how can we explain the persistance of class structures in Britain
HOW CAN WE EXPLAIN THE PERSISTANCE OF CLASS INEQUALITIES IN BRITAIN?Traditionally Britain has always been recognized as a 'class society', characterised by widespread awareness of social class membership, class inequality and the influence of class inequalities in employment prospects. However it has been argued that with "growing affluence, levels of education, social mobility and post - industrial economic development, class identities are losing their salience." (4) Saying this there is still substantial amounts of evidence to suggest that class inequalities are still very much inherent in British society especially with regards to social mobility.One of the first factors in explaining class inequalities in Britain would have to be the differences in wealth and income. Carl Marx's theory on income and wealth in western societies can be used to help explain this.Marx believed that maturing of capitalism would bring about an increasing gap between the wealth of the minority and the poverty of the mass of the population. According the Marx the wages of the working class would never rise far above survival level, while wealth would pile up in the hands of those owning capital. Marx also believed that those in the low
It is in my opinion therefore that the concept of class is still a valid concept. The most notable of these is consumption. It is in this way that the concept of class will maintain its validity. The changes in the structure of work and employment are also very important in explaining class inequalities. As work declines in importance in the twentieth century, so too do other factors become relevant for the analysis of stratification systems. The fact that classes show distinctive mobility characteristics is argued to indicate that classes can be defined by boundaries more concrete than purely arbitrary categories. Goldthorpe and Marshall cite the Conservative election wins of 1979 and 1983 as evidence of this, yet argue that this class change is due not to a disappearance of the working class, "instead a change in the shape of class structure, most importantly the growth of the services sector and decline in manufacturing" (3). Those who believe that the impact of class on life chances is in decline must follow the natural progression to the further claim that class is also of reduced importance in the determination of the response of individuals to their social situation, particularly through political partisanship. Some of the more recent debate concerning the concept of class has involved two main authors, Goldthorpe and Marshall. However it is a clouded concept with tremendous difficulties of definition in the context of the UK. The most wealthy 10 percent of the population own half the total wealth. Most people in Britain today are much better off materially than comparable groups in Marx's day.
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