C ANTERBURY C HRIST C HURCH U NIVERSITY
E NGAGING S OCIOLOGY
SUPPORTING A’ LEVEL AND ACCESS COURSES
V OLUME 1, I SSUE 1
S EPTEMBER 2014
 Key Points
S OCIAL C LASS : WHAT IS IT ?
Britain is a society obsessed
with the idea of social
class. Reality TV shows
such as Made in Chelsea
and TOWIE are class ridden. Most people, if asked,
are able to define themselves as either middle or
working class.
Social class is also a critical
concept for sociologists
although there is much
disagreement about how it
should be defined and
measured. There is also a
passionate debate about
whether social class is still
a useful way of understanding social stratification in
contemporary Britain.
Fundamental to Karl
Marx’s theory was the
premise that capitalist societies are class societies.
He argued that it was helpful to see societies as divided into two opposing social
classes—
the BOURGEOISE—who
own the means of production;
and the PROLETARIAT who sell their labour power for wages.
Of course whilst it is possible to crudely divide people into these two groups,
this binary division does
not really capture the complexity of social inequality
driven but additionally
shaped by one’s access to
skills and qualifications and
the lifestyle choices one
makes.
And later, Pierre Bourdieu argued that a person’s position in society
and life chances were
structured by their access
to economic resources as
well as their social networks and cultural preferences.
Both Weber and Bourdieu
provide a more nuanced
account of class.
Max Weber provided a
more complex model that
understood social stratification as economically
Pierre Bourdieu
N EW WAYS OF MEASURING SOCIAL CLASS !
Using the work of Bourdieu as inspiration, Mike
Savage and his colleagues
devised a questionnaire to
identify and measure social
class. You can complete
the questionnaire yourself
at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
news/magazine-22000973
You will be asked questions
about your income, friends
and cultural preferences.
pleted the survey and a
new model of class that
contains seven categories
has been produced.
Read their work: Savage et
al (2013) Sociology 47 (2):
219-50
160,000 people have com-
Is it any good? Turn over
and see what we think!

Social Class is a
fundamental concept for Sociology;

Researchers often
measure Social Class
by occupation but
there are some problems with this
’proxy’;

Savage et al (2013)
have devised a new
way of measuring
class and suggest
there are seven
main categories;

Despite arguments
that we are all middle class now, there
are residing class
inequalities in the
UK.
E NGAGING S OCIOLOGY
P AGE 2
S EVEN NEW SOCIAL CLASSES : S AVAGE ET AL 2013
E LITE TO P RECARIAT

“ T HE VERY
RICH AND THE
VERY POOR
ARE STILL
WITH US IN
THE 21 ST
CENTURY ”
S AVAGE , 2013


Elite: The most privileged with a huge
amount of income
and wealth
class, reasonably
wealthy but less culturally engaged.

Established Middle Class: High levels of social, economic and cultural capital.
Gregarious and culturally engaged.
Technical Middle
Class: New, small

New Affluent
workers: Medium
levels of economic
capital, higher levels
of social and cultural
capital. Young and
active.
Emergent Service
Workers: Low eco-
nomic capital, high
social capital. Young
and urban.

Traditional Working Class: Score low
on all forms of capital. Usually older.

Precariat: Most
deprived groups.
Low levels of social,
cultural and economic capital.
I S IT A BETTER WAY OF CONCEPTUALIZING CLASS ?
Savage et al’s work has attracted a huge amount of
media and sociological interest.
On a positive note the research has shown that class is
still a meaningful concept to
ordinary people and their
schema provides a sophisticated way of conceptualizing
and understanding life chances, inequalities and social
position. It offers a useful
tool for our sociological imagination.
However, there are some
methodological and conceptual problems. First, the
sample who responded to
the questionnaire, whilst
large, was predominantly
white, educated and middle
class.
Second, the questions that
were asked about cultural
preferences were somewhat
leading and many aspects of
social and cultural life were
not included.
In other words there were
clear preconceptions about
what stood as high or low
culture.
If you ask about opera
you find out about
opera!
V OLUME 1, I SSUE 1
W HAT
P AGE 3
IS THE ALTERNATIVE ?
For decades sociologists have
used occupation as a proxy
measure for social class.
(Have a look for the Registrar General’s classification
of occupations). This has
been very useful and has
established that there are
significant class differences in
educational opportunities,
employment, poverty and
health outcomes. The enduring bottom line is that if you
are working class you have
lower life expectancy and
you will achieve fewer qualifications.
This story can fit 100-150
words.
The subject matter that appears in newsletters is virtually endless. You can include
stories that focus on current
technologies or innovations
in your field.
O CCUPATION
AND
C LASS
Why not look at Social
Trends and identify other data sets?
Again, this is a very useful
way of documenting inequality but it has problems, too.
It does not include the unemployed, it assumes that
everyone in the same job
category has the same experiences and it also assumes
that everyone in the same
family has the same opportunities. In fact, gender and
ethnicity can independently
impact on life chances.
ed internally, you might
comment upon new procedures or improvements to
the business. Sales figures or
earnings will show how your
business is growing.
T HOSE IN
P ROFESSIONAL
EMPLOYMENT
CAN EXPECT
TO LIVE ABOUT
5 YEARS
Some newsletters include a
LONGER THAN
column that is updated every
THOSE IN
issue, for instance, an advice
ROUTINE
You may also want to note
column, a book review, a
OCCUPATIONS
business or economic trends,
letter from the president, or
or make predictions for your
an editorial. You can also
customers or clients.
profile new employees or
class andis life
expectancy
England or
and
Wales at age 65 from 1982/86 to 2002/06. Source: Pension Trends
If Social
the newsletter
distributtopin
customers
vendors.
S OCIAL M OBILITY — ARE
The fact that you can change
social position in your own
lifetime—social mobility—
also throws doubt on the
usefulness of the concept of
social class. David Beckham
is a high profile rags to riches
example. The increase in
non manual—what we call service work– also may suggest that we have all become
middle class….?
CLASSES REALLY THAT IMPORTANT ?
Actually most social mobility
is short range; many service
jobs are routinized and have
little opportunities for increases in wealth and status.
Certainly, the upper class
have held onto their privileged position, with stakes in
all the big businesses and in
politics.
And at the other end of the
spectrum the underclass
Caption describing picture or graphic.
suffer long
term poverty and
poor life
chances.
More than
this they are
in Owen Jones’ words, demonized—have a read of his
book ‘Chavs’ for a sensitive
description of the fate of the
precariat.
Studying Sociology at Canterbury Christ Church
We ask challenging questions about the ways in which social life is
organised, structured and experienced. We invite you to reflect
critically on how your own activities, relationships, beliefs and
identity are shaped by the society in which you live and how you, in
turn, produce and change the social world. This insight shapes both
our curriculum and our approach to teaching and learning. You can
expect to explore a range of fascinating topics and to examine their
relevance through applied study. You will also develop a range of
useful skills that will help you in the world of work. From critical
thinking to teamwork, communication and time management, our
degree will equip you with the transferrable skills that employers
value.
Putting you first
As an accessible and friendly team, we place our students at the
heart of everything we do and we are committed to enabling you to
achieve your full potential. Our teaching is nationally recognised for
its quality and innovation, and you will find that your lectures are
supported by some of the latest research in the field.
C ONNECT WITH US !
North Holmes Road
Canterbury
Kent
CT1 1QU
URL:
facebook.com/
CCCUSociology
Username:
URL:
ChristChurchSocDept
canterburysociology.wordpress.com/
Email us!
[email protected]
Address:
@ChristChurchSoc
C H E C K U S O U T ON TH E
Images sourced from:
(1) GBCS: http://sex-british.com/the-british-class-system-revisited/; (2) Pierre Bourdieu: http://
thefrailestthing.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/pierre-bourdieu.jpg; (3) Prof. Mike Savage: http://www.york.ac.uk/
sociology/about/news-and-events/news/2010/mike-savage/; (4) David Beckham: http://www.metro.us/newyork/
lifestyle/style/2014/02/06/david-beckham-on-new-hm-line-fashion-week-and-underwear-billboards/; (5)Chavs:
http://www.camdenartscentre.org/shop/p/recommended/chavs-the-demonization-of-the-working-class
WEB
W W W . C AN T E R B UR Y . A C . UK /
S O C I O L OG Y