Is Class Still Relevant In Contemporary Britain Case Study

Introduction

Social class, also known as social stratum, implies for dividing the group of people into different sets and social categories majorly lower, middle and upper class. It also defined as the hierarchal differentiation among group and individuals within cultures and societies. From the foundation of the first ancient societies, there is an existence of social stratification within Britain. In the past time, there were various different approaches which used to classify people whereas in Contemporary Britain, economic position is used as the major tool for identify social class (Social class in Britain, 2024). The current essay will depict on whether the social class is still relevant to the contemporary Britain or not. This essay will depict on multiple definition of class as to provide critical analysis regarding the significances of social class.

Main Body

With the continuous change in society, the class system has undergone numerous alternations while aligning with the social structure. According to Marx, social classes were categorised on the basis of production relationship and the property ownership. Marx proposed as revolutionary concept in social order that includes communism. He believes that group of individual having property ownership should be treated as upper class (Marx on social class, 2023). However, in the current times despite less ownership an individual is involved in highly respectful job so this basis of social class differentiation is not relevant in the current times. Moreover, Weber was in support of the Marx work but he determined this theory to be deterministic. He believed that social actions and type of society in which an individual lives decides its social class (Wever theory of stratification, 2023). Weber disagree this idea of ownership for stratification rather proposed that class structure is mainly depended on skills and wealth of the individual which support initiating crucial changes in one’s lives.

He further proposed that class should be divided into four major categories that include Upper, middle, working and under/lower or poor class. The class division is depended on various factors that include opportunity, security of employment, income level, life style and language. Like Marx, he also proposed that social class and group was the most likely to experience conflict due to attempt of gaining upper class or higher status (Easterbrook, Kuppens and Manstead, 2020). However, this theory is still prevailing and used in the Contemporary Britain as individual’s class is mainly dependent on this factor. However, various argument stated that class significance is gradually deteriorating in the Britain as the lower income class or working class people has started earning high amount of profit which help in enhancing the purchasing power. According to the theory of embourgeoisement, it has been identified that working class people started earning huge amount which aids in enhancing their accessibility towards numerous product and services (Giddens, 2006). For example: It has been identified that there is 25% increasing in the income of working class people which amount to 37430 pound quarterly. This In the current times, working class is able to use same services and leisure as upper and middle class that indicates that social structure based on above mentioned factors are not relevant.

It has been identified that class distinction did not generally end rather there is generation of new way to express social classes. According to a sociologist Hoggart, there is elaborated and vast social structure which has grown up in the current time which is showing an alarming sign for the country’s development. He stated that despite continuous changes in social structure, there are various crucial strata available in society which is based on different social, cultural and economic position of the groups (Jenks, 2012). These social strata are not relevant in the contemporary Britain as it result into social exclusion and perpetuate poverty in the country. Due to this class, many individuals are unable to get access to effective education, employment and healthcare opportunity which expand the gap between classes. This eventually result into creating a situation of conflict and social unrest in the country as individual feel that social system is unfair.

In the modern society like Britain, the social structure and class is flow concept which keeps on changing with time. It has been identified that social class should not be decided on the particular point as the people could move up and down the social class with the passage of time. For instances, Michael Apted case study of UK series of documentaries, it has been identified that social classes should not be decided on the basis of individual background. The case study was based on 14 children of different background who work hard to achieve their goal (Kawashima, 2024). In this a boy, whose father work on farm, become successful physicist and Lynn whose reside in salubrious areas, now become the university librarian. However, John belonging to upper class have become addicted to drug and alcohol and not able to achieve any milestone in his life. From this case study, it was concluded that income of working class is increasing drastically which indicates irrelevance to classify them into lower social class.

Based on the view point of modern thinker, a social class could not be defined on the basis of surrounding, occupation, accent, income and wealth. They stated that social class and structure defined by Marx and Weber did not consider the health crises, education obstacles and unemployment rate within country. This factor creates issue for an individual to grow that result in increasing the gap between upper and lower social class. It has been identified that Britain’s social class system, is not relevant in the current time as it result into creating discrimination and unfairness within the country (Marmot and Theorell, 2020). Based on the latest survey, it has been depicted that 77% of individual feel that they are unable to take benefits of opportunities due to their social class. Due to the lack of adequate opportunities, 32% of total population believes that it is difficult to have upward shift in the social class which are just double from year 2005.

Moreover, on the basis of 2010 report by economic cooperation and development, Britain has been claimed as to worst country for measuring social mobility. It has been identified that in British, the social class is depended on the parent’s wealth rather than individual’s education, wealth or occupation (Matschke, de Vreeze and Cress, 2023). Due to the higher social class of parents, a child is expected to receive higher education and salary which ultimately result into increasing inequality within the country. Based on the study conducted by the Tak wing Chan at London, it has been determined that child is expected to have 2.5 time growth and professional job if they belong to the higher class (Social mobility in UK, 2023). This indicates that social class in Britain is less elastic as if one generation belong to lower social class than the next generation will not able to have upwards shift from such situation. The relative proportion of people moving upwards class is reducing and the rate of shifting towards lower class is increasing which has been referred as to “Dark side of the Golden age of mobility” by Erzsebet Bukodi at Oxford. 

In Britain, the social class have also influenced and determined by the occupation of individual and group. In the current times, there is a drastic reduction in the working class population of the UK but no change in the proportion of the working class. In the recent study, more than 60% of respondent considered them as working class people whereas more than 46% of respondent were involved in middle class job (Social class based on occupation, 2023). In the current time, the entire professional job holder has also started considering them as working class people. Further, 65% of total country’s population describe that inequality is the major reason due to which social class is an issue within Britain. People believed that social class has started influencing people’s growth opportunity which is resulting in increasing inequality within country.

The social class system of Britain is creating far reaching consequence on the overall development and growth of the country’s population. Social class system is having huge impact on the health, family life, political participation and criminal justice system within country. In UK, there is healthcare inequality on the basis of gender, race and socioeconomic status of individual (Muntaner, Lynch and Oates, 2020). Further, there is high divorce rate recorded for the individual belonging to lower social class as they face huge financial crisis due to lack of growth and earning opportunity. Further, the social class system of Britain is having huge impact on overall education as lower class people are not able to get access to prestigious schooling which creates issue in securing higher job in future.

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Conclusion

By summing up the essay, it has identified that Social class systems of Britain is not relevant to the current and modern society. It has been determined that earlier social class was decided on the basis of land ownership whereas in the current time, economic position is the crucial determinate of social class. This is resulting in increasing poverty and social exclusion within Britain which negatively influenced overall development. It has identified that health crises, unemployment rate and education crisis are also crucial factors that should be considered wile deciding on social class. Further, Britain is not employing effective measures for social mobility which creates issue for changing social class within people.

References

Books and Journals

• Difficulty in upward shift in social class. 2023. Online. Available through: < https://natcen.ac.uk/news/40-years-british-social-attitudes-class-identity-and-awareness-still-matter
• Easterbrook, M.J., Kuppens, T. and Manstead, A.S., 2020. Socioeconomic status and the structure of the self‐concept. British Journal of Social Psychology, 59(1), pp.66-86.
• Giddens, A. (2006). Sociology (fifth edition). Cambridge: Polity
• Jenks, C. (2012) Core Sociological Dichotomies London: Sage
• Kawashima, N., 2024. Audience development and social inclusion in Britain. In A Reader on Audience Development and Cultural Policy (pp. 135-152). Routledge.
• Marmot, M. and Theorell, T., 2020. Social class and cardiovascular disease: the contribution of work. The Psychosocial Work Environment, pp.33-48.
• Marx on social class. 2023. Online. Available through: < https://uregina.ca/~gingrich
• Matschke, C., de Vreeze, J. and Cress, U., 2023. Social identities and the achievement gap: Incompatibility between social class background and student identity increases student disidentification, which decreases performance and leads to higher dropout rates. British Journal of Social Psychology, 62(1), pp.161-180.
• Muntaner, C., Lynch, J. and Oates, G.L., 2020. The social class determinants of income inequality and social cohesion. The Political Economy of Social Inequalities, pp.367-399.
• Social class based on occupation. 2023. Online. Available through: < https://natcen.ac.uk/news/40-years-british-social-attitudes-class-identity-and-awareness-still-matter
• Social class in Britain. 2024. Online. Available through: < https://uniacco.com/blog/british-class-system
• Social mobility in UK. 2023. Online. Available through: < https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160406-how-much-does-social-class-matter-in-britain-today>
• Wever theory of stratification 2023. Online. Available through: < https://www.studysmarter.co.uk/explanations/social-studies/sociological-approach/max-weber-sociology/