SOCIAL CLASS IDENTITY

Question 1

Bourdieu

Answer 1

as a Marxist, argued that it is the power
of the ruling class that allows them to define the
knowledge and skills that are valued, and to ensure
that they, and their children, are in the best
position to acquire them, giving them an unfair
advantage.

Question 2

Hutton (1995)

Answer 2

Has argued that the decline in trade union memberships, and the dispersal of working-class communities has eroded working-
class identity.

Question 3

Skeggs (1997)

Answer 3

Skeggs studied working-class women who felt humiliated by the ways in
which others, such as teachers and doctors, judged and dismissed them
due to their working-class background. As a result, the women made a
strenuous effort to show they were ‘respectable’ in the way they
dressed, their leisure pursuits and home decorations.

Question 4

Murray (1984)

Answer 4

Argues that overgenerous benefits encourage some people
to develop a culture, in which they do not take responsibility for their own
actions and have an expectation they will be looked after by the state.

Question 5

Pakulski and Waters (1996)

Answer 5

Suggest that there has
been a shift from production to consumption in the definition of identities –
we are now defined by what we buy, not what we do.

Question 6

Offe (1985)

Answer 6

argues that in today’s society, fewer and fewer individuals share
a common, unifying experience of full time work – which is the experience
that used to shape the culture of social class.

Question 7

Mackintosh and Mooney (2004)

Answer 7

have pointed out that a key feature of the upper
class is their invisibility.
The upper class operate ‘social closure’ which means their education, leisure time,
and daily activities are separated from and partially invisible to the rest of the
population.