What Has Happened To Social Class? Flashcards
Deference?
The belief of a higher class being better than others
They should be respected because of their social position
How can you measure social class
Subjective - individually doing it
Objective- referring to our occupation, education, possessions and wealth
The registrar generals index
- used until 2001
- uses occupation as the basis of differentiation
- still used by advertisers, to target certain groups
Problems with The registrar generals index
Does not take into account peoples income/job security =======
Has been amended to take job security and promotion opportunities
NS-SEC
BBC Social Class survey
🔥 7 classes 🔥 bbc sees the traditional way of liking at wealth, occupation and education as simplistic 💩 class has 3 dimensions; economic, social and cultural factors
Will Hutton - 30-30-40 thesis
Social inequality, low wages, low skill and high unemployment = clear divide + economically unstable society
30% = unemployed, low paid, insecure work 30% = some job security and quality of life 40% = privileged workers and regular employment
What is the upper class?
Live of unearned income, eg from land rent; live off inherited wealth
What does Adonis and Pollard say about the upper class?
There is an emerging “super class” = elite
: mangers and professionals
; financially linked to london
; has traditions from public schools and oxbridge elites of the past
“Fat cats” = multi million ages + large financial bonus packages
What is the middle class?
💭 professional work eg law medicine
💭 qualifications needed
Well paid
Good conditions
What does Mills say about the middle class?
2 divides
1⃣ higher professional; high earnings, self employed/ employed by large companies
2⃣ lower professional; public sector, limited high earnings eg teachers
What does Braverman say about the middle class?
💡 lower professionals have become like the working class eg vulnerable to redundancy
💡 lost skills due to technology
Eg tradesman lost their skills to machines
What is Proletarianisation?
❤️ middle class becoming working class Braverman; reasonable pace for routine white collar workers eg nurses ; loss of social/economic advantages= growth of proletarianisation ; loss of control + autonomy eg uni lectures are low paid with short term contracts
Evaluation of proletarianisation?
❌ lockwood and goldthrope - different meanings = hard to measure
❌ clark and hoffman - there is a growth in causal/routine workers who spend their working day on the phonee
What is the working class?
Manual work
- there used to be a big difference between professional workers and manual workers — has eroded
What is embourgeoisement?
Working class jobs that let them be middle class ✔️ affluent worker thesis by Galbraith
❌ Goldthrope and Lockwood - they work longer hours and have a different attitude ❌ redundancy and unemployment is a working class concern = the gap of working and middle class jobs is widening 💭 Goldthrope, working class has fragmented into a new
What is the underclass?
Unemployment and benefit dependent
💩 Giddens, they face massive deprivation and social inequality
What does Postmodernists say?
CLASS IS A GRAND NARRATIVE
👀 class concepts are not meaningfull anymore = fragmented society 😱 identity is consumptions 😱 people construct their identity through consumerism of the mass media 😱 popular culture, where traditional elite activities are not accessed by the working class eg. Playing an instrument
What do the Postmodernists say about the super rich?
Only thing that differentiates the classes
As these elite groups can only be obtained if you have money
What does Pakulski and Waters say about the death of social class?
😐 social class is losing significance 😐 new clevages shape peoples beliefs rather than social class 😐 20th century stratification is doen to cultural differences ❤️ stratification is fragmented and fluid
How has social class died?
1⃣ educational qualifications shape our status
2⃣ organisations owning property rather than individual
3⃣ wider wealth distribution
4⃣ globalisation has reduced class inequality within countries
5⃣ growth of ethnic and religion issues
What are the indicators of class?
Cultural differences that separate the classes
