Social Class

Social Class and Stratification

Social stratification is the division of society into a hierarchy of unequal layers. Social class is the most important form of stratification in the UK, based on economic factors such as occupation, income and wealth.

What is Social Class?

Social class refers to a group of people who share a similar economic position in society. In the UK, class is typically measured by occupation, which reflects income, wealth, status and life chances.

Measuring Social Class

Classification	How it works
NS-SEC (National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification)	The official UK measure; 8 classes based on occupation, from Higher managerial/professional (Class 1) to Never worked/long-term unemployed (Class 8)
Great British Class Survey (2013)	Savage et al. identified 7 classes based on economic, cultural and social capital; from "elite" to "precariat"
Marxist model	Two main classes: bourgeoisie (ruling class — own the means of production) and proletariat (working class — sell their labour)
Weberian model	Class based on market situation (skills and qualifications that affect earning power); also includes status (social honour) and party (political power)

Key Concepts

• Life chances — the opportunities and outcomes available to individuals in areas like health, education, housing and employment. Life chances are strongly shaped by class.
• Wealth — assets owned (property, savings, investments, shares). Wealth is far more unequally distributed than income.
• Income — money received regularly from work, benefits or investments.

Class Inequality in the UK — Key Facts

• The richest 10% of households own approximately 45% of total wealth
• The poorest 50% own less than 9% of total wealth
• A child born into the poorest fifth is 13 times more likely to die in the first year than one born into the richest fifth
• Life expectancy in the poorest areas is around 10 years less than in the wealthiest areas
• Working-class pupils are far less likely to attend university or enter professional careers

Perspectives on Social Class

Marxism — Class Conflict

Marx argued that:

• Society is divided into two main classes defined by their relationship to the means of production: the bourgeoisie (capitalists who own factories, land, companies) and the proletariat (workers who sell their labour for wages)
• The bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat — workers produce more value than they are paid, and the surplus is taken as profit
• The ruling class controls not just the economy but the superstructure — the law, education, media and government — to maintain its dominance
• False consciousness — the working class are unaware of their exploitation because ruling-class ideology makes capitalism seem natural and fair
• Eventually, the proletariat will develop class consciousness, recognise their exploitation and overthrow capitalism through revolution

Evaluation:

• Highlights real and persistent class inequality
• But predicted revolution has not occurred; the middle class has grown enormously; ignores gender and ethnicity
• Modern capitalism has changed — many workers own shares, property and pensions

Weber — Class, Status and Party

Max Weber agreed with Marx that economic factors create class divisions but argued that stratification is more complex:

• Class — based on market situation (skills, qualifications, property)
• Status — social honour or prestige (a vicar has high status but low income; a successful criminal has high income but low status)
• Party — power derived from political organisation (trade unions, pressure groups, political parties)

Weber argued these three dimensions do not always align, making stratification more fluid than Marx suggested.

Functionalism — Inequality is Necessary

Davis and Moore (1945) argued that social stratification is:

• Universal — found in every society
• Inevitable — some positions are more important than others
• Functional — unequal rewards motivate the most talented to train for and fill the most demanding roles (e.g. surgeons need more reward than cleaners because training is longer and the role more vital)

Evaluation:

• Who decides which roles are "most important"? Nurses and teachers are vital but poorly paid
• Ignores inherited wealth — many wealthy people did not earn their position through talent
• Tumin (1953) — stratification actually prevents talent from being developed by denying opportunities to the poor

The Changing Class Structure

The Decline of the Traditional Working Class

• Deindustrialisation — the shift from manufacturing to service-sector jobs has reduced the size of the traditional manual working class
• Globalisation — factory jobs moved overseas; UK workers shifted to retail, hospitality and care work
• Home ownership, rising living standards and consumer culture have blurred class boundaries
• Embourgeoisement thesis — Goldthorpe and Lockwood (1969) tested whether affluent manual workers were becoming middle-class; found they had not adopted middle-class values — they worked for money ("instrumental orientation"), not status

The Growth of the Middle Class

• Professional, managerial and technical occupations have expanded enormously
• More people attend university and enter white-collar work
• But the middle class is internally diverse — there is a significant gap between a senior manager and a zero-hours agency worker

The Underclass Debate

Murray (1990) — New Right:

• A welfare-dependent underclass exists below the working class
• Characterised by lone parenthood, worklessness, benefit dependency and criminality
• Caused by a culture of dependency — generous benefits remove the incentive to work
• Absent fathers produce badly socialised children

Evaluation:

• Victim-blaming — ignores structural causes (unemployment, low wages, discrimination)
• Marxists argue the underclass is created by capitalism, not culture
• Field (1989) — agreed an underclass exists but blamed exclusion from the labour market, not individual behaviour

Social Class and Life Chances

Area	Class impact
Health	Working-class people have shorter life expectancy, higher rates of chronic illness, obesity and mental health problems; Black Report (1980) — material deprivation is the main cause
Education	FSM pupils are half as likely to achieve grade 5+ at GCSE; class is the strongest predictor of achievement
Housing	Working-class families are more likely to live in social housing, overcrowded or poor-quality homes
Crime	Working-class people are more likely to be both victims and perpetrators of recorded crime; also more likely to be stopped, searched and imprisoned
Employment	Glass ceiling for those from working-class backgrounds; the Social Mobility Commission reports that those from professional backgrounds are 80% more likely to end up in professional jobs

Exam Technique

For a class stratification question, define class clearly, explain at least two perspectives (Marx vs Weber vs Davis & Moore), use contemporary evidence and statistics, and link to life chances. Always evaluate — ask whether class is still the most important form of inequality or whether gender and ethnicity are equally or more significant in modern Britain.