
• ‘white trash’ ‘social scum’
• Offensive stereotypes replace hard-working traditional working class

Question 34

Who said that class is dead as an important factor in identity?

Answer 34

Pakulski and Waters

Question 35

What did Pakulski and Waters say has replaced class as a factor in identity?

Answer 35

Lifestyle and consumption patterns

Question 36

Which theory says identity is becoming fluid and changeable?

Answer 36

Postmodernists

Question 37

Who says people can pick ‘n’ mix different identities?

Answer 37

Postmodernists

Question 38

According to the British Social Attitudes survey in 2012, how many people identify with any class?

Answer 38

95%

Question 39

According to the British Social Attitudes survey in 2012, how many people identify with the middle class?

Answer 39

A third

Question 40

According to the British Social Attitudes survey in 2012, how many people identify with the working class?

Answer 40

6 in 10