Making Modern UK Social Classes in Modern Britain

03/05/2023Social Classes in M

odern Britain

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SOCIAL CLASSES IN MODERN BRITAIN

N C Gardner MA PGCE

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Social Classes in Modern Britain

THE REGISTRAR GENERAL’S SCALE OF SOCIAL CLASS Class 1: Professional, e.g. accountants,

doctors

Class 2: Lower managerial, professional, technical, e.g. teachers

Class 3 Non-Manual: Skilled non-manual, e.g. office workers

Class 3 Manual: Skilled manual, e.g. electricians, plumbers

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THE REGISTRAR GENERAL’S SCALE OF SOCIAL CLASS Class 4: Semi-skilled manual, e.g.

agricultural workers

Class 5: Unskilled manual, e.g. labourers, refuse collectors

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LACKING MORAL SENSIBILITY ‘If men differ in anything they differ in the

fineness and the delicacy of their moral intuitions, however we may suppose those feelings to have been acquired.

We need not go as far as savages to learn that lesson; we need only talk to the English poor or to our own servants and we shall be taught it very completely. The lower classes in civilised countries, like all classes in uncivilised countries, are clearly wanting in the nicer part of those feelings which, taken together, we call the sense of morality.’ (Physics and Politics, Ivan R. Dee ed., Chicago, 1999, p.106)

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THE MORAL SENSIBILITY OF THE WORKING-CLASSES

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THE MORAL SENSIBILITY OF WORKING-CLASS LADIES

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THE MORAL SENSIBILITIES OF WORKING-CLASS COUPLES IN MODERN BRITAIN

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THE PHILOSOPHER A.C. GRAYLING ‘But after 1945 the culture of self-

improvement declined, partly because of increased formal schooling, partly because of television and other distractions, and partly because increasingly rapid changes in cultural fashion have made self-taught classicism look conservative.

In any case, it was always an avocation for a minority, and remained so even as the working class grew in prosperity and political confidence, taking with it a long ingrained mistrust of high culture and a natural loyalty to its own tastes,

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THE PHILOSOPHER A. C. GRAYLING ‘transfigured by the new medium of

television (itself subserved by the tabloids) into a now familiar and characteristic demotic view of the world.

But although the masses do not choose to be interested in high culture, it is not undemocratic to promote it at the public expense.

(Professor A C Grayling, Guardian Review, 13 July, 2002)

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DANCERS OF THE ROYAL BALLET

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BRITISH MUSEUM READING ROOM

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HAMLET AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE, LONDON

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SIR JONATHAN MILLER ON THE DECISION TO DROP ‘OMNIBUS’ FROM BBC TELEVISION ‘Unless it is a programme about how to decorate

your house or chop up vegetables, it is impossible to get anyone in the BBC to commission your programme. The BBC is run nowadays by people who have done degrees in Media Studies and sit in glass boxes poring over ratings.

Even when they do decide to make an arts programme, it is about Leonardo or Michelangelo, because they are the only artists they have heard of. There is a vast audience of intelligent people out there who can read without moving their lips, who they do not care about. (Sunday Telegraph, November 3, 2002)

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‘THE BIRTH OF VENUS’ BY SANDRO BOTTICELLI (CREATED 1484 – 1486)

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‘THE NIGHT WATCH’ BY REMBRANDT (CREATED 1642)

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‘THE MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN’ BY RAPHAEL (CREATED 1504)

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THE WRITER D.H. LAWRENCE ON MARRIAGE ‘It is marriage, perhaps, which had

given man the best of his freedom, given him his little kingdom of his own within the big kingdom of the State … It is a true freedom because it is a true fulfilment, for man, woman and children. Do we then want to break marriage? If we do break it, it means we all fall to a far greater extent under the direct sway of the State.’

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SOCIAL CLASS: THE STRATIFICATION SYSTEM OF MODERN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES Social classes are groups of people who

share a similar economic position in terms of occupation, income and ownership of wealth.

They are likely to have similar levels of education, status and power.

In theory, British society in the 20th century was based upon meritocracy – that is the idea that people are not born into ascribed roles.

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BRITISH MERITOCRACY AT WORK. I THINK NOT: SOCIAL MOBILITY HAS ALL BUT ENDED IN MODERN BRITAIN. PUBLIC SCHOOLS SUCH AS ETON DOMINATE THE HIGHER PROFESSIONS.

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THE BRITISH UPPER CLASSES THEN AND NOW. DO THESE LADIES RIDE THE BUS, SHOP IN POUNDLAND, OR LISTEN TO LADY GAGA?

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RIDING THE HOUNDS: A CLEAR SIGN OF CLASS DISTINCTION IN MODERN BRITAIN.

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MERITOCRACY Individuals are encouraged to better

themselves through achievement at school and in their jobs, by working hard and gaining promotion.

Giddens and Diamond (2005) suggest that modern Britain became more and more of a meritocratic society from the 1960s onwards and that equality of opportunity became the norm.

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ACCOUNTANCY TRAINEES: WINNERS OF A NATIONAL COMPETITION

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SOCIAL CHANGES IN MODERN BRITAIN, 1975 - 2005 Decline of heavy industry: the decline of the

primary and secondary sectors of the economy from the mid-1970s led to a dramatic decline in the number of traditional manual workers and the identity politics associated with them, such as trade union membership.

The re-positioning of the Labour Party: The Labour Party, traditionally seen as the party of the working-class, moved to distance itself from class-based politics under the leadership of Tony Blair (1994 to 2007).

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UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF TONY BLAIR (1994 TO 2007), THE LABOUR PARTY CHANGED FROM A CLASS-BASED PARTY TO A CATCH-ALL PARTY AND WON THREE ELECTIONS (1997, 2001, AND 2005).

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RISE IN MERITOCRACY: THE VAST EXPANSION OF THE SERVICE SECTOR The service sector of the economy – the public

sector, financial services, retail and personal services – greatly expanded from the 1980s onwards.

Many of the jobs in the service sector are better paid and more secure than manual work.

Many workers in the service sector, especially women who dominate these jobs in terms of numbers, have been upwardly mobile from the working class.

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FEMALE SERVICE SECTOR EXECUTIVES CAN INVEST IN AFFLUENT LIFESTYLES AND UNDERMINE TRADITIONAL PATTERNS OF CLASS IDENTIFICATION.

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WOMEN DOMINATE SERVICE SECTOR JOBS IN TERMS OF NUMBERS AND THEY ARE UPWARDLY MOBILE FROM THE WORKING CLASS.

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BRITISH MERITOCRACY: THE EXPANSION OF EDUCATION Education expanded from the 1960s

onwards. At the end of the 1970s one in eight 18 year olds were in higher education; by 1990 it was one in five; by 1994 one in three.

The majority of young people in Britain during Tony Blair’s Labour governments (1997 to 2007) (and since) experienced further education, and the opportunities for going into higher education increased tremendously for all social groups.

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IT WILL BE YOU: SUCCESSFUL SIXTH-FORMERS JUMP FOR JOY AT RESULTS DAY

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THE NEW DIVISIONS IN BRITISH SOCIETY

1) Between different types of families, i.e. single-parent families do not experience the same opportunities as dual-career families.

2) Between homeowners and those who live in council housing.

3) Between those living in neighbourhoods with high levels of crime and antisocial behaviour, and little community spirit, and those living in ordered and well integrated communities.

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IT STARTED WITH MAGGIE: PRIME MINISTER THATCHER WITH THE FIRST FAMILY TO BENEFIT FROM HER ‘RIGHT TO BUY’ POLICY WHICH TRANSFORMED COUNCIL HOUSE TENANTS INTO HOMEOWNERS, EARLY 1980S

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THE ASPIRATION AND REALITY FOR THE MAJORITY OF BRITONS SINCE THE 1970S

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A MAJOR SOCIAL CHANGE: SINCE THE 1970S THE MAJORITY OF BRITONS HAVE BECOME HOMEOWNERS

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THE OTHER SIDE OF BRITAIN: JAYWICK SANDS, ESSEX, THE UK’S MOST DEPRIVED AREA

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ONLY IN ESSEX: JAYWICK SANDS NEAR CLACTON-ON-SEA, BRITAIN’S MOST DEPRIVED AREA

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THE EXPANSION OF NON-MANUAL EMPLOYMENT One of the major social changes in

post-war Britain has been the expansion of non-manual employment which has fundamentally changed the British occupational structure.

1951 Census: 36% of the occupied population were employers or non-manual workers.

64% were manual workers.

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THE EXPANSION OF NON-MANUAL EMPLOYMENT SINCE 1945 1981 Census: 52% of the occupied population

were either employers or non-manual workers.

Only 48% were classified as manual workers.

Recessions in 1979 – 81; 1989 – 91; 2008 – 2013 and ‘shake-outs’ have served further to speed these processes, as employment in manufacturing (where manual employment is concentrated) has declined, and employment in the service sector has risen.

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Documents

Making Modern UK Social Classes in Modern Britain