Studying Society : Lecture 3

The reproduction of class

OutlineMeasuring classSocial mobilityHealth inequalityRole of education

Measuring Class• Very difficult• Important for administrative reasons• Last week we looked at 3 types of capital • How might you measure each? • What else might be a useful and easy to capture measure of class?

Weber and Class• Focus on status • „market situation‟• Multiple classes • Not all economic• Contrast with Marx• “Mean Girls”

Measuring ClassNational Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC)• Takes employment relations approach • Employer, self employed, employee • Supervisor, supervised • Level of self direction and independence• Labour market situation equates to source of income, economic security and prospects of economic advancement.• Recently changed (2001) to try and incorporate full population (ie students, non working etc.)• Not ordinal (i.e. not a ranking)

National Statistics Socio-economic Classification 1 Higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations 1.1 Large employers and higher managerial and administrative occupations 1.2 Higher professional occupations 2 Lower managerial, administrative and professional occupations 3 Intermediate occupations 4 Small employers and own account workers 5 Lower supervisory and technical occupations 6 Semi-routine occupations 7 Routine occupations 8 Never worked and long-term unemployed

Distribution of wealth by class Household wealth including pension wealth Large employers and higher managerial Higher professional Lower managerial and professional Intermediate occupationsSmall employers and own account workers Lower supervisory and technical Semi-routine occupations Routine occupations Mean Median Never worked/long term unemployed 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 700,000 800,000 0

Social Mobility“Social mobility refers to the movement of people up or down the social class hierarchy” (Browne)• Intra-generational – This is the extent to which somebody changes class within their lifetime • [e.g. Cheryl Cole]• Inter-generational – This is the extent to which offspring have changed status compared to their parents‟ class • [e.g. Margaret Thatcher „grocer‟s daughter‟]

Health InequalityAge-standardised mortality rate: men aged 25-64,2001-3

DFLE for males and femalesat birth 2005-8 Male Female1 – Least deprived 69.3 70.32 66.6 68.53 65.1 65.94 62.1 63.45 – Most deprived 54.7 57.9

Why?In groups think of as many reasons as you can to explain health inequalities• Think about economic, social and cultural capital• + material differences• Differences in employment• Differences in neighbourhood

EducationWhy have state education at all?• More skilled workforce• Improve effectiveness of armies• Re-socialise the wasteful poor• Reduce the level of street crime• Reduce threat of revolution• Human right

Functionalist view ofeducationThe education system has three functions1. Socialisation – Values, norms2. Skills provision – Literacy, numeracy, I.T.?3. Role allocation – Identify and reward talent

school as a factory

Marxist views on education• Legitimate capitalist values as common values • Private property • Accept the current order• Creates conformist working class • Uniform • Punctual • Obedient• “Learning to Labour” – Willis • Ethnographic account of „earoles‟ and „lads‟ • Rejection of dominant values, prepares „lads‟ for working class world of boring alienated labour

Attainment of at least 5 A*-C GCSEs908070605040302010 0 Higher professional Lower professional Intermediate Lower supervisory Routine Other

Education Inequality (Class inHE) 60 50 Non- manual 40 30 20 Manual 10 0 1991/92 1993/94 1995/96 1997/98 1999/2000 2001/02

Why?Think of possible reasons for this gap in attainment• Economic capital• Social capital• Cultural capital• Other factors

Explanations • Economic capital • Housing • Health/ diet • Lack of books/computer/ trips • Lack of support to stay on • Work during school • Catchment areas • Social/ Cultural • Parental attitudes (about education and school) • Parental level of education • Language use (restricted/ elaborated) • School factors • Labelling • Teachers‟ attitudes • Anti-school subculture (Willis)

Who gets the best jobs?BBC documentaryWhat are other barriers to social mobility?Why does social mobility matter?

How does the use of internshelp reproduce social class?

SummaryProblems with measuring classWeber and social classNational Statistics measuresClass and educationClass and healthReproduction of class

Studying Society : Lecture 3

by Nick Pearce

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

1 Embed 82

Statistics

Studying Society : Lecture 3 Presentation Transcript