SOCIAL CLASS or 'Social Stratification' is the system of dividing people up.Who lives in a house in Hampstead (£8,100.000)-middle class, upper middle class or working class people?Who lives in a house in Deptford? (£95,000)- middle class, upper middle class or working class people? Is the only difference between rich and poor people is money? Are middle class people more intelligent than working class people? Who cares? In Britain people with different incomes live in different areas of London or other towns. It is usually possible to tell a person’s class by the area they live in. People in London might say: A: Where do you live? B:I live in Hampstead A:OH! (I see, you are very rich).B: Where do you live?A: I live in DeptfordB: oh. (I see, you are not very rich) Income (or money) is not the only difference between the people, they are in different classes as well. This means that the people are from different ‘backgrounds’, which means that they grew up differently. This means that they went to different schools, had different fashions, different toys, different friends, and that their parents wanted them to be different people (a doctor or a shop worker). This means they are from different CULTURES. The riche people are from a middle class culture, and the poorer people are from a working class culture.
UK-A CLASS ACT (BBC NEWS, FEBRUARY 16TH 2009)
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A quarter of people in managerial jobs still see themselves as working class, while the same number of skilled and unskilled workers regard themselves as middle class.Mr Sparrow described this as a sign of Britain's growing middle class."This does indicate a gravitation towards the middle class. Also, out of the 27% of people who thought their parents were middle class, nearly double thought that they themselves now belonged to the middle class."On the question of whether the current administration is committed to the interests of all classes equally or to one in particular, 45% said Labour did not favour one class over another but 47% said it did.Of these, 35% believed the upper classes were favoured over other social groups. Just 27% of people felt Labour was more committed to the working class. However, the party will take comfort from the fact that half the population believe old class loyalties no longer apply to the party.
In Britain, people in general are quite uncomfortable when the issue of social class is talked about. Instead people often say "class no longer exists" or ‘things are changing’. This view is expressed by a lot of politicians in particular. John Major, a former Prime Minister told us that "we are all classless now". And Tony Blair, soon after becoming Prime Minister, declared that one of the aims of his government was to "make everybody middle class". At this year's Labour Party conference, Tony Blair announced that "the class war is over". Why do they say this? This is because there are 2 main political parties in Britain, the Labour Party and the Conservative Party. The Labour Party has always traditionally been the party of working class people, and the Conservative Party has always traditionally been the party of Middle class people. Things are not so simple now and many working class people vote for the Conservative Party, and many middle class people vote for the Labour Party.
Politicians need votes, and tell us that class no longer exists. If you look for class differences in Britain, you will find them. As an extra thought, Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister told us that "there is no such thing as society; just individuals and their families". Why would she say this? Maybe you can think about the answer. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the class system is alive and well. Indeed, MOST people believe that nothing has changed in Britain in terms of class. A survey in 1996 (Hill) found that 81% of people believe there is a class struggle in Britain (66% in 1980) fifteen years ago. And in 1998 (Travis) a survey showed that 68% of people think that Britain is a class divided country, while only 21% consider it classless.
Divided Groups
Differences in people-Social divisions or class differences can be divided into 3 main groups....
- Economics, some people are closer than others to economic resources such as money.
- Political-Social Prestige, some personal or social qualities are valued more highly than others.
- Political-Power, some positions in society are more powerful than others.
Occupation |
Sex |
Age |
1. Computer Programmer |
Male |
37 |
2. Baby |
Female |
6 months |
3. Farm Worker |
Male |
45 |
4. Politician |
Male |
40 |
5. Teenager at school |
Male |
14 |
6. Religious leader |
Male |
67 |
7.Cleaner |
Female |
28 |
8. Teacher of Sociology |
Female |
30 |
9. Small business owner |
Male |
22 |
10. Housewife |
Female |
25 |
11. Her husband |
Male |
27 |
12. Scientist |
Male |
50 |
13. Schoolgirl |
Female |
8 |
14. A famous Writer |
Female |
56 |
CULTURAL SIGNS But there is more to class ........ 
Look at the picture,Who is middle class? Who is working class?What clues can you use to guess?
TALK TO YOUR NEIGHBOUR
Class and Language.
One of the big differences between the classed is the way we speak. As soon as someone speaks we can determine if they are rich or poor, working class or middle class. It takes about 0.01 seconds. Another thing about the classes is that they usually stick together. Working class people mix with working class people and middle class people mix with middle class people. Middle class often people feel uncomfortable with working class people (perhaps they feel privileged), and working class people often feel insecure with middle class people, (perhaps they feel unequal).People from different classes have different accents. A working class person has a working class accent, and a middle class person has a middle class accent and an upper class person has an upper class accent. A member of the working class would typically drop his or her h’s as so that house becomes 'ouse. They will also drop th sounds, and replace them with an f sound, so that three becomes free. Such accents can disadvantage the speaker in a middle class world of work as the speakers may not be seen as employable people. Similarly, the language of many working class families may not include that language of thought and debate which is more common in the communication of the middle classes, and hence the working classes are disadvantaged in education. In your classes some people are better at speaking English than you, this is cultural and similar.
There are also some basic vocabulary differences.
Middle Class people say.. |
Working Class people say.. |
sitting room/drawing room lavatory pudding sofa note paper to take a bath |
lounge toilet afters /dessert settee writing paper to have a bath |
The upper classes have their own accent, which is Received Pronunciation, or RP. There are only about 3% of the population in Britain who have this accent. This is a prestige accent and is the accent off the rich, and the often called ‘BBC English’ (although not now) or ‘the Queen’s English’.One of the problems of RP is that its association with the ruling elite has meant that aloofness and snobbishness are characteristics often associated with RP speakers. Features of RP include;
There are certain features associated with RP, for example:1. CURE lowering: the use of /Ο:/ vs. the diphthong /Υ≅/ in words like sure, cure, pure, tour, Europe, etc. 2. /r/ the use of linking and intrusive /r/ in phrases like far/r/ away, India/r/ and China, withdraw/r/al. 4. the use of the affricates /t/ and /d/ for /tj/ and /dj/ in stressed syllables, making Tuesday sound like choose-day and dune like June. 5. T voicing: the use of a voiced tap for intervocalic /t/ in e.g. British, a lot of. In the working classes typical features are:1. T glottalling: the use of a glottal stop for syllable-final /t/ before consonants in e.g. football, not now. The study investigates to what extent syntactic2. h dropping: so that house becomes ‘ouse, and head becomes ‘ead. Talk to your partner. You are RICH middle class people! Listen and repeat the words
STANDARD MIDDLE CLASS |
UPPER CLASS |
A tour In Europe Are you sure? In India Cat Little |
A towa In yorupe Are you showa In indiar Cat little |
A: Would you like to towa of yorupe?
B: I’m not really showa. It is so faraway. I prefer Indiar.
A: By the way do you have a little cat at home?
B: Oh yes, a very little cat.
STANDARD MIDDLE CLASS |
WORKING CLASS |
A house Three cars A bottle |
An ‘ouse Free cars A bo?le |
EDUCATION
Working class background has always been thought of as poor, or as difficult and working class people have fewer life chances. This does not mean that all working class people are poor, but most poor people are working class.
- In education there is no question that family, class and education are all connected, and that educational success (going to university etc) can be affected by the social background of the pupil.
- In one study 75% of boys from middle class backgrounds were accepted into high level secondary schools, whilst just 25% of working class boys were.
Family
- The influence of neighbourhood and family. Middle class pupils in large green suburbs with in large houses with large gardens have different home pressures from working class people in small houses, with no gardens in big cities.Children in working class families do not expect to go to university
- 1/3 of the population have 2/3 of the university places.
- There are many more statistic to prove the point of difference
WHAT IS CLASS AGAIN?
Is it accent? Neighbourhood? Occupation? Income? Wealth?There is no generally agreed definition of social class, but most people agree that social differentiation exists.Some working class people see the middle classes as superior, some workingclass see life as them and us and some working class people see class asfluid and that they are able to move up into the middle class. If they do move up a class, then they may or not change their lifestyle. Lifestyle is the way we dress, speak and act. There is a typical working class style.
AB You are a Japanese researcher on a train in Britain.
You want to find out what class the passengers are from in your carriage. With a partner, what questions would you ask the passengers?When you finish interview a partner. 1. What is your job?2. Where do you live?3.4.5.6. NEWSPAPERSOur Choices-Cultural Signals. The choice of newspaper is very important in Britain as it tells us a lot about the people buying them. Tabloid newspapers such as the Sun are typically working class (the sports newspapers in Japan), and broadsheets such as the Times, the Guardian are typically middle class. People who buy the Sun NEVER buy the Times. These differences show our class 
identity. We define ourselves, or are defined by others by the clues which we give, these are cultural signals. Our fashion sense, our accent, out choice of entertainment. Other people judge us accordingly. Usually the classes do not mix in Britain. Or put another way people of similar cultures stay together. Working class people do not usually make friends with middle class people and vice-versa. Is one class better than another, NO.? I do not think so. On the one hand it is about the way we are socialized. It is about life chances and what we are taught or not taught by our parents and our teachers. Some people have more life chances than others, and what we should do about this ‘problem’ is a political question. Although there are many people in Britain who want to help underprivileged working class people in Britain, including the government. There is the Department of Social Security which has social workers who visit the homes of people in ‘trouble’ and there is ‘benefit’ money to live on until you have a job. There are also volunteers who want to change the lives of those working class people who have a few life chances.