1. Does class still matter?
Learning objective: To examine whether social class is still relevant today in affecting a person’s identity and life chances and to answer short mark exam questions.
Is a person’s social class position still an important aspect of their identity? V

2. Therefore, do you think social class still matters in the UK?
Connector
10 Mins
Therefore, do you think social class still matters in the UK?
Why / why not?
After watching these 2 clips, discuss:
What are the similarities between the two groups?
What are the differences?
Which group can be described as middle and which as working class?
Consider their family background, education, homes and areas they live in, occupations, lifestyles.

3. Class is still important Class is no longer important
Task 1
20 Mins
Draw a table like this one.
Cut out the cards and read them.
Work in pairs to sort the cards into two columns.
Glue them in.
Class is still important
Class is no longer important

4. Class is still important Class is no longer important
Solution
Class is still important
Class is no longer important
There are still huge differences between people based on their class background, e.g. houses they live in, type of education they provide for their children, lifestyles, food they eat and even their accents.
The working class has decreased in size as a result of changes in the employment market as more people today work in skilled manual and non-manual occupations.
Men from some ethnic minority backgrounds earn significantly less than their white male peers. So ethnicity has become more important than class.
People tend not to think of themselves as being of a particular class background as other forms of stratification have become more important.
Some sociologists argue that middle class youths are more likely to attend prestigious universities, complete their degrees and get graduate jobs than working class youths.
Some argue that a person’s ability, effort and motivation are more important in determining their life chances than the class they were born into.
It is too simplistic to argue that one form of inequality is more important than others because often they overlap. For example, white middle class men tend to experience advantages in life, while black working class women are the most likely social group to experience disadvantages.
Some sociologists argue that class is changing, e.g. there are now more middle class people than in the past, but this does not mean that its importance and influence on a person’s life chances is declining.
As more women are now in full time employment, gender differences have become more important than class differences.
People today create their own identities through the goods they choose to consume and through the choices they make.
Working class ethnic minorities tend to earn less than white working class so there is now an overlap between different forms of stratification. Therefore, it is difficult to say if one is more important than another.
Many young people are pursuing HE, but they often work part time in manual occupations to help fund their studies.

5. Task 2: How to answer Social Inequality 5 mark questions
Answer these short mark questions
You will then peer assess each other
15 Mins

6. Exam questions
Describe one way in which a person could a person become upwardly mobile and explain why this might be difficult to achieve for some social groups in Britain today.(5 marks)
Describe one way in which poverty could be measured and explain why this might be a problem for the government. (5 marks)
Describe one way in which social class can be measured and explain a problem associated with this. (5 marks)

7. Peer assessment You will now peer assess each other
Give a mark out of 15 based on the success criteria
Write down WWW/EBI comments
10 Mins

8. Review What do you think? Explain your opinion.
Social class still matters
Social class no longer matters