What Is Social Stratification? » Life Chances and Social Class

What are life chances?

Two babies are born on the same day in the same country. One family is wealthy and the other struggles to pay the bills. Will the two children have the same opportunities in life? Sociologists say they will not. This is the idea of life chances.

Key terms:

• Life chances: a person's opportunities to gain things that society values, such as a good education, a secure job, good health and a decent home, and to avoid things that harm them.
• Life expectancy: the average number of years a person can expect to live.

The term comes from the sociologist Max Weber. It does not say what will happen to one person. It describes how likely it is that people in a certain group will get these things. A person from a low position can still do very well, but in general the odds are worse.

Remember, social class is a person's position in the layers of society. It is one of the strongest influences on life chances. This lesson looks at five areas: education, employment, health, housing and life expectancy. Age, gender and ethnicity are covered in later lessons.

Education

Education is often called the key to a good life, because qualifications lead to jobs. In many societies, children from higher social classes do better on average at school and are more likely to stay on to university. Children from lower social classes are more likely to leave school with fewer qualifications.

The reasons for these patterns are covered later in the course. Here you only need to describe the pattern.

Employment

Social class also affects the kind of job a person gets. In many societies, people from higher social classes are more likely to get professional and managerial jobs. These usually bring higher pay, more security and better working conditions. People from lower social classes are more likely to do manual and low-paid work, often with less job security and a greater risk of unemployment.

• Pay: higher-class jobs tend to pay more, so these families can save and plan ahead.
• Security: lower-paid work is more likely to be short-term, so a person may lose their income quickly.
• Conditions: manual work is more likely to be physically hard or dangerous.

Health

There is a clear link between social class and health. In many societies, people in lower social classes are more likely to suffer from illness during their lives, and to suffer it earlier. People in higher social classes tend to have better health.

Housing

Housing is one of the clearest signs of class. In many societies, people in higher social classes are more likely to own their home, and to live in larger, safer homes in pleasant areas. People in lower social classes are more likely to rent, to live in overcrowded or damp homes, and to live in areas with fewer services. Some are at greater risk of homelessness.

Housing links to other life chances, because a warm, dry home is better for health.

Life expectancy

In many societies, people in higher social classes live longer on average than people in lower social classes. The gap can be several years, even between two neighbourhoods in the same city.

This is the end result of the other areas. A better education leads to a better job, which pays for a better home and healthcare, and all of these add up to a longer life.

Putting it together

The five areas are linked. A disadvantage in one can lead to a disadvantage in another. This is why sociologists see social stratification as important: it does not just rank people, it changes what their lives are like.

Exam-style question

(a) Define the term: (i) life chances [2]
(b) Give two examples of ways in which social class can affect life chances. [2]
(c) Explain three ways in which a person's social class can affect their life chances in health. [6]