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. In days gone by your class would affect your chances of getting an education, a job, and it would also affect the people who you could socialise with and marry. (projectbritain.com)
Solomon actually links social class with income quite clearly in the text book, giving the topic a chapter. The two have been linked by the following:
- 'Social class appears to be a better predictor of purchases that have symbolic aspects, but low to moderate prices (cosmetics/ alcohol)'
- 'Income is a better predictor of major expenditures that do not have status or symbolic aspects (major appliances)'
- 'Social class and income data together are better predictors of purchases of expensive, symbolic products (cars, homes, luxury goods)'
Brassington & Pettit describe social class as 'a form of stratification that attempts to structure and divide society' (Brassington F & Pettit S, 2007, P86).
At the turn of the century there were three main types of social class, High class, middle class and low class. However today there are 7 different classes, to try and distinguish between the different classes would be difficult as they are closely interlinked.
Different cultures would have different ways of determining social class, for example Indian's use a caste system which is even more complex than the british way! (There is much more about different cultures in the previous posting entitled 'culture'
Social class can be determined by ones hobbies, those who play golf are thought of as a higher class, it can be awarded by ones job, the higher the position in work can help a person move up the ranks in the social class spectrum.
What about those who win money? What class do they fit into? Should they move up the ranks just because they have money? Personally up to a certain extent yes, if they can afford a higher style of life then so be it, however, I feel that these people may have not worked hard for the lifestyle as others and should still remain as down to earth as possible, I understand that this may not always have been the case but I feel that people should not change their friends just because they have more money than their peers.
There is a scene in Friends where Monica buys extra lottery tickets secretly and gets found out, after finding them Rachel threatens that if these tickets win the group will leave Chandler & Monica, to which Monica replies 'I'll buy new friends'! This video clip can be seen on by clicking on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCyKcfraV1c&feature=related
The clip shows how Monica would be willing to leave her friends behind if she won the lottery.
However, people try and change their social class without doing any of these by simply lying about their work and hobbies, this is known as social mobility and they attempt to change their class for their own personal gain.
Self respect would have an impact on how a person sees themselves against others.
Marrying between classes can cause a culture shock in certain cases, as if a woman from a higher class marries a man from a lower class she automatically moves down the scale. For example if a top city solicitor was to marry a dustbin man the lifestyle that she would be accustomed to.Yes this is unfair and not very modern but this also stems back to the days of the first and second world war where the men were known to be the breadwinner. Unfortunately full equality still hasn't quite reached some parts of the world.
The 'Chav' class has come around over the last few years, where kids try to act like they are much older but don't realise what idiots they look like. The group of people who fall into the category often text 'lyk dis' and walk 'lyk dey got a banana stuck up somewhere painful!' (if they aren't wearing their trousers as low as their ankles. For everyone else this is a really annoying group of people as they are often attributed with causing problems in their local areas.
It can be accepted that the chav group can be classed as a culture rather than a group. However the difference is small between them and social classes can be assumed to divide cultures.
I did the Great British Class Survey and got the following result:
You scored 96/100 for economic capital
Your financial resources are higher than the average person in the UK. Find out more below.
You scored 100/100 for social capital
Your social network is wider than the average person in the UK. Find out more below.
You scored 70/100 for cultural capital
Your range of cultural interests is broader than the average person in the UK. Find out more below.
Your 'coat-of-arms'
We’ve used your results to create a fun, personalised 'coat-of-arms
Reference list:
Brassington F & Pettit S, 2007, Essentials of marketing, Harlow, Pearsons Education LTD
Project Britain, 2010, Social class in england, [Online], Mandy burrow, Available at: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/class.htm, Accessed 28th April 2011
Solomon M, Bamossy G, ASkegaard S & Hogg M, 2010, Consumer behaviour a european perspective, 4th edition, Harlow, Pearsons Education LTD.
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