This document provides an overview of a lesson on representations of social class in television drama. It includes definitions of different social classes in the UK, factors that determine social class, and how class is portrayed in popular TV shows like Downton Abbey, The Street, Benidorm, and Shameless. Students are asked to analyze how these shows construct and potentially stereotype different social classes through elements like mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound, and character representations. The lesson also addresses criticisms of using economic factors alone to define social class.

1. Do Now
• Do Now – look at the item on the post-it
notes and attach it to one of the four main
class classifications.
• Discuss – what factors can help define what
class a person falls into?

2. What class?

3. Representation In TV Drama
Learning Objective:
Build notes on representations of class.

4. ‘Classy’…
• Questions for the lesson:
• What does social class mean?
• Is class solely to do with money?
• What factors determine your social
class?
• What does socio-economic class mean?
• How does the media, particularly
television drama represent class?

5. Starter- Class and media
• Task: recap questions about class.
What did we say about media celebs
and class?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2k1

6. Class classifications
• Underclass: the chronically unemployed and have been for generations,
live in council houses
• Working class: the labouring class without formal professional
qualifications.
• Middle class: acquired a comfortable lifestyle. Worked for relative
financial security. Often formally qualified. Upper middle class (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_structure_of_Britain#Upper_middle_class
)
• Upper class: the main owners of land and inherited wealth. Represent a
tiny minority.
• Any questions on these classifications?
• Can you change class?
• How do you trace your class roots?
• If you migrate to this country, where do you fit in?

7. What do we know about Social Class in UK?
• Britain is noted for having a deep rooted class system that dates
back hundreds of years.
• It is thought that as long as Britain remains a sovereign nation with
a royal family and an aristocracy the issue of class will always
be present.
• Britain, for many is still seen as a nation where your class can be
either beneficial or an obstacle to success.
• Unlike the US which prides itself on being a meritocracy were
anyone from any background can be successful.

8. Social- economic demographics
• Traditionally the way of measuring social class was according
to the job of the main ‘breadwinner’. The classifications are as
follows:
• A: high ranking professionals; lawyers, doctors etc.
• B: middle ranking professionals; middle managers in business,
teachers etc
• C1: ‘white collar’ office workers, clerks, semi and nurses etc.
• C2: skilled manual workers; carpenters, electricians.
• D: semi and unskilled manual workers; drivers, labourers, cleaners
etc.
• E: people on state benefits, the unemployed, pensioners etc
• Of course it might be easier to think in terms of upper, middle and
lower classes, which letter goes with which class?

9. ‘Downtown Abbey’ – all about class?
What can we say about how
class is represented in these
still shots?

10. Class representation analysis-
‘Downton Abbey’
• A period drama set between the wars.
• Depicts the aristocracy and working class
– the middle-classes feature much less
• Take notes on how the representation of
class is constructed using
• Mise-en-scene
• Cinematography
• Sound
• Editing

11. Class representation in TV drama
• Can you name a TV drama that is about a
specific social classes?
• Do they rely on class stereotypes at all?
• Do they have specific characters that
represent a specific class?

12. Problems?
• What are the problems with the classification
system of classing by job and economic status?
• Doesn’t tell us how much money people earn. e.g.: a carpenter
might earn more than a teacher.
• Doesn’t tell us how much money each household is spending
so no indication of actually how rich they are.
• It only relates to the main household ‘breadwinner’. What
about households with several earners.
• Is the theory of social economic class an outdated concept in
the UK today?

13. Find the place:
Wales
Essex
Cornwall
Birmingham
Newcastle
Liverpool

14. Region
•How can we simply divide regions of the country?
•Geographically?
•The south
•The north
•London
•Yorkshire etc….
•Types of living areas?
•Inner city
•Rural
•Suburbs
•Coast

15. • Brainstorm some stereotypes of the
following:
• People who live in the city.
• People who live in rural areas.
• People who live in the north.
• The ‘North / South’ divide?
• This is an often ‘over simplified’ and stereotyped as
the rich middle class south and the poor working
class north.

16. The Street Analysis
• BBC series produced from 2006 to 2009
• Set in an unnamed street in Manchester
• Take notes on:
– How are working class Northerners
represented?
– In what ways are they stereotyped? How much
of this is to do with them being working class
and how much to do with them being northern?

17. ‘Benidorm’
• A Bafta award winning comedy drama set
in the Spanish holiday resort of Benidorm.
• In what ways does it represent class?
• Consider icons of class.
• What other class stereotypes can you
identify?
• Consider the issue of regionality

18. Shameless - Analysis
• Using the sheet on page 193 of your
handbook watch the clip from Shameless.
• How are working class Northerners
represented?
• In what ways are they stereotyped? How
much of this is to do with the family being
working class and how much to do with
them being northern?

19. • Formal clothing – social manners and expectation
• Associations between classical music and class
• Antiques
• Silver service
• Pets
• Women in kitchen (“below the stairs”)
• How addressed (polite, formal, respectful)
• RP (received pronunciation) – aka “Queen’s English”) – vs regional northern accents
• Social rules and expectations – no sex before marriage
• Maid in formal uniform when interacting with members of the family (vs less formal clothes when “under the
stairs”)
• Relation between classes
• Low key lighting (below the stairs)
• High key lighting (above the stairs)
• Servants’ bell, shot of maid walking up the stairs – symbolism of the stairs
• Pictures (portraits of ancestry? – inherited wealth/status/title?), marble…
• Social etiquette – preserving social reputation
• Movement towards a fairer society (school leaving age rising from 11 to 14) but servants de-humanised (by
member of older generation) – “servants are human beings too” – “only in their time off”
• Adjectives for mise-en-scene? Opulent, lavish, ornate, luxurious, expensive, regal
• Patriarchy (both above and below the stairs)
• Grand Hotel – street outside (man with placard advertising Liverpool-Sunderland match – associations then of
football with the working classes)
• Juxtaposition of settings and locations (e.g. movement from above to below the stairs)
• “Landed gentry”
• Clothes: hat, gloves, long dresses, tweed suit
• Hierarchies within hierarchies (e.g. amongst the servants – Carson treated with respect by other servants)

21. Keywords brainstorm
• Stereotypes – subvert or conform
• Connotes – what something stands for
• Protagonist
• Antagonist
• Patriarchy
• Matriarchy
• Status/authority