Measuring Social Class Need to know: The meaning of social class How social class is measured Reasons for measuring it Changes in Social Class

Social class Social class is a way of dividing society into different groups The way it is measured is usually based on income, wealth and occupation

It can be used as a predictor of an individuals “life chances” It provides information about the population which can help the government when making social and economic policies It helps us to understand how society is changing Why do we measure social class?

How does the Government measure social class? The Registrar Generals Model of Social Class (5 classes all related to job) Standard Occupation System (9 groupings – again all related to jobs) National Statistics Social Grades (still mostly jobs but now includes people not working, students, non-working spouses etc. It also grades peoples ‘status’ within an occupation)

Recap “Middle-class” and “working class” carry an identity that many of us keep throughout our lives – pride in our “roots” Old definitions of Middle-class and working class are less useful today due to changes in society and employment We examined 3 ways of measuring social class Standard occupational Classification (SOC) (p9) National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC) (p9) The Registrar General’s classification (p11)

Task Looking at the three tables, which social classes would you equate with: Upper middle class Lower middle class Working class

Social Class Distribution in the British Isles (p10) Which is the largest social class group (use the NS-SEC)? Are social classes distributed evenly across the British isles? Which areas have the highest concentration of –Upper middle class (ONS class 1.1) –Lower middle class (ONS class 1.2 and 2) –Working class (ONS class 3-8) Give statistics from the table to back up your answer Can you think of any reasons for this?

The Runciman Scale This is also based on 3 categories: 1.People who own companies etc 2.People who have control within companies 3.How valued a person’s skill are by society.

What Changes have taken place in the class structure in recent years?

Decline of traditional working class:  Decline of heavy industry such as coal mining, shipbuilding etc.  In 1911, ¾ of the workforce were in manual jobs.  By the 1991 census it had fallen to about one third – this is called ‘structural economic change  Growth of the service, white collar and light manufacturing sectors

Growth of the ‘new working’ class:  Increased home ownership  Increased shareholding (privatisation of public industries)  Growth of self employed

The growth of women as a % of the workforce:  29% of workforce in 1900 to 46% 2000  Over ½ of people in the top 3 job categories are female  More females in skilled non-manual than male (See above re ‘structural economic change’ for reasons)

Charles Murray’s theory of the underclass Murray is an American sociologist Identifies a group of people excluded from society who experience greater disadvantage than the working class (the unemployed/never worked/benefit dependent Blames the underclass for their problems through attitudes and choices (laziness/criminality/single-motherhood)

Hutton’s ‘30:30:40’ model Divides population into 3 main groups 1.The advantaged 40% - full-time, secure high paid jobs; 2.The newly insecure 30% - in work but poorly paid 3.The disadvantaged 30% - Unemployed, part time workers, casual workers