Classes

• Giddens (2006): Reflexive self: people do not accept the identities handed down to them by society in a passive manner. process of accepting and rejecting different things society enforce on us
• Weber: social class influences our life chances; how likely it is that we are going to get the things that are desirable in society
• objective: factual statements - measures income and level of education which put people into a category irrespective of how they feel of it. independent of how you feel about it
• subjective: depends on the persons perspectives and opinions. more linked to sense of self identity. we can choose what social class we identity with.
• Bourdieu: the class habitus - is more subjective. even if you remove money, there are still certain values, actions and tastes that belong to different social classes. (clothing, education etc)
• culture capital:. the social assets of a person (education, style of dress) that promote social mobility in a society
• Nouveau riche - people who have money do not have cultural capital, and have no taste like the queen (new rich)
• conspicuous consumption: the newly rich brag about what they have when born rich people dont brag about it
• the professionals: upper middle class e.g. university lecturers, professors, doctors, lawyers...
• middle class e.g. teachers, priests, offices...
• lawler (2005): middle class try to distinguish themselves from the working class (continued from Bourdieu)
• working class (traditional): strong sense of community - mining in the UK- male bred winners.
• working class (new): lost sense of community, it is a job not a career - meant for money and not fulfilment
• Murray - The new right (underclass) - made up of people that steal instead of actually working for stuff / the underclass is characterized by educational failure, truancy...
• Jones (the new right): taking the working class and demonizing them - hating on their taste and the way they speak.
• chav stereotype: reinforces the view that the poor are to blame for their poverty rather than being poor due to structural inequalities
• identity of uneducated, poor, savage and violent imposed on the poor whether or not it is justified - baseless stereotypes. points to the power of the dominant class to impose this identity
• clarke and saunders (1991): the social class as a marker of identity - as who am i - has lost importance and has been replaced by other identity markers like religion etc,
• lash and urry (1987): people lifestyle and consumptions choices are less influenced by their class
• metanarrative: a big idea we take for granted that helps us make sense of the world e,g, god
• sociologists say modernity ended in 1950, we are now in post modern times. all about rejection of metanarratives and questions importance of social class/religion
• social class: a group of people with a similar economic situation
• upper class: old money - upper class culture

  new money - business men (industrial) and celebrities
• scott: studied the subculture of the elite
• scott (1991): military services values, servants and nannies, particular leisure activities such as fox hunting and tennis, they have a taste for high culture, inter marriage, and socialisation occurs in private schools (like prince harry)
• in middle class it is more connected to the career part than job - work now earn later
• financial middle class: igaming
• charlesworth (2000): traditional working class: said that insults are respect and endearment.
• liberal (left wing): they believe in social freedom, accepting of gay marriage, abortion etc. e.g. graffiti
• right wing: conservative; dont agree with immigration etc, try to keep things traditional, oppose gender equality e.g. nazis/ hitler
• Murray: The New Right (underclass):

  • the underclass is characterized by educational failure and truancy, made up of people that steal instead of working hard etc.
  • very conservative
  • unfairly applied to the working class
• Jones; taking the working class and demonizing them - hating on their taste, weight, speech, alcoholism, teenage pregnancy etc.
• the chav stereotype; devalues the working class culture as they de-establish themselves from the working class.

  • reinforces the view that the poor are to blame for their poverty rather than being poor due to structural inequalities. (blaming the poor to not blame the rich)
• • the poor; uneducated, rude, savage and violent.
  • baseless stereotypes which label people because they "belong to a certain social group"
  • points to the power of the dominant class to impose this identity -> who decided which tastes/trends are bad/good?
• Clarke and Saunders (1991): the social class as a marker of identity.

  • "who am i" has lost it's importance
  • replaced by other identity markers e.g. gender, religion, sexuality, ethnicity, and consumption
• Lash and Urry (1987): the subculture of social classes is not as strong as before, peoples' lifestyles and consumption choices are less influenced by their class
• post modern times; metanarratives;

  • a big idea we take for granted that helps us make sense of the world around us e.g. gravity, sex, gender, god.. and big things that colour our world
• modernity ends in the 1950/60s -> today is the post modern.
• modern period; believed that when we become more rational and logical, we will leave behind superstition and religion, things will become better in society.
• post modern period; all about the rejection of metanarratives -> question importance of social classes/religion.