The economic divide in the UK is having a major impact on social classes, education, and the distribution of power. Social classes have been divided into 7 smaller classes ranging from the elite to the precarious poor class. Education is also impacted, with children from wealthy families attending private schools that have fewer issues, while poorer students face discrimination and negative outlooks. Politically, the rich have accumulated most power due to their vast wealth and ability to influence laws, while the poor have little influence. The middle class has the most cultural influence through the trends they set.

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Dawsyn Martone
Mr. Shaw
English 1
9 September 2013
Economic Gap
Every country, around the world has a social inequality within it, whether it is child
brides in Yemen or child suicide bombers in Afghanistan, but the economic divide in the UK is
another major social inequality, Britain has stumbled upon.The economic divide in the UK has a
major impact on three different parts of Britain, and those are social classes, education and
power amongst the citizens. This divide is flourishing in Britain and soon it will become so bad,
there will be little to no interaction between social classes and economic groups.
A part of Britain’s structure as a country which is beingshaken by the economic trench
are social classes, these “rankings” throughout society have been here far longer than anyone has
known and have left a deep mark in Britain recently. For instance this economic divide has
brought the three basic social classes (rich, middle and poor) to divide into smaller, more refined
classes. The divide consists of seven smaller classes which are the elite, the middle class, tech
middle, new established workers, traditional working class, emergent service workers and the
precarious or poor class(BBC). The state of class hierarchies which we are living in in this day
and age will not be perfected because middle class does not out number everyone in Britain and
it is a British meritocracy, “The most perfect political community is one in which the middle
class is in control, and outnumbers both of the other classes" (Brainy Quote). The Elite class is
very distinctive and consists of politicians and high ruling business workers. The middle of the
seven social classes starts to blend mainly because of the emergence of new classes since the

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economic gap has occurred. The established middle class is the largest out of all of the groups
and is the second wealthiest in all of the UK. This wealthy class is made up of business owners
and average business men and women. Citizens in this class have little to no trouble providing
for their families throughout the year.
Again, the economic divide has caused class divide in the UK and it is getting very
problematic now with the emergence of new classes and the constant growth of the already huge
populace in the country. This is where we see the unification of classes for the first time in a
social system; the three main classes whichare currently mixed in the middle are the technical,
affluent and traditional working and middle classes (BBC).
The first is the technical group, they are a very small part of the population in the UK,
they are very prosperous, but have very little cultural and social influence on the population. The
next class is the new and affluent workers of Britain; they are the “melting pot of culture in
Britain” (BBC). The middle class in this blend of culture, social and economic values is the
traditional working class; people in this class are very distinct in the common democratic society.
These people are the core and hard workers of the country and when times get rough they may
have some trouble providing for their families and keeping steady.
These classes are commonly blended because people feel as if they all belong in one
category “the middle class”, but they are very distinct culturally and socially, some people only
look at the economic views on classes.
Moreover, we have the bottom or poor class in the social system, the emergent service
workers and the precarious proletariats (BBC). These classes are on the bottom of the economic
“totem pole” and these people are hit the hardest when times get rough, they struggle to get food

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on the table every night to support their families. Also,being born into poorer classes causes the
person to question life chances and employment options, giving the person a negative outlook on
their lives and making them feel like they aren’t good enough (Wales). As you can tell there is a
major distinction between the social classes in the UK and where the people in them stand
amongst the British population, “Britain may seem to be a meritocracy but the class systems
divide is entrenched in modern day society” (Wales).
Secondly, we have the education system in Britain which was majorly affected
when the economy fell and times got hard. At the top of the totem pole in the education world we
have the rich class kids who dress nicely and attend private schools (Wales). These kids never go
through the turmoil of a lower class kid because they are in private schools wearing the nice
clothing and have a positive outlook on their lives. The education system at this level consists of
little error in how the kids are taught and brought up; these kids rarely face bullying and are
almost never discriminated against. In the elite social class schools they have the least culturally
diverse schools because it is mainly the native British offspring or the rich families when they
moved to the UK.
The next classes of kids are affected more than the elite class kids by the economic
divideand they are known as the middle class, or “average student”. Parents in this category are
very faithful in their children, hoping they will not be as affected during the divide as the past
generation was, “Parents of public school-educated sons can expect their children to be paid
eighty percent more by their mid-20s than kids educated at state schools” (Telegraph). The kids
in this class have a fairly good outlook on life and attend public schools like most people today,
the kids are outfittedpleasantly, but in this class, the most discrimination between them and the
less fortunate kids is a horrible thing (Wales). These kids discriminate other students by what

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they are wearing and where they fit in the puzzling British civilization,knowingly the child they
are making fun of, his parents are working hard trying to support the family on an everyday
basis. Another reason is how the students are being taught is the teachers feel as if are not being
paid as much as the elite class and private school teachers, so they may not have as much of an
incentive as the teachers which are being paid more. At this level in the education “totem pole”
they have a fairly good cultural diversity since Britain’s middle class consists of a majority of the
population.
The poorer classes of kids are being “discriminated against most and have a negative
outlook on life” (Guardian). These kids go through their everyday lives knowing their parents
are working hard to put a meal on the table and to support their family. Theodor Adorno once
said “Tact is the discrimination of differences. It consists in conscious deviations” (Brainy
Quote). Poorer classes of kids tend to have a negative outlook on their lives because of the type
of environment they grow up in (Friedman). The education system at this level is the most
culturally diverse in the sense of it being most of the people who have fled to Britain and the less
fortunate people of the general public. Another reason why the economic gap is making an
impression on Britain and become more unequal by the day is how the schools cannot afford
books due to their economic setback at this level in the education system. The teachers here have
a lot of faith in these students even though where they are in society, because the teachers feel as
if, these students make the differences in the world and the places they live in.
Hence, the economic divide majorly impacts education in the populace, in which kids
may not have a positive outlook on life or they may not go as far or please their parents in life
because their schools might not have the money to fund the good education that others are
receiving.

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Furthermore, we have the final way in which the economic divide in Britain is causing
various social inequalities in British society. The preceding way in which the economic divide is
rooting its power, is the influence both political and cosmetically throughout the population and
you may think the rich have all of the influence in Britain, but there is another class leading the
trends of the UK. This time let’s start out with the poor and work our way up, the poor have the
least influence in the social order, due to the fact of their amount of money andthey cannot afford
to “make new trends”. Less fortunate people are commonly looked past because people believe
they have little to nothing to offer in the “great blender that is British society”. Also, the lower
class has a lower life expectancy, the people do not want someone setting trends, when they
won’t be worth their while (Guardian).
In the middle class these people have the most cosmetic influence on the British
populace, these people of the largest group set most of the trends on Britain and the influence
goes as follows: Poor->Rich->Middle. The people in this blended social class have the most
influence because they have the most population, have the most cultural diversity due to their
large population and the other social classes want to be similar to them. Now on the other hand
when it comes to power in Britain, this divide made the power rush to the rich.
The rich in the UK have the most amount of political power because of one thing, money,
and the people in the higher classes rule over their “subordinates” in the lower classes. The
aristocrats of Britain are abusing this gap to further the law code in their liking and twist it by
bribing the politicians that can change laws. The top 10% of the rich class are 100 times richer
than the poorest 10% of people causing them to have a great political influential advantage over
the lower class people (Guardian). A quote describes how the rich control the political side of
things in Britain is “People do not consider it a problem because they do not want to adopt laws

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that are counterproductive and people are fearful of what will happen if the laws are
adopted”(Friedman).
Lastly, the rich and the middle classes both have a large influence on two different sides
of the public, cosmetic looks and political outcomes. The way the middle and elite class people
set these trends and control the laws are because of money and people wanting to be accepted or
liked in society.
In final analysis, the three places in which Britain’s economic divide is affecting
most are the social classes, education and power to the citizens throughoutthe population. This
economic divide has brought many hardships, discriminations and caused the British people
become poverty stricken and even in some cases even richer than they were before the economic
gap. Michael Faraday quoted “The five essential entrepreneurial skills for success are
concentration, discrimination, organization, innovation and communication” (Brainy Quote).If
America had reached this huge economic divide what would happen to the social structures,
education systems and government when we are under democratic rule? 1849