Problems of the Working Class Concept in the UK - Coursework Example

? Running Head: Concept of the working in modern Britain Affiliation: Introduction The working is theconcept that has been used by the social scientists such as Max Weber, Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim to mean the people in the society who are not the owners’ of means of production. They can also be termed as the lower class, the labours, or the proletariats. They are categorized based on the level of skills, the powers they have, and the level of income. The issue of the working classes started with industrialization, which led to urbanization. This was because of emergence of factories where the workers were employed to do manual work. According to Marx, the analysis of social class, the class structure and the changes in those structures are crucial to understanding capitalism and other systems of production such as socialism and communism. The conventional creation of social class in Britain is to view Britain as being divided into three social classes: working, middle and upper. The social class has often changed and the issue of working class has degraded due to full time employment (Crompton, 1998, p.98). Body Karl Marx viewed class as the relation in which individuals discover the identity of their shared interests, which happens in the process of engaging in the struggle against other individuals who have clashing ideas. According to him, the social classes are determined and structured by economic influences such as; means of production, possession of property, labour and work. He argued that the class is determined by the amount and means of production and that the main prerequisite for class existence is the possession of surplus product. Hence, the Marxists view the struggle between bourgeoisie and proletariat as a war of classes with each having an aim of controlling classes. Marx designed the embourgeoisement theory, he defined it as the process where the working class transforms and acts like the middle class through achievement of better economic security and material possession .He viewed the working class as having no other resources apart from their ability to work manually (Crompton, 1998, p.112). Marxist believes that the workers unions champion the change in class. This means that the daily bread of the proletariats is determined by the will of the bourgeoisie who are the owners of production to employ and pay. As these two classes are in constant struggle for the survival, bourgeois will always try to accrue profits and capital to maintain their status quo (Crompton, 1998, p.97). They manage to do this by making the wages of the working class as low as possible thus making it impossible for them to gain ownership of property and class elevation. It is because of this struggle that has led to conflicts such as political struggle and strikes. This constant conflict has led to historical changes according to Marx. The other social class according to Marx is the petite. These groups of people own little property, which cannot allow them to have all work done by employed labours. They are the small-scale owners and are also workers as well. There is also a small social stratum called the underclass which is composed of the disadvantaged divorced women and their children. These classes always have divided interest of conserving private property and that of property rights. They have conflicting welfares with the bourgeoisie (O'Donnell, 1997, p.140). Weber views social stratification in a three-component theory. He argued that financial condition of an individual such as; industries, buildings and farms houses are used to put into class. He argued that one’s class position and chance is determined by how one is situated in the market place (Crompton, 1998, p.113). He argues that for one to dominate he must control access of the anticipated social resource. Since the bourgeoisie have the necessary resources, they always control the working class who do not own means of production. It is the social resource that commands positive response. According to Max Weber, there are four basic social classes which are: propertied class, the professional class who have high position in labour market but owns smaller forms of property, the petite class who owns less property, less social class and less ability to exert political influence, and the working class who lacks property, low position in labour market as well as low social status. The working class also lack political influence due to low level of skills (O'Donnell, 1997, p. 138). Durkheim came up with the functionalism theory where he argued that the society functions like an organism, in which each part functions independently for the benefit of the whole (Crompton, 1998, p. 142). Therefore, the working class has a role they play in the society, which is mainly to provide the manual labour to the bourgeoisie. According to functionalists, the society props towards equilibrium and the social order this is the reason as to why the bourgeoisie struggle continuously to maintain their status quo. There have been numerous changes in modern Britain that have led to change in the categorization of working and the ruling classes. Britain has gone through the process of deindustrialization; hence, this has affected various industries such as shipbuilding and mining. As a result, the manual workers decline due to decline in industries (O'Donnell, 1997, p.160). The massive expansion of the welfare state has led to increase numbers of public sector jobs offered by the government such as; teachers, nurses, clerks and civil servants. The ideas of the social scientists such as max Weber and Karl Marx in some ways have not become trough. This is because there has been a corresponding process of embourgeoisement, a situation where increasing numbers of the working classes decided to enter into the middle classes and dominate the stratification system. What has made the categorization of modern class impossible as by the social scientists is the fact that some carrier class careers have prospered more than others thus breaking the bonding. Secondly, there is increasing division in modern Britain between the working classes in that some have regular well paid works while others have less secured employment (Bradley, 1996, p.65).Those who have well-paid jobs have linked themselves to the middle classes, while on the other hand those who earn little have gone on to become the new underclass. Self-employment has also taken root in modern Britain, these groups of people work in manual work but are their own bosses. They are such changes in the society that have made some social theories untrue in modern Britain. However, some predictions have become true simply because of some changes in modern Britain. The working class identity has decreased due to class-consciousness as well as due to changes in the class structure. This has been witnessed in by some indicators such as decline in trade union membership (Crompton, 1998, p.138). The labour party is no longer the party of working class as it used to be and the fact that the working class leisure is much less organized today. This is contrary to the Marx opinion that the working class would withdraw the capitalists and that it is the perfect class. The development of the middle class in modern Britain has also led to decline in the working class. The middle class have the following characteristics; they value home ownership and they prefer living in suburbs (Bradley, 1996, p.53). They encourage their children to work hard in education and they prefer private education than the public education. These groups of individuals also have deferred gratification as they satisfy themselves as individuals rather than as a group. The middle class also has some sub classes with each subclass having different ideas. The higher professionals such as lawyers and doctors share an intellectual identity, they value cultural assets such as knowledge, education, and they view themselves as serving a high purpose in the society. The lower managerial class on the other hand works through the ranks of the company. This group value themselves in terms of the standard of living and they are endangered due to globalization. The self-employed personnel have been traditionally individualistic. They have greater faith in self-discipline and hard work rather than luck. Lastly in this category are the clerical workers who even though they have low pay and even much traditional manual work, their conditions of working are superior than the working class. This is what has brought the group of working class in Britain to an end (Bradley, 1996, p.70). According to postmodern view, the class no longer matters in modern Britain. This theory states that leisure is more important than work in modern Britain; hence, people no longer classify themselves basing on the class. This has led to development of underclass with people classifying themselves basing on gender, race, religious backgrounds and sexuality rather than class. They more maintain that there is no clear association between class and leisure detections (Bradley, 1996, p.68). Conclusion In conclusion, industrialization led to urbanization, which resulted, into emergence of working class in Britain. According to ICM research, most of the people still believe that their social standing determines the way they are judged thus supporting the ideas of Karl Marx. Though 57% of adults in modern Britain believe that they are working class, the politicians claim that Britain is currently class less and that it is a meritocracy. Goldthorpe and Lockwood have currently argued that modern Britain has a working class with more money but they are not middle class as they place themselves. The two social scientists argue that embourgeoisement has not happened. The great difference between the proletariat and bourgeoisie is that the later are wealthy, as they own means of production. The proletariats on the other hand do not own property and they rely on the labour they provide to the bourgeoisie for survival. The main aim of Marxism was to make the proletariat aware of their shared interests to take power from the bourgeoisie. Marxism is very much alive in this society, as well as I other capitalist societies worldwide and only time will prove pundits wrong. References: Bradley, H., 1996, Fractured Identities - Changing Patterns of Inequality Cambridge: Polity Press Crompton, R., 1998, Class and Stratification: an introduction to current debates, Cambridge: Polity Press. O'Donnell, M., 1997, A new Introduction to Sociology; 'Stratification and Differentiation: an introduction', Cambridge: Polity Press. Read More