The placing of people into groups, often in hierarchy
A person's occupation is often used as a way of assessing their social class. It is a way of classifying people; it indicates how much they might earn, what level of education they have probably achieved, and their lifestyle.
The Registrar General's scale - the UK government's official scale until 1998. It makes a distinction between manual and non-manual occupations. Manual jobs are seen as working class jobs whereas non-manual jobs are seen as middle class.
What are the problems with the Registrar General's scale?
It doesn't include people who are unemployed, retired or unable to work in this scale.
When married women are mainly homemakers, their social class was determined on their husbands occupation.
It might ignore the amount of wealth that someone may already have. Someone wouldn't still be in the working class if they won the lottery.
Different people in the same job may get different pay.
The National Statistics Socio-economic classification (NS-SEC) has replaced the Registrar General's scale in the UK. It is still based on occupation.
Why is the National Statistics Socio-economic classification good?
Has more categories for people who can't work
More people can now be included
Why is the National Statistics Socio-economic classification bad?
Doesn't account for the upper class
Still different pay in certain jobs
Problems with employment as a measure of social class was mostly not solved
