Class and Identity

• Social class


  A group of people who share similar economic and social situations as each other
• Social class


  • Helps people to develop certain lifestyles and norms and values
  • Affects economic conditions of an individual, such as their upbringing and related issues such as health and housing
• Post-modernists argue that class is no longer important in today's society, but it's debated that it still has an impact on how people view each other
• Judging social class


  Important to think about their income, style and possessions
• Main classes in the UK

  • Upper class
  • Middle class
  • Working class
• Upper class(Mackintosh and Mooney (2004))


  • 'Invisibility', the upper class have a form social closure, meaning that their education and outside activities are heavily separated from the rest of the population
  • May send their children to boarding schools or forced to socialize in exclusive clubs, which are inaccessible to the majority
  • Waning in numbers and power due to the rise of the "super rich"
• Middle class


  • Majority of the population as Tony Blair said "we are all middle class now"
  • Have professional or managerial jobs
  • Most likely to have been university-educated
  • Own their own homes
  • Very diverse group because access to home ownership and university education has spread
  • Fox (2004) 3 subsections of the middle class
• Fox (2004) Sub-systems in the middle class


  • Upper middles
  • Middle middles
  • Lower middles
  • highlights how wide spread middle class identities and experiences are
• It's unlikely that those of the middle class share a common identity
• Working class


  • Used to form the majority of the population
  • Filled with trade workers and manual workers
  • Hutton (1995) Decline of trade unions and the manufacturing sector means that working-class identity has eroded
  • Viewed as a hard-working identity, who have mediocre education, housing and careers
• Skeggs argues that working class women feel humiliated in how those of higher occupations judge them, so they change their identity to look more respectable
• Underclass


  A term used by conflict theorists to draw attention to the marginalization experienced by those at the bottom of society, who lack opportunities in education, health and income
• The term 'underclass' has been used in a negative way, especially by New Right theorist Murray (1984), who suggests that over generous benefits encourage people to develop into a culture where they don't take responsibility for their actions and have an expectation that they will be looked after by the state e.g. dependency culture
• Postmodernists Pakulsi and Waters (1996) argue there has been a shift from production to consumption, and we are defined by what we buy and not what we do
• Offe argues that in today's society, few people share common experiences of full-time work, the experience which used to shape culture of a social class. The days where people had a job for life are gone, we are able to create our own identities regardless of our social class
• The UK gives choices to everyone, which was only limited to a few in the past, such as the opportunity to go to school or go travelling
• The media has also given access to an endless range of information and cultural experiences, and has broken down social class-based barriers which existed a few years ago
• Social class background remains the most significant indicator of outcomes in education, health and life expectancy, there is still a difference in the lifestyle of those in a different social or economic background
• The ability to make choices and take opportunities relies on money, some sections of the UK don't even have access to the internet, and are struggling to raise their families
• Strong class identities (Marshall)


  • 60% of his sample thought of themselves belonging to a certain social class
  • 90% would be able to identity what class they would be placed in
  • 75% agreed that if people are born into a social class, it's hard to get out of it and be socially mobile
• Poor class identities (Savage)


  • A large majority of his sample thought that Britain was a classless society
  • His sample were also aware that class had a strong influence on wider society
  • creating a paradox, which showed that people thought class was important, yet class identities are very weak
• Class fractions


  Determined by varying degrees of social, economic and cultural capital
• Dominant (ruling) class


  • Has the power to shape which attributes are valued
  • In a position to acquire and pass on capital to their children
• Cultural capital


  The knowledge, attitudes, skills, education and advantages that a person has, which give them a higher status in society
• Economic capital


  Economic resources (cash, assets)
• Social capital


  Resources based on group membership, relationships, networks of influence and support
• All of these types of capital are interrelated, and someone with high levels of one type of capital is more likely to be able to attain the others as well
• Cultural capital is the most significant for Bourdieu
• Parents provide their children with cultural capital by


  Transmitting the attitudes and knowledge needed to succeed in the current educational system
• Cultural capital


  • The right ways of speaking and behaving in different circumstances
  • Knowledge of 'high culture'
  • Etiquette
  • Confidence in different social situations
• Those with high levels of cultural capital will be in a position to accumulate the other forms of capital as well
• Bourdieu, as a Marxist, argued that it is the power of the ruling class that allows them to define the knowledge and skills that are valued, and to ensure that they, and their children, are in the best position to acquire them, giving them an unfair advantage