Social Class & Inequality

Question 1

Finish the sentence from Bottero (2004)

Class is used both as an…

Answer 1

…objective measure of social hierarchy and also a subjective sense of individual identity.

Question 2

Chalabi (2013) what did ‘toffs and toughs’ symbolise? And what is the difference today?

Answer 2

‘Toffs and toughs’ symbolised the British class divide in the 1930s.
Today differences in clothing/appearance might not be so stark or reliable as an indicator of social class.

Question 3

Why historically did people think there were physical/biological differences between the classes?

Answer 3

Upper classes tended to live longer than the working class as they could afford health care & a better diet.
The working classes also tended to be shorter.
Links to dated idea of class being a form of race.

Question 4

Who said ‘Class is everywhere and yet it is nowhere’?

Answer 4

Bradley (2016)

Question 5

When defining class what often is the focus on? And what distinction is made within sociology?

Answer 5

Often the focus is in economic measures of difference e.g. those rooted in property and employment relations.
Within sociology a distinction between economic difference of class and cultural difference of status is needed.

Question 6

Describe how the creation of class based organisations contribute to the class consciousness of the working class?

Answer 6

The formation of class based organisations and class consciousness becomes mutually reinforcing.
Workers identify with each other and recognised their mutual, collective interests. 
It helps transforms a ‘class in itself’ into a ‘class for itself’.

Question 7

What does Weber say about the role of economic power in class formation?

Answer 7

Weber decentres the role of economic power in the formation of social groups, giving equal weight to other sources of power e.g. social honour or status.

Question 8

State examples of objective aspects of class

Answer 8

Health
Education
Possessions

Question 9

State a health statistic about the objective aspects of class

Answer 9

Those from unskilled occupations (52%) suffer from long-term conditions more than groups from professional occupations (33%)

Question 10

State an education statistic about the objective aspects of class

Answer 10

Department of education (2017)
Estimated (24%) of pupils who received free school meals aged 15 entered higher education by age 19, compared to (41%) of non-FSM pupils.

Question 11

State a housing statistic about the objective aspects of class

Answer 11

The Guardian (2013)
Housing costs are so high they exacerbating inequality.
Now takes 20 years for the average worker to save enough for a deposit to buy their own home, in 1998 it only took three years.

Question 12

State some subjective aspects of class

Answer 12

Language, self-image and identity e.g. regional accents - people may be prejudice if people don’t speak in a ‘middle class way’.  
Cultural capital e.g. tastes, cultural knowledge

Question 13

Describe Skeggs (1997) study about class identity and their findings

Answer 13

Study of 83 working class women on caring courses in F.E colleges. 
Found that class was central to the women’s identities but in a negative way, experiencing it as a stigmatising identity and something to be escaped from.

Question 14

Skeggs (1997) why do people employ a process of dis-identification?

Answer 14

To distance themselves from the negative representations of the working class as being ‘rough’, ‘common’ or ‘chavy.’

Question 15

What is Bourdeiu’s quote about classes defining themselves in opposition to one another?

Answer 15

‘Taste is first and foremost the distaste of the taste of others.’

Question 16

Bourdieu (1977) define cultural capital.

Answer 16

Refers to the knowledge, attitudes, values, language and abilities of the middle class.
It consists of linguistic and cultural competence and can only be reproduced by a family upbringing that transmits the dominant culture of society.

Question 17

What does Waters say about cultural capital?

Answer 17

Categories such as lifestyle, taste and fashion have become the key sources of social differentiation, displacing class and political affiliation.

Question 18

Define deindustrialisation

Answer 18

Shift from primary industries and manufacturing to service industry jobs.
Many of which serve the growth in consumerism.
From coal to call centres.

Question 19

How does deindustrialisation contribute to the death of social class? (Bauman)

Answer 19

Deindustrialisation breaks down traditional class identities based on industrial manufacturing.
Cultural blurring of class boundaries where the rise of consumerism prioritises consumption rather than production as primary source of identity.
Bauman - individuals become dis-embedded from traditional and stable social structures e.g. work, religion, family.

Question 20

What do Beck and Giddens say about individualisation and class identity?

Answer 20

Individualisation means our identity are based on choice rather than class processes.

Question 21

State some evidence that class plays a minimal role in identity

Answer 21

Savage at el (2001)
Interviewed 200 people in four areas of Manchester.
Pls asked about their communities mentioned class when describing others but self-identity with a particular class was ‘hesitant’ and ‘defensive’.

More educated respondents displayed a reflexive ability to play with class identity - those less educated felt threatened by the implications of relating class to their own personal identities.

Question 22

State some evidence for the existence of class identity

Answer 22

Marshell et al (1988)
Large national survey into attitudes to class found (60%) claimed to belong to a certain class and over (90%) places themselves in a specific class category.
Concludes class identity is widespread in British society.

Question 23

What do the findings of the BBC’s British Class Survey (2013) reveal?

Answer 23

Savage et al (2013)
The hard division between middle and working classes has disappeared.
The boundaries between these classes have become blurred.

Question 24

What are the 7 new classes named by the BBC’s British Class Survey (2013)?

Answer 24

1) Precariat
2) Traditional working class
3) Emergent service workers
4) New affluent workers
5) Technical middle class
6) Established middle class
7) Elite

Question 25

Describe what the BBC British Class Survey (2013) means by precariat

Answer 25

Poorest and most deprived class in Britain.
Low levels of economic, cultural and social capital.
Everyday lives of this class are precarious.

Question 26

Describe what the BBC British Class Survey (2013) means by traditional working class

Answer 26

Contains more older members than other classes.
Scores low in economic, cultural and social capital.
Members have reasonably high house values - explained by this group having the oldest average age at 66.

Question 27

Describe what the BBC British Class Survey (2013) means by new affluent workers

Answer 27

Young and active

Members have medium levels of economic capital and higher levels of cultural and social capital.

Question 28

Describe what the BBC British Class Survey (2013) means by established middle class

Answer 28

High levels of economic, cultural and social capital.

Largest, most sociable and culturally engaged group.

Question 29

Describe what the BBC British Class Survey (2013) means by elite

Answer 29

Most privileged class who have high levels of economic, cultural and social capital.
Their high economic capital sets them apart from everyone else.

Question 30

How does the media represent the middle and working class?

Answer 30

Class portrayals are more aggressive and ugly where stereotypes of the working class are concerned.
These often involve a moral panic from chavs to benefit scrounges.
There are stories of a feral underclass which threaten moral values.
Whereas typical portrayals of the middle classes are gentle humour where the aspiring middle class try for cultural capital with embarrassing results - frequently shown in British sit-coms.

Question 31

Define class consciousness

Answer 31

class consciousness is the set of beliefs that a person holds regarding their social class or economic rank in society, the structure of their class, and their class interests.

Question 32

How does Marx describe capitalism as a two class system?

Answer 32

The capitalist class = minority class.
They are the employers who own the means of production (land, factories, machinery, offices).
Make their profits by exploiting the labour of the majority working class.

The working class are forced to sell their labour power to the capitalists since they own no means of production of their own and so have no other source of income.
Work under capitalism is poorly paid, alienated, unsatisfying and workers have no control over this.

Question 33

What does Althusser (1971) say about the state consisting of two elements which serve to keep the bourgeoisie in power?

Answer 33

The repressive state apparatus - maintain the rule of the capitalist class by force or the threat of it.
This includes the police, courts and army.

The ideological state apparatus - maintain the rule of the bourgeoisie by controlling people’s ideas, values and beliefs.
Include religion, the media and the education system.

Question 34

How does Althusser (1971) say that the education system is a form of ideological state apparatus?

Answer 34

Education legitimates class inequality by producing ideologies that disguise its true cause. 
The function of ideology is to persuade works to accept that inequality is inevitable and that they deserve their subordinate position in society. 
If they accept these idea they are less likely to challenge or threaten capitalism.