Social class, ethnicity, and sexuality can be defined and represented in various ways. Sociologists typically divide social class into five categories based on factors like wealth, education, occupation, and lifestyle. Ethnicity is based on shared ancestral, cultural or national experiences and can be represented through stereotypes in media. Sexuality includes dimensions of sexual orientation, attraction, and identity that are shaped by both nature and nurture.

1. Social Class, Ethnicity and
Sexuality

2. Social Class
Social class refers to a
group of people with
similar levels of
wealth, influence, and
status.

3. Sociologists in the United States divide the American population into five social classes:
– Upper class. Old money, education at top universities, exclusive clubs, careers in established law
or financial firms or medical specialties. Support for cultural activities – classical music, art
museums. Carefully-prepared meals, many of them at restaurants. Often wearing business
clothes, but even casual clothes are upper class styles – khaki not denim.
– Upper-middle class. College educations in practical fields, well-paying jobs, homes in the suburbs
or in nice city areas, volunteering in community activities. Wives often have careers, with
household help on an as-needed basis. Money enough for vacations and expensive tickets to
sporting events. Teen-age kids have cars of their own. Occasional movies and TV, but usually too
busy.
– Middle class. Successful small businessmen, such as grocers and building contractors. Retirees.
Medium-sized homes, often owned. Careful with their money. Careful to always look nice around
other people. Church-goers. Old-fashioned home cooking.
– Lower-middle class. Steady but low-wage occupations such as store
clerks, beauticians, painters. High school educations. Live in rented housing. Occasionally get into
difficulties with family turmoil, trouble with small misdemeanors, pregnancies. Cheap, easily-
prepared foods (spaghetti, hamburgers), few fruits and vegetables. Blue jeans the wardrobe
mainstay. Pop and rock music constantly going. TV the main entertainment.
– Lower class. Sporadic employment. School dropouts. Dependent on government program
money, living in shabby, high-crime areas of the cities or in pockets of rural poverty. Ethnic
music, Hispanic or rap. Little hope for achieving a better life, but some do, with the help of caring
teachers and ministers.

4. Weber identified three aspects of class: (i) a specific causal
component of actors life chances (ii) which rests exclusively on
economic interests and wealth, and (iii) is represented under
conditions of labour and commodity markets. The possession of
material resources, accumulated by advantage in the
marketplace, results in distinctive qualities in terms of the standard
of living.1
The possession of property defines the main class
difference, according to Weber. The owners of property have a
definite advantage, and in some cases a monopoly on, action in
the market of commodities and, especially, labor. They have
privileged access to the sources of wealth creation, by virtue of
ownership and control of the markets. Weber identified a
subdivision among property owners based on the means of their
wealth creation. Entrepreneurs use wealth in commercial ventures.
Rentiers profit by interest on their property, through investments or
rent of land.2 Both forms of ownership yield advantages resulting
from the ability to convert property to money.

5. Downton Abbey
Upper Class
-Big Mansion
-Lots of money
-Expensive costumes
Shameless
Lower Class
-Estate Houses
-Not a lot of money
-Cheap, dirty costumes

6. Ethnicity
Ethnicity or ethnic group
is a social group of
people who identify with
each other based on
common
ancestral, social, cultural,
or national experience.

7. Representations of Ethnicity , like sex, is a set of genetically defined, biological
characteristics. However, like gender, it is also associated with a set of culturally defined
characteristics. Representations of ethnicity in the media can consist of the same sort of
rigid stereotypes that constitute gender portrayal.
Representations of Ethnicity Afro/Caribbean Stereotypes Gangster. Fun loving. Athletic.
Sexist/Homophobic Males. Materialistic. Hospitable. Impoverished. Involved in drugs
(dealing/taking.) Criminal. Victim. Hero
Representations of Ethnicity East Asian Stereotypes Intelligent. Hard working. Determined.
Sinister. Martial arts. Obsessed with electronics. Quirky. Physically weak. Ruthless. Lacking
emotion. Submissive women.
Representations of Ethnicity Latin American Stereotypes Lazy. Uneducated. Easy going.
Impoverished. Hedonistic. Ridiculed. Illegal aliens. Involved in drugs (dealing/taking.) ‘
Exotic’ sex symbols (Antonio Banderez, Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek, Shakira).
Representations of Ethnicity Middle Eastern/ South Asian/ Arabic Stereotypes Terrorists.
Devout. Glamorous. Educated. Oppressed females. Religious fanatics. Sophisticated and
Cultured. Formidable. Serious. Cruel/brutal. Victims. Villains.
Representations of Ethnicity White British/American/European Stereotypes Affluent.
Educated. Socially awkward. Restrained. Moral. Rational. Arrogant. Repressed. Neurotic.
Racist.

8. For symbolic interactionist, race and
ethnicity provide strong symbols as sources
of identity. In fact, some interactionist
propose that the symbols of race, not race
itself, are what lead to racism. Famed
Interactionist Herbert Blumer (1958)
suggested that racial prejudice is formed
through interactions between members of
the dominant group: Without these
interactions, individuals in the dominant
group would not hold racist views.

9. Eastenders
White/British
-Wedding in Church
-White Traditional dress
-Confetti
Eastenders
Muslim/Asain
-Wedding on street
-Bright clothing
-Riding on horse

10. Sexuality
Human sexuality is the capacity to
have erotic experiences and
responses. A person's sexual
orientation may influence their
sexual interest and attraction for
another person. Sexuality can have
biological, emotional/physical or
spiritual aspects.

11. Gay man: camp, over the top and wears lots of
brightly coloured clothes, hangs around with
women a lot and are usually very slim.
Lesbian: man-hating, hard, butch
Bi (girls anyway): often get called sluts- like they're
out to sleep with anything that moves.
Sexual stereotypes, on the other hand, suggest that
any feminine man is gay and any masculine
woman is a lesbian. Those who believe gay
stereotypes may also believe that homosexuality is
immoral, wrong and an abomination.

12. Perhaps the most recognized name in the field
of psychology is Sigmund Freud (1856–1939). His
work, which is known as psychoanalytic theory, is
pertinent to the field of human sexuality. The key
focus of psychoanalytic theory is personality
formation. Freud argued that human behavior is
motivated by both inborn instincts and drives
and that one's basic personality is shaped by
events in the first six years of life. Two powerful
drives, according to Freud, drive all human
behaviour: the libido (sexual motivation) and
thanatos (aggressiveness).

13. Eastenders
Male gay
-Believed it was wrong
-Didn’t want anyone to know
-Seemed straight when first
appeared in show