What influences our social identity? » Social identity - social class as a key aspect

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

The concept of social class and its role in shaping social identity
Different models of social class stratification
How class influences life chances and opportunities
The relationship between class, culture and consumption
How class intersects with other aspects of social identity
Contemporary debates about class in the UK

Understanding Social Class as an Aspect of Identity

Social class is one of the most significant factors that shapes who we are and how we see ourselves in society. It affects everything from our education and job prospects to our health, lifestyle choices and even how long we might live. But what exactly is social class and how does it influence our social identity?

Key Definitions:

Social class: A way of categorising people based on their economic position, occupation, education and cultural factors.
Social identity: How we understand ourselves in relation to others and to social groups.
Social stratification: The way society is organised in layers or strata based on factors like wealth, power and prestige.
Life chances: The opportunities individuals have to improve their quality of life.

📈 Traditional Models of Class

Sociologists have developed different ways to understand class:

Marx: Saw society divided between those who own the means of production (bourgeoisie) and those who sell their labour (proletariat).
Weber: Added status and party (political power) to economic class, creating a more complex picture.
Traditional UK model: Upper class, middle class, working class, with various subdivisions.

👥 Modern Approaches to Class

Contemporary sociologists recognise class is more complex:

Great British Class Survey (2013): Identified 7 classes based on economic, social and cultural capital.
Precariat: A growing group with insecure work and limited rights.
Digital divide: Access to technology creating new class divisions.

How Class Shapes Life Chances

Your social class significantly affects your opportunities in life. Research consistently shows that class background influences:

🏫 Education

Children from higher social classes are more likely to achieve better grades, attend university and gain higher qualifications. In the UK, 24.9% of pupils eligible for free school meals progress to higher education compared to 42.5% of other pupils.

🏥 Employment

Class affects the jobs people access, their earnings and job security. Those from higher social classes often have better networks and cultural capital that help them secure better jobs.

🏦 Health

There's a clear health gap between classes. People from lower socioeconomic groups have higher rates of illness and shorter life expectancy - in some parts of the UK, this gap can be over 10 years.

Class, Culture and Consumption

Class isn't just about money or jobs - it's also about culture, taste and lifestyle. The sociologist Pierre Bourdieu argued that class is reproduced through different types of 'capital':

Economic capital: Money, property and other financial assets.
Cultural capital: Knowledge, tastes and cultural practices that signal class position.
Social capital: Networks, connections and relationships that can be useful.

These different forms of capital shape how we present ourselves and how others see us. For example, the music we listen to, the sports we play, the food we eat and even how we speak can all signal our class background.

Case Study Focus: The Great British Class Survey

In 2013, the BBC, working with sociologists, conducted the largest ever survey of social class in the UK with over 161,000 respondents. Rather than the traditional three-class model, they identified seven distinct classes:

Elite: The most privileged group with high levels of all three capitals
Established middle class: The second wealthiest group with high cultural capital
Technical middle class: A new, small class with high economic capital but lower social and cultural capital
New affluent workers: A young, socially and culturally active group with moderate economic capital
Traditional working class: Often older people with lower levels of all capitals
Emergent service workers: A new, young urban group with low economic capital but high social and cultural capital
Precariat: The most deprived class with low levels of all capitals

This research highlighted how class in modern Britain is more complex than traditional models suggest.

Class and Intersectionality

Class doesn't exist in isolation - it intersects with other aspects of identity like gender, ethnicity, disability and age. For example:

Women from working-class backgrounds often face a 'double disadvantage' in the workplace.
Ethnic minorities may experience 'ethnic penalties' in employment regardless of class background.
Class can affect how people experience their gender, sexuality, or disability.

Understanding these intersections helps us see how privilege and disadvantage operate in complex ways. Someone might be privileged in terms of class but disadvantaged in other ways, or vice versa.

Is Class Still Relevant Today?

Some argue that class divisions have become less important in modern Britain, pointing to:

🔄 Arguments for Declining Importance

Increased social mobility compared to previous generations
Rise of consumer culture that crosses class boundaries
Decline of traditional working-class industries and communities
Growing importance of other identity factors like ethnicity and gender

🔁 Arguments for Continued Relevance

Persistent inequality in wealth and income (the richest 10% own 45% of wealth in the UK)
Educational outcomes still strongly linked to family background
Health inequalities between classes remain significant
New class divisions emerging in the digital economy

Class Identity and Subjective Class

How people identify in terms of class doesn't always match their objective position. In the UK:

Many people who might objectively be middle class still identify as working class due to family background.
Some surveys suggest around 60% of Britons identify as working class despite changes in the economy.
Class identity often relates to values and cultural practices as much as economic position.

This subjective sense of class is an important part of many people's social identity and can influence political views, social attitudes and life choices.

Social Mobility in the UK

Social mobility - the ability to move between social classes - is often seen as a measure of how fair a society is. The UK has relatively low social mobility compared to other developed countries:

Only 12% of children from low-income families will become high earners as adults.
People born into professional or managerial families are 80% more likely to access those jobs themselves.
Regional inequalities mean social mobility varies greatly depending on where you grow up.

These statistics show that despite changes in how we think about class, your family background still significantly affects your life chances in modern Britain.

Conclusion: Class in Contemporary Britain

Social class remains a powerful influence on our identities and life chances, even as it evolves and intersects with other aspects of who we are. Understanding class helps us make sense of inequalities in society and recognise how social structures shape individual experiences.

For sociologists, class is not just about categorising people - it's about understanding power, inequality and how society reproduces advantage and disadvantage across generations. As you develop your sociological imagination, thinking about class can help you see the connections between personal troubles and public issues, between individual biographies and social structures.

🧠 Test Your Knowledge!