Lecture 13 - Social Class

Speaking of class.......

In today's lecture we discussed about the topic social class.

What is Class?

Sociologists define social class as the grouping of people by occupations. Doctors and lawyers and university teachers are given more status than unskilled labourers. The different positions represent different levels of power, influence and money. Years ago, your class would affect your chances of getting an education, a job, etc. and it would also affect the people who you could socialise with and marry. Today this type of thing is all but gone with the high-profile exception of the Royal family.

The British Social Class System

The British society has often been considered to be divided into three main groups of classes:

• the Upper Class
  Often people with inherited wealth. Includes some of the oldest families, with many of them being titled aristocrats.

• the Middle Class
  The majority of the population of Britain. They include industrialists, professionals, business people and shop owners.

• Lower or Working Class
  People who are agricultural, mine and factory workers.

Solomon (2006) states that all societies can be divided into haves and have-nots, the reason for this is because social equality tends to be widely held value throughout Europe, this means that some people seem to be more equal than others.




Above the video shows that there are four common social classes which are: (1) Upper class, (2) Middle class, (3) Working class, and the (4) Lower class.

In all societies where classes exist, every class is seen by the following factors:

* Personal or household income or wealth
* Net worth includes the ownership of land, property, means of production
* Occupation
* Education and qualifications
* Family background

Measuring Social Class in Britain

• A B C1 C2 D E
• A – upper middle class
• B - middle class
• C1 – lower middle class
• C2 – skilled working class
• D – working class
E –lower class