The Issue of Class and Life-Chances - Essay Example

Social Divisions: The Issue and Life-Chances Contrary to idealistic proclamations, the objective indicators suggest rather forcefully thatwe are not born into this world as pure equals. There are, to be sure, features and characteristics which mark us from birth. Our world, and more particularly our society, is far from being perfectly neutral. That we come into this social amalgamation known as the United Kingdom with certain passed-on traits, both genetic and otherwise, retains a particular relevance even in the twenty-first century. Merit is sexy, but overrated; a closer examination of social divisions as they pertain to life-chances, a field which generates fierce debate among scholars, demonstrates an entangled yet manageable web of indicators capable of establishing causal links between class and life-chances. This essay will explain the social divisions concept, set forth evidence which illustrates how class affects life chances, and synthesize the studied material in order to describe how this notion of social divisions functions in terms of class. 1.1 A Conceptual Framework: Social Divisions As a preliminary matter, it is necessary to note that society is hardly uniform or harmonious. There are differences between and amongst people. There are divisions which are predicated on characteristics common to certain groupings of people. These distinct social groupings are almost certainly based on the common interests and shared experiences specific to these groupings. From a sociological perspective, as stated by Braham and Janes (2002), "the influence of social divisions, particularly to those of class, gender and 'race'/ethnicityare usually seen as the core triumvirate of divisions of sociological concern" (p. ix). From this core triumvirate, however, a veritable industry of sociological scholarship has sprouted. Social divisions identified and examined more closely over the past twenty five years include social groupings characterised by their sexual orientation, their health status, their fitness or disability, their age, their country of origin, their religious orientation, and much more. What we are seeing, therefore, is a proliferation of social groupings. This proliferation, in effect, is the stuff of social divisions and inequality. That these social groupings exist is hardly interesting; the more interesting questions involve the particular meaning and relevance to accord these socially distinct amalgamations of people. Social divisions is a comparatively new concept in the sociological discourse, functioning as Braham and James (2002) note as an "umbrella term" which incorporates previous sociological perspectives dealing with stratification, inequality, and access to economic and cultural resources by different social groupings. There has, in short, been an attempt to synthesize the prior sociological scholarship into a more meaningful and more cohesive focus of inquiry. More importantly, it is necessary to recognize these social divisions, based on certain differences, as being the product of social and historical constructions rather than a purely biological inheritance. These social divisions are characterised by an interconnection with the various different groups; to study one group in isolation, without understanding how life chances are improved or hindered, is meaningless. From a theoretical point of view, we are examining the constituent parts of a living whole. One cannot, for instance, cut out a monkey's heart and then hope to study its brain with any prospects of success. In the same way, social divisions based on class must be related and linked more generally to other social divisions and differences holistically. The descriptive studies and the empirical data, dealing with place, lifestyle and life chances, are particularly illustrative. The notion of a physical place, as described by Janes' and Mooney's (2002) reference to a variety of neighborhoods and communities, represents distinct locations where social divisions exist. More, these locations signify both the features and the consequences of social divisions. Whether it is a status in the social hierarchy allocated via a postcode, an exclusion from life chances based on a designation as a "problem area" as in Wine-Alley, or the physical barriers constructed to preserve class status and life chances in gated communities, the reality is that place matters significantly. Place matters historically, it matters in contemporary disputes over access or entitlement to economic and cultural resources, and it matters to scholars determined to better understand the societies in which these social groups exist and function. In much the same way, as demonstrated by the historical basis for gays settling in Manchester, lifestyle matters. The male gays make more money, they can afford to live in this place, and their class status vis--vis female gays also has relevance to an analysis of social divisions and life chances. Class, therefore, is more complicated than a mere designation. In the final analysis, both place and lifestyle (which combines the notions of economic and cultural capital) are central to understanding and studying the social divisions concept. 1.2 How Class Affects Life Chances To state that social class is well-entrenched in the United Kingdom is to restate the obvious; however, the Labour government's embrace of the term "social exclusion" in 1997 rekindled a national debate regarding access to resources and the nature of exclusion. Indeed, British people are aware of the fact that they do not live in a classless society and that they are members of a particular class. Despite this, as noted by Savage (2002), there are conflicting accounts regarding people's awareness of their actual class status and the consequences. Although some ninety percent of surveyed people reported being able to assign themselves a class status, a series of independent questionnaires by Savage indicated much more confusion and ambivalence. In effect, people identified themselves as being part of a class generally, without relying upon objective indicators, and tended towards a more subjective view of the concept of class. With this is mind, it is imperative to approach class more objectively in order to peel away some of the confusion. This need for objectivity is imperative because the consequences are real; as stated by Savage (2002), In recent years, whatever people's perceptions of their class might be, there is no doubting that class inequality has hardened. People's destinies are as strongly affected, and perhaps more strongly affected, by their class background (whether this is measured by their parents' class, or their own) than they were in the mid-twentieth century (p. 66). These consequences are manifest in growing income inequality between classes, inequalities in the distribution of wealth by governmental branches, and these inequalities can be attributed to economic status. From an economic point of view, socio-economic class matters. These differences, in turn, create social divisions based upon wealth, professional mobility, educational background, and health. These divisions are created to a substantial extant by these inequalities, and serve to function as self-perpetuating mechanisms of inequality. In addition, rather than decreasing, these inequalities are becoming more rather than less pronounced. Combining people's lack of an objective awareness of class and its affects on life chances with this slide into a more pronounced class-oriented system of inequality is what Savage refers to as a conundrum of social class in modern times. In sum, where one fits into the social class hierarchy determines in many ways access to economic and cultural resources. Class is relevant, it generates consequences, it does not exist as an exclusive social division, and yet it is an important type of social division. 1.3 How Social Divisions Function in Terms of Class How important is class as a social division, and how do social divisions function in terms of class There are, to be sure, competing schools of thought. Macrostructural approaches view social divisions as being related primarily to social class. Under this type of approach for instance, social class, to a large extant, absorbs and adopts other social differences into its larger framework. Contrary to the macrostructural perspective is the social divisions perspective which functions more as an umbrella for interconnected differences and divisions. According to this school of thought, social class is simply one of many social divisions; more significantly, it is not necessarily the primary social division. Weber's notions of stratification might, for instance, be viewed as a macrostructural approach, relating a position in the social hierarchy to inequality or access to resources; Marx, to add another example, focused to a great extant upon class as the primary social division. A better way to analyse Weber and Marx would be to simply treat them as contributors to the contemporary field of social divisions, differences and inequality. If they created dots with their scholarship, then social division scholarship is attempting to connect the dots by examining the interaction between a multitude of distinct social groupings. In this way, the social divisions perspective is the natural development of the macrostructural perspective rather than a refutation. 1.4 Conclusion In conclusion, the social divisions concept is itself an attempt to harmonize the past work of theorists such as Weber and Marx with the differences present in contemporary society. It is likely that neither Weber nor Marx would have anticipated the dynamics of the gay village in Manchester. The relationship of class to lifestyle and the consequences regarding access to life chances would have seemed almost tangential and unforeseeable in their day. Many things have changed since then, including a proliferation of differences and social divisions, but inequality has persisted and, according to some data, deepened and become more entrenched. In contemporary Britain, the better approach would seem to be the social division perspective because it attempts to find links and causal relationships rather than allocating all differences to an ultimate position on the pole of social hierarchy. Class is important, this is true, but it is simply one of many social divisions. It affects and is affected by other social divisions. It is, at the end of the day, both causative and dependant. The time for the social division perspective would appear to have arrived. References Janes, L., and Mooney, J. (2002). "Place, lifestyle, and social divisions." Chapter 1 in Social differences and divisions. Oxford, Blackwell/The Open University. Savage, M. (2002). "Social exclusion and class analysis." Chapter 2 in Social differences and divisions. Oxford, Blackwell/The Open University. Read More