Social Class Inequality

G674

Discuss

These children have equal access to education, but does this mean they will enjoy similar lifestyles as adults?

Discuss

What do these pictures indicate about the ways in which we think about social class?

Which of the following things might you use to judge a person’s class?

Neighbourhood Job Pay Education Wealth Accent Clothes Parental background Use of leisure time Political party support

Discuss

This is a synoptic unit.

You need to therefore be prepared to bring in references to things you discussed at AS in relation to class (as well as in the Crime Unit)...

You need to re-familiarise yourself with the work of people like Willis, Savage, Devine...

Note

What is it?

What does it stand for?

How many categories does it have?

What system did it replace?

The NS-SEC

How would you categorise:

Car Mechanic (employer) Self-employed builder Teacher Solicitor Headteacher Waiter/waitress

What difficulties do you facedoing the above?

The NS-SEC

Workers are no longer divided exclusively in terms of manual and non-manual labour.

It introduces a category for unemployed people (New Right theorists would call this the underclass).

In a big change from earlier scales, women are no longer categorized by the occupation of their husbands or fathers.

Strengths of the NS-SEC

Is social class just about occupation?

Doesn’t include people so rich they don’t need to work.

Doesn’t take into account status differences: Officially, a headteacher would be in the same category as a teacher.

Weaknesses of the NS-SEC

Class & InequalityWhat evidence is there that social class is a source of inequality?

NS-SEC Owned outright %

Owned with mortgage %

Rent from social sector %

Rent privately %

1 14 77 2 6

2 20 65 1 14

3 14 68 6 12

4 17 59 13 11

5 26 54 7 13

6 17 38 30 16

7 16 43 27 14

8 12 2 73 13

HousingDiscuss: What does the table tell us about the relationship between housing and class?

Source: ONS; 2004

Clear distinctions in ownership and rental in the contemporary UK.

Patterns of home ownership reflect patterns of income.

Housing

How might where you live impact your social capital?

How might it impact other areas of your life?

Discuss

Differences in annual income are significant; based on occupation, but not reflecting on amount of hours worked per week.

Income

Group Avg. Pay(£)

Avg. Hours worked

Managers & senior officials 42,164 39

Professional occupations 33,741 36.3

Technical occupations 27,627 38.5

Administrative/secretarial 17,560 37.5

Skilled trades 21,060 42.6

Sales/customer services 14,912 38.8

Process, plant, machinery work 19,113 44.8Source: ONS; 2006

Health

Mortality by social class gradient (using Registrar General Scale)

Death rate of Class 5 is twice that of class 1 Someone in class 1 lives on average 7 years

longer than someone in class 5 The risk of dying before the age of 5 is twice

as high for children born in class 5 than those born in class 1

Long standing illness is around 50% higher among class 5 than class 1

Since the early 1980s the health gap between those at the top of the social scale and those at the bottom has been rising

Health (from 2003 study)

Lower grade civil servants had higher rates of death from all causes and specifically coronary heart disease

When controlling for all factors (smoking obesity, leisure time, height) lower grades still had a risk factor of 2;1 compared to highest grade

Concluded stress associated with lack of control was a significant factor

http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/stress/whithall.htm

Health: The Whitehall Study (Marmot; 1997)

Read for HWK:

A Sociology Exam in which you have to answer four essay questions in ninety minutes, following a precise structure for each question.

A Sociology Exam in which you answer four unstructured essay questions from a choice of twelve in up to four hours.

Discuss: Which would you prefer and why?

How does this relate to the Whitehall Study?

Do you agree that people of a lower social class are likely to have less control over their own work?

Do you agree that this leads to stress? Are there any other factors that might mean

people from the lower social classes experience more stress (and therefore more ill health in general)?

Discuss

multiple disadvantag

e

Unemployment and low pay

Inadequate housing

Poor environment

High levels of crime

Poor health

Poor education

“There is a strong socio-economic gradient to almost all patterns of disease and ill-health. The lower your socio-economic position, the

greater your risk of low birthweight, infections, cancer, coronary heart disease,

respiratory disease, stroke, accidents, nervous and mental illnesses.”

Bottero (2005)

In 1992… 60% of students from managerial/professional

backgrounds achieved 5+ GCSEs, compared to 16% from unskilled/manual backgrounds,

In 2002… Figures rose to 77% from managerial/prof. and

32% from unskilled/manual…

Education

Why types of capital can be gained in education and how?

Why do you think children from lower social class backgrounds don’t do so well?

What might happen if these figures were more equal?

How can doing well at school influence your social status and/or social class position?

Discuss

Social Class Inequalities

The Sutton Trust Study (2008) Class differences in attainment occur as a

result of early experiences in a child’s life. Students from poorer backgrounds who

make it onto A Level programmes usually have an equal chance of gaining uni placements with those from more affluent backgrounds.

However, students who gain their A Levels in private education are more likely to gain places at more prestigious universities.

Discuss

How might the type of school a person attends influence their social status and class position?How might it impact their life chances?

Come up with a strategy of five ways in which Northampton College could do better in improving the chances of students from poorer backgrounds to succeed...

Small Groups

Connor & Dewson (2001) found that only one in five boys from working-class backgrounds go on into higher education.

Savage & Egerton (1997) found that ability does not wipe out class advantage. Only half of the ‘high ability’ working-class boys in their study made it into the service class (e.g. not manual labour work).

Education

32% of MPs attended independent schools; 72% attended university; 43% went to a prestigious university; 27% went to Oxbridge.

Conservative MPs more likely to have attended private schooling (59%)

Politicshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpThUUa3AeA

From your AS, your could refer to:

Medhurst’s research usingThe Royle Family (1999)

Stereotyping/negative portrayals of the working-classes (e.g. Shameless, Jeremy Kyle).

Mass Media

What studies/evidence did we look at in the previous unit that might suggest Social Class inequalities in relation to Crime & Deviance?

Crime

The statistics here – and in your text books, workbooks etc. – are out of date.

It’s still okay to quote them (preferably noting their date), but you should aim to gain up to date statistics and contemporary examples to use alongside them in the exam.

It is an expectation that you demonstrate some awareness of contemporary issues and how they relate to your studies – examples of different types of inequality in the UK are in the news every single day...

Note

In small groups, research news and campaign sites to find at least three examples of social class inequality in the contemporary UK...

...You will present your findings to the class.

Research Task

Sociological ExplanationsSocial Class Explanations & Inequalities

1. FunctionalismInequality is necessary, inevitable and functional.

Discuss (Pairs):

Functionalists like Durkheim and Parsons believe that inequality is functional.In what ways could inequality possibly help a society to function?

Functionalism

Unequal distribution is justified because it is beneficial to society: Some jobs are functionally more important than others and some people more able.

The most important jobs in society are the most highly rewarded.

This will motivate people to compete to achieve them.

Society is a Meritocracy.

Davis & Moore (1967)

In pairs, decide on the ten most functional jobs for society. Justify your answers.

Ext: - Identify what you think are the five ‘least’ functional jobs.

Activity

Do the rates of pay for these jobs reflect how functional they are?

If they don’t, then it may suggest:a) Davis and Moore are wrong – and

functionalists are wrong: inequality is not functional or...

b) Our society is not working properly

Discuss

Within all complex societies, social inequality and

difference are inevitable and help maintain social

order and prevent anomie (Durkheim)

Social systems must be hierarchical, in order to keep order and maintain a healthy society (Parsons)

Some Evaluation Points Tumin (1963) questions what is meant by

‘functionally important jobs’. Marxists accuse them of ignoring divisions

and conflict between classes. People don’t necessarily need extra rewards

to go through the self-fulfilling process of training.

Stratification can de-motivate rather than motivate many people.

Everyone in society has a role to fulfil. Different financial rewards for different roles encourage everyone to fulfil their

potential.

Is this a good or bad thing?

750-1000 Words

Homework: Written Task

MarxismDiscuss: Based on your learning so far at A Level, how do you think the Marxists would view inequality?

How should wealth be divided betweensocial classes?

If the total UK wealth was represented by 100 coins, how should we divide them between five social class groups?

POINTS TO CONSIDER… https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOJ93tAbPP0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj2LA8rEqQ4

Marxism The bourgeoisie exploit the working class through the

system of wage labour.

Capitalists pay workers less than the value of what they produce in order that they make a profit (surplus value).

The working class get poorer and the ruling class get richer. Inequality grows.

Ownership of the means of production gives people the power to determine their own salaries as well as those of their workers.

Marxism The capitalist system, which relies on social

inequality, is legitimised by the state.

The state controls our thoughts through the Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) e.g. media, religion, education. (Althusser; 1977)

This creates a false classconsciousness.

What do these Marxist quotes mean?“Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to

lose but your chains.”

“The ruling ideas of every age have been the ideas of its ruling class.”

“Religion is the opium of the masses.”

“Philosophers seek to explain the world, the point is to change it.”

Neo-Marxism

Focus on explaining the growth of the middle classes, and on the different types of capital: Social, Economic and Cultural.

Discuss What are examples of the three types of

capital?

Who has access to them?

In what ways do they advantage some social groups over others?

Exploitation of workers by rulers is part of society’s natural development. Capitalism is a necessary step on the way to communism.

A full class consciousness will develop as a result of exploitation, oppression and ideological control.

The middle-class will disappear as society becomes more polarised. As middle-class jobs become more de-skilled, most will fall into the proletariat (Braverman; 1974)

Marxist Views

The living standards of the working class in many capitalist countries has improved rather than worsened.

Communist societies that exist today still produces inequality (although not to the same extent as capitalism).

Marx does not explain the big differences in income of groups of workers e.g. doctors and unskilled workers.

Burnham argues that it is an outdated view of the capitalist economy.

Evaluation

Weberianism

Referred to as the“ghost of Marx”.

Property and capital are important dimensions of social privilege, but there are other crucial factors…

Social inequality is the product of class (economic position), status (social standing within community) and party (power and politics).

Weber

Discussion Point Would the following four people occupy

high or low class, status and party positions?

1. Black female MP

2. White, working class plumber who helps run local boy’s football team

3. 35 year old ‘Euromillions’ winner (worth £35m)

4. Elderly man on state pension

A social class is determined by a person’s market situation and work situation.

Market situation = income related

Work situation = conditions of service (e.g. hours worked, perks, status of employment)

There is a lot of social mobility, preventing rigid classes from forming

Weberian Views

Pairs: Do the following have strong or weak (a) work situations and (b) market situations?

Pairs: Explain as many as you can!

Supply & Demand The relationship between Class, income and

occupation is not always as clear as others have said:

The price of labour, as with any other commodity, depends on supply and demand.

If a skill is in short supply and high demand, you can charge a high price for it.

Other ViewsFeminism & Postmodernism

Social class inequalities and differences are related to gender inequalities and differences – you cannot treat them separately.

Feminism

Note: Marxist Feminists would have more to say here…we’ll cover them later in the unit…

Pakulski & Waters (1996)

Social class is dead

Globalisation means that there are not class divisions; only status divisions.

People can now buy the image they want to portray, and do not see themselves in terms of social class.

Postmodernism

Outline and Evaluate the Marxist view on Social Class Inequality [40]

Written Task