Social Class Inequalities

Question 1

Family

Answer 1

• Corse et al
• Kiernan & Mueller
• Crompton
• Reay
• Katz et al
• Bourdieu

Question 2

Corse et al

Answer 2

• Argues the working class are now less likely to get and stay married & have children within marriage.
• Due to rise in unstable casual employment

Question 3

Kiernan & Mueller

Answer 3

• Argue the higher rates of divorce among the working class are often the result of financial problems.

Question 4

Crompton

Answer 4

• Argues family still plays a part in ensuring class reproduction
• Economic capital/ wealthier parents pass on money, businesses & assets etc.
• Cultural capital/ middle class parents have cultural knowledge to help children do well in education

Question 5

Reay

Answer 5

• Argues working class parents lack the economic, social & cultural capital to help their children gain entry to the higher professions

Question 6

Katz et al

Answer 6

• Argue whiles most parents living in poverty are resilient & have strong coping skills, the stress of this may make it more difficult for them to bring up children effectively.

Question 7

Bourdieu

Answer 7

Upper and middle class can socialise children into cultural and social capital & use economic capital to give them advantages

Question 8

Work and Employment

Answer 8

• Lansley
• Weber
• JRF
• ONS
• Goldthorpe

Question 9

Lansley

Answer 9

• Polarising of labour market
• Hour glass labour market - increase in well paid and low paid jobs and decrease in middle paid jobs.

Question 10

Weber

Answer 10

The upper and middle class have
- Superior market situation (good financial rewards)
- Superior work situation (higher status, good working conditions etc.)

Question 11

JRF

Answer 11

• Low pay no pay cycle is more likely to be experienced by low paid working class.

Question 12

ONS (Work and employment)

Answer 12

• Shows 2.3% of labour force are employed on zero-hours contracts as a main job in 2014.
• They referred to as the reserve army of labour by Marxists

Question 13

Goldthorpe

Answer 13

• Found relative mobility rates were low
• 1:2:4 relative rule of hope:
  The chance of a working class boy had of reaching the service class, intermediate boy had twice the chance, service sector boy has 4x the chance
• This decreases chances of inter generational mobility

Question 14

Education

Answer 14

• Waldfogel & Washbrook
• Social mobility & child poverty commission figures
• Kynaston

Question 15

Waldfogel & Washbrook

Answer 15

• Found children from higher income backgrounds do significantly better in a range of early years outcomes than the working class.
• School readiness, age 3
• Vocabulary & behaviour, age 5

Question 16

Social mobility & child poverty commission

Answer 16

• Low ability children from wealthy families overtake high ability children from poor families during primary school.
• Children eligible for FSM are twice as likely to be NEET at age 16 compared to other children.

Question 17

Kynaston

Answer 17

• Argues whilst only 7% of the population are educated at private schools, they take up 45% of Oxbridge places.

Question 18

Wealth

Answer 18

• ONS
• Clark & Cummins

Question 19

ONS (wealth)

Answer 19

• Found, the richest 50% own 92% of the countries wealth, leaving the poorest 50% with just 8%.
• 1996- 75% of Sunday times rich list inherited and 25% self made
• 2011- 75% self made and 25% inherited

Question 20

Clark & Cummins

Answer 20

• Found rich families stay rich for generations
• Descendants of the wealthy of 1858 are still much wealthier than the average person in 2012