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Flashcards in Class and Identity Deck (14)
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1
Q

Class

A

A group who share a similar economic and social situation.

2
Q

Social Class

A

The socio-economic status and identity that are attached to a person because of their job

3
Q

Class Identity

A

Social classes develop similar norms and values, cultures and lifestyles.
Affecting an individual’s identity: how they see themselves and how others see them.
Class identity can be seen as a product of socialisation, started in the family, and related to cultural characteristics such as education, occupation, lifestyle and taste.

4
Q

Measures of Social Class

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The government uses the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification, which creates eight different classes based on the type of occupation/income.
At the top: “Higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations”
At the Bottom: “Never worked and long-term unemployed”

5
Q

Judging Social Class

A

The measurement of social class differs in that it is based on what people think they are themselves. This may be based on their occupation but may also be based on a number of other factors, such as housing, health, education, consumption, leisure time.

6
Q

Mackintosh and Mooney (2000)

A
One crucial way in which occupation is linked to identity is through social class. Our judgements about our own and other people’s jobs usually involve the classification of ourselves and others into social classes. 
Argue: ‘Social class can provide us with a sense of belonging; it can tell us who “we” are and who “they” are and, hence, how to relate to the world around us.’ 
There are other important sources of identity, for example age, gender, ethnicity and so on, but there is evidence that class identity based on occupation is an extremely powerful influence on how we see the world and the social relationships within it.
7
Q

The Upper Class

A

A small class.
Those who are the main owners of society’s wealth, for example, wealthy industrialists, landowners, traditional aristocracy.
Do not work for others as they have such a large amount of assets. Work is not necessary to survive.
Those with inherited wealth, often in the form of land.
Mackintosh and Mooney (2004) a key feature
of the upper class is their invisibility. They operate ‘social closure’, meaning that their education, leisure time and daily lives are separated from and partially invisible to the rest of the population. Send their children to boarding schools, socialise in exclusive clubs and participate in leisure activities that are largely unknown or inaccessible to the majority, such as hunting, polo and opera.
However, it could be argued that this group is waning in numbers and power and that the new ‘super-rich’, based on achieved rather than ascribed (inherited) status, are now much more significant.

8
Q

The Middle Class

A

A very large class.
Those in non-manual work.
Performed in offices and involve paperwork and IT.
Now seen as the majority of the population by many. Tony Blair famously said, ‘We are all middle class now’. Traditionally, the middle class is associated with those who have professional or managerial careers.
They are likely to have been university-educated and to own their own homes.
However, these features now apply to more and more of the population have access to home ownership and university education.
More people are self-employed, and there are fewer people working in manual jobs or trades.
Because of this, the middle class is a very diverse group, containing a wide variety of people with very different incomes, attitudes and lifestyles.
Fox (2004) discusses ‘upper middles’, ‘middle middles’ and ‘lower middles’ to highlight these differences within the middle class.
There is also likely to be a big difference between public-sector professionals, such as teachers and nurses, and private-sector professionals, such as lawyers and bankers. Thus, it is unlikely that everyone who sees themselves as middle class shares a common experience or identity.

9
Q

Working Class

A
Those working in skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled manual jobs, for example, working in a factory or some form of labouring work. 
Generally enjoys fewer privileges than the middle class and has fewer life chances. 
Used to form the majority of the population, though it is shrinking. It was traditionally made up of manual workers and those with trades. Hutton (1995) has argued that the decline in trade union memberships and the manufacturing sector, and the dispersal of working-class communities, has eroded working-class identity.
Unlike the underclass, the working class are often romanticised as a hard-working, straight-talking identity, which many, who are clearly middle class in terms of education, career or income, still clamour to claim as their identity. 
Skeggs (1997) studied working-class women who felt humiliated by the ways in which others, such as teachers and doctors, judged and dismissed them due to their working-class background. As a result, the women made a strenuous effort to show they were ‘respectable’, taking care in how they dressed (‘Do I look common in this?')
10
Q

UnderClass

A

A group of people who are right at the bottom of the class structure.
Allegedly work-shy, happy to live off state benefits, involved in crime and promiscuous. Their ‘poverty’ usually excludes them from full participation in society.
This is a controversial term and it is unlikely that many would consciously identify themselves as a member
of the underclass.
The term was originally used by sociologists from conflict perspectives who wanted to draw attention to the social exclusion experienced by those who were at the very bottom of society, and who lacked opportunities in terms of education, health and earning potential.
The term is now often used in a negative way to describe those who rely on benefits and are blamed for their own situation due to the choices they have made.
Murray (1984), who argues that over-generous benefits encourage some people to develop a culture, or set of norms and values, in which they do not take responsibility for their own actions and have an expectation that they will be looked after by the state.
Governments are unsurprisingly concerned about this group, and groups such as NEETs have been targeted by various policies, such as the raising of the school-leaving age. This group are also often portrayed in very negative ways in the media, through fictional and non-fictional portrayals such as Shameless and Benefits Street.

11
Q

Marxism

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In Marx’s theories, stratification is a key aspect of the capitalist system. All stratified societies have two major classes: a ruling class and a subject class. The ruling class owns the means of production (land, capital, machinery, etc.) and the subject class does not. The ruling class exploits the subject class. The ruling class uses the superstructure to legitimate its position and prevent protests by the subject class.
Bourgeoisie (the capitalist class that owns the main means of production: capital) 
The proletariat (the working class that has to sell its labour to survive). 
The bourgeoisie exploits the working class through the system of wage labour. Capitalists pay wages to workers, but make a surplus because they pay workers less than the value of what they produce. Marx believed that capitalism was the newest type of class society but that it would also be the last. 
Eventually it will be replaced by a communist society in which the means of production (land, capital, factories, machinery, etc.) will be communally owned. 
The transition to communism will not be straightforward because it requires revolutionary action by the proletariat. However, the bourgeoisie uses the superstructure to suppress the proletariat by creating false consciousness. Eventually, though, class consciousness will develop workers will realise that they are being exploited and will rise up to change society.
12
Q

Functionalists

A
Functionalists say that the social class system helps society to run smoothly. 
Society is a meritocracy. They have the strong belief that the class system enables, to find their right place and role in society (i.e. in the division of labour). 
The most important positions in society must be filled by the brightest and most-able people. 
The people who do well in terms of the common values of society will be at the top of the stratification system. High status, power and high income are rewards for conforming to society’s values. Most people don’t object to people in powerful positions getting extra status and rewards. Showing that they support the values that underpin the system.
13
Q

Postmodernists

A
Postmodernists argue that class is no longer a signifier of identity or culture. 
Instead it is consumption that dictates lifestyle rather than class. This has been generated by media images of possible lifestyle options. 
Views of society include the idea that people are able to create their own identity around their leisure and consumption choices. In the past, social class was a significant factor but not anymore.
14
Q

Seven Social Classes - The Independent (2013)

A

A BBC survey of more than 160,000 people has found that Britons can no longer be categorised into the traditional upper, middle and working classes.
Findings, presented at a British Sociological Association convention, show that at the top are a privileged ‘elite’ of only six per cent of the population, with savings of £140,000 or over, who are described as having ‘high levels of economic, cultural and social capital’.
At the very bottom are the so-called ‘precariat’, the most deprived 15 per cent of people in the UK who have only low levels of all three capitals, due to which their everyday lives are precarious.
The area between the traditional working class and traditional middle class had become blurred.
The report sets out the categories in between the top and bottom as
• Traditional working class: Not the poorest group. The average age of this class is older than the others.
• Emergent service workers: New class has low economic capital but has high levels of ‘emerging’ cultural capital and high social capital. This group are young and often found in urban areas.
• Technical middle class: this is a new, small class with high economic capital but seems less culturally engaged.
• New affluent workers: this class has medium levels of economic capital and higher levels of cultural and social capital. They are a young and active group.
• Established middle class: high levels of all three capitals although not as high as the elite. They are a gregarious and culturally engaged class.
Results btained by analysing people’s income, assets, the professions of their peer group and their social activities.