unit 1A - topic 6 - social class Flashcards
personal identity
The way we see ourselves in relation to others: what makes a similar or different to others and how they see us
social identity
Based on our membership of your identification with certain social groups: may be described birth or achieved over the course of life
Ascribed status
Status given to an individual at birth
Achieved status
Status gained by an individual over the course of their life through their actions and behaviour
What is social class?
Involves elements of wealth🤑, income📥 and culture 🎭
What is the most recent categorisation of class?
ONS Social Class scheme:
Based on occupation, 8 divisions 🎱
Why is the ONS Social class system problematic?
It doesn’t consider other factors like culture, social circle, wealth etc
Upper class
TOP <1%
Enormous wealth, privilege, exclusivity, elite culture.
Socially ‘closed’ 😐🚪⛔️
👞🎓🐎🌳🥂🫖🥍⛳️🏇🩰🎭🎻♟🏫💸🇬🇧💂♀️
Family ties, connections, exclusive activities. KINSHIP CONNECTIONS BETWEEN FAMILIES come from intermarriage, top education 🏫 (old boy 👦 network)
Aristocratic tradition, self confidence, social superiority
Ken Roberts (2001)
Upper class is CLOSED 😐🔐
Tight knit shared culture creates web 🕸 of links and contacts, so v difficult for non members to penetrate aristocracy
High culture social events e.g. Chelsea Flower 💐 Show, Glyndebourne opera
Sutton Trust
Elite go to PRIVATE SCHOOLS and get TOP JOBS (Eton £40,000)
1/3 of MPs come from private school 🏫
Private schools teach elements of high culture (Latin, lacrosse) and creates old boy network, REINFORCES ELITE EXCLUSIVITY
King 🤴 and Smith (2018)
JACKS WILLS CROWD - target elite upper class (tweed, logo+text related to sailing ⛵️ etc) 👞💼🧥
Targeted top uni / private school students 🎓🏫, gaining presence by attending Oxbridge polo matches etc
Since 90s, pressure for increasing social class diversity in Oxbridge. Students embraced Jack Wills culture EVEN MORE, increased pressure to maintain social status in diverse cohort of students.
Even in postmodern society of fluidity, clear structures and hierarchies STILL EXIST
middle class
ONS 1 + 2: professional, well paid, skilled, non-manual jobs.
Wide variety of jobs, less exclusive strong shared identity.
Both cultural and material privilege.
Bourdieu
Ruling class have POWER to shape values.
Acquire and pass on CULTURAL CAPITAL - Bernstein speech codes, parents have greater understanding of education system (Ball - parental choice from 1988 marketisation)
SYSTEMATIC VIOLENCE against working class kids bc of
CAPITAL THEORY
Gillies
MIDDLE CLASS parents use CULTURAL CAPITAL to manipulate education system to benefit their children (e.g. getting on school governors committee)
Skeggs
working class women wanting to progress in healthcare professions needed to CONFORM TO MIDDLE CLASS CULTURAL NORMS (resocialisaton - dress code, speech style)
Hey 👋
Middle class girls felt MORE POWERFUL than working class girls, due to ⬆️cultural capital⬆️ (meaning more economic and social capital).
Middle class have less need to use sexual/physical capital
working class
1951 - 75% of pop but has 📉
Range of occupations.
Traditional working class have manual jobs, traditional gender roles, tight knit communities and strong sense of identity.
Least power and cultural/material capital in society.
Wilmott and Young
marriage4life
TRADITIONAL WORKING CLASS UNTIL LATE 1970s.
Traditional gender roles 👨👩👧👦
- men masculine tough bread 🍞 winning jobs e.g. mining, shipbuilding
- women full time housewives 🤱
Extended family close, lots of visiting 👵👴
Close knit 🧶 communities
Strong class identity + solidarity 💪
Supported labour + trade unions
Goldthorpe + Lockwood
NEW WORKING CLASS - the Affluent Worker since late 70s
- privatised, home-centered lifestyle
- 🎸🎷instrumental attitude to work
- materialism: rise in living standards, more likely to own 🏡🚗
- changing gender roles
- less solidarity
Why? Mass immigration, globalisation 🌎, reduction 📉 in manual jobs 🔨
materialism
Working class benefitted from general rise in living standards over last 50 years
Discuss recent merging of working + middle class
Pre WW2: class boundaries strict and clear.
Post WW2: social classes fought together, boundaries BLURRED
WC + MC becoming more similar due to move away from manual jobs
Embourgeoisement thesis
There is a shift towards middle class norms, values + lifestyle.
Harry Braverman
Despite jobs more comfortable and less dangerous now (mining/factory ➡️ call centres, bars, restaurants) they’re still LOW PAY AND STATUS
Exploitation of workers more subtle but still v prominent 🙁
Postmodernist view of social class identity
Class NOT the most dominant force in shaping identities 🙅
In contemporary society, class and occupation matter less than LIFESTYLE + CONSUMPTION
Pakulski and Waters 🌊 1996
With rise in consumer culture and move away from strict class divisions, identity is defined by what we BUY 💳, WEAR 👖 + ENJOY ☺️ (rather than jobs).
Lifestyles + identities becoming MORE FLEXIBLE AND FLUID and is CENTRAL ORGANISING POINT OF SOCIAL + PERSONAL EVENTS
Golf can be assigned to class, hand gliding can’t
Marshall et al 1989
Social class STILL IMPORTANT ‼️
60% associated with a certain class
90% said they could choose a class if prompted
Class based inequality undeniable
Class = most powerful source of social identity, despite language changes (‘Just-About-Managing’ used instead of ‘working class’)
Castells
COVID 19 🦠
Lack of digital 💻 capital is even more detrimental now.
No access to technology ➡️ marginalisation and exclusion due to lack of access to jobs, friends, info
Giddens
Digital 💻 tech has led to DEMOCRATISATION OF SOCIETY
- nearly everyone has full access to info and a voice, giving everyone some level of power (regardless of class) yay 😋
Marxism: the more information the masses have, the more likely they are to gain class consciousness and challenge authority
Discuss relative importance of social class
POSTMODERNISM + FEMINISM argue class is less important (Pakulski + Waters 🌊, Oakley 🌳, Burchill 🧕)
MARXISM argues it still is extremely important. Gillies 🐟, Marshall, Hey 👋, Sutton trust, Murray show differences between social class
Perhaps not one is more important: we should focus on intersectionality (e.g. Sewell 🧑🏿🎶, Simpson 🏳️🌈)
