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> Chapter 7a Und erstanding social inequalities: Social class
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# Understanding social inequalities:
# Social clas s
# Chapter 7a
Getting you thinking
# FG_06_02
1 Study the four images abov e. Decide in each case what social class you think the people in the picture might belong to.
2 What factor s did you use in putting people into social classes?
3 How far do you think class diff erences are important in British society today?
Component 2, Section B
Understanding social inequalities: Social class
Content:
1 What is social class?
2 Patterns and trends in s ocial class inequality
and difference Occupation, life chances, income
distribution and inequality, age and class, pov erty,
social mobility, women as wag e-earners and
gov ernment policy
3 How can patterns and trends in s ocial class
inequality and difference be explained?
Functionalism, the New Right, Marxism and
Weberian Theory
## 7a.1 What is social class?
Social class is the term used by sociologists to
describe the form of social stratification found in
modern industrial societies. Sociologists do not
agree on what we mean by social class or on how
people should be classified. Howe ver, it is generall y
agreed that members of a social class share a similar
economic position for example, similar levels of
income and wealth as well as similar occupations
and levels of education. These economic inequalities
can be linked to inequalities of status and power .
Some sociologists also link social class to differ ences
in attitudes and culture. For example, working-class
and middle-class people have differ ent attitudes to the
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> 7a.1 What is soc ial cla ss?
importance of education and differ ent tastes in leisure
activities and consumer goods.
The ruling class and the subject class
In the nineteenth cen tury, Kar l Mar x (se e pag e 40)
arg ued tha t cap italist soc ieties suc h as Bri tain wer e
ess entially div ided int o two soc ial cla sses: the rul ing
cla ss, or the bou rgeoisie, who own ed the mea ns of
pro duction suc h as fact ories and oth er busi nesses, and
the sub ject cla ss, or the pro letariat, who wer e emp loyed
by the rul ing cla ss to pro duce goo ds and ser vices.
Manual and non-manual workers
While the Marxist app roach has inf luenced som e
soci ologists, most moder n soci ologists wou ld arg ue
tha t the cla ss sys tem is mor e com plex tha n thi s. Som e
soc iologists hav e arg ued tha t a mid dle cla ss exi sts
bet ween the weal thy upp er cla ss at the top of soc iety and
the wor king cla ss at the bot tom. The mid dle cla ss wer e
tra ditionally see n as non -manual wor kers who dep ended
on edu cational qual ifications and men tal ski lls in ord er to
ear n hig her inc omes tha n the wor king cla ss or man ual
wor kers who dep end on phy sical str ength and ski lls.
The HopeGoldthorpe classification
Some sociologists arg ue tha t the re are div isions eve n
wit hin the se bro ader soc ial cla sses. For exam ple,
John Gol dthorpe (19 80) dev eloped the Hope
Goldthorpe scal e in ord er to unde rtake res earch int o
soc ial mob ility. Gol dthorpe disti nguished thr ee mai n
cla sses, whi ch cou ld be fur ther sub -divided int o sev en
occ upational cla sses:
Service class
1 Higher professionals, high-grade administrator s, manager s
of larg e companies and larg e propr ietors
2 Lower prof essionals, higher-gr ade technicians,
supervisors of non-manual work ers, administrator s,
small business manager s
Intermediate class
3 Routine non-manual work ers (clerical and sales)
4 Small proprietor s and self-employed artisans (craftspersons)
5 Lower -grade technicians and supervisors of manual work ers
Working class
6 Skilled manual work ers
7 Semi-skilled and unskilled manual work ers
The underclass
Some writers suc h as Cha rles Mur ray (19 89) hav e
arg ued tha t a new soc ial cla ss, the unde rclass, has
eme rged bel ow the wor king cla ss (se e also pag e 27) .
Thi s con sists of the poo rest mem bers of soc iety,
suc h as the une mployed, lon e-parent fami lies and
chr onically sic k and dis abled peo ple who can not wor k.
Unl ike the wor king cla ss, who hav e pai d job s, the se
gro ups are lar gely dep endent on sta te ben efits.
The National Statistics
Socio-Economic Classification
The National Sta tistics Soc io-Economic Cla ssification
(NS -SEC) scal e is use d to cla ssify peo ple by soc ial
cla ss in off icial sta tistics suc h as the Cen sus and
gove rnment sur veys.
Class Occupational classification % of working population of
England and Wales, 2011
Examples
1 Higher ma nagerial an d pro fessional 10.3 Company di rectors, se nior ci vil se rvants,
doc tors, ba rristers, cl ergy, ar chitects
2 Lower ma nagerial an d pro fessional 20.8 Nurses, jou rnalists, te achers, po lice
offi cers, mu sicians
3 Inte rmediate 12.7 Secretaries, cl erks, co mputer op erators,
dri ving inst ructors
4 Small em ployers an d own
acc ount wo rkers
9.4 Taxi dr ivers, wi ndow cl eaners, pu blicans,
deco rators
5 Lower su pervisory, cr aft an d re lated 6.9 Tr ain dr ivers, pl umbers, pr inters, TV en gineers
6 Semi-routine 14.1 Traffic wa rdens, sh op as sistants, hai rdressers,
cal l ce ntre wo rkers
7 Routine 11.1 Cleaners, co uriers, roa d sw eepers, la bourers
8 Long-term un employed an d
nev er wo rked
5.6
(Source: ONS 2011)
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Occupation and social class
Many sociological approaches to class base their
classifications on occupations. Occupation is a useful
guide to social class because many sociologists would
see the class structure of modern industrial societies
as based on the occupational structure, the ranking
of occupations in terms of income, status and power .
A persons occupation not only tells us roughly what
their income is, it also gives a good indication of
what level of educational qualifications they have,
what kind of housing they live in and possibly what
kind of lifestyle they have outside work. These are
all factors that many sociologists would link to
social class.
Occupational classes, howe ver, have their
limitations. Some people have no occupation but
may be very wealthy or else their occupation is
a poor guide to their social position. For example,
Prince Harry is a member of the Roy al Family but
his occupation of army officer would not rev eal
his true social position. Occupational classes can
also contain very diverse occupations; for example,
Activity: New forms of social class
Item A: Social classes in the Great British Class Survey
NS-SEC Class 2 cover s teachers, ranging from newly
qualified teachers to head teachers who might earn
as much as five times as much. Class 1 includes both
millionaire businesspeople who would be classified as
company directors and clergy who often receive very
modest salaries.
Subjective social class
Occupational cla ssifications are obj ective def initions
of cla ss in oth er wor ds, bas ed on com monly
agr eed cri teria for cla ssifying peo ple. The se do not
alwa ys coi ncide wit h sub jective def initions of cla ss.
The se are bas ed on the soc ial cla ss to whi ch peo ple
see themsel ves as belon ging. Gord on Mar shall et
al. (19 88) fou nd tha t man y peo ple in the ir res earch
saw the mselves as wo rking cla ss des pite the fact
tha t the y wer e in non -manual or whi te-collar job s
tha t man y soc iologists wou ld des cribe as mid dle
cla ss. Ano ther stu dy by Mik e Sava ge et al. (20 01),
how ever, fou nd tha t a sig nificant pro portion of the ir
res pondents were relu ctant to iden tify themsel ves
wit h a soc ial cla ss at all and con cluded tha t in gen eral
the not ion of cla ss ide ntity was re latively mute d.
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