The Classic Divisions between Upper Middle and Lower Class - Term Paper Example

 Three Approaches to Social Class in Contemporary Britain Introduction Social class is a subject of particular importance within contemporary Britain as the country has seen great demographic changes over the last few decades that might produce tension and conflict if not carefully studied and understood. The classic divisions between upper, middle and lower class have been remarkably resilient within modern research, although they are now starting to be evaluated in more subtle and nuanced manners. Approach One: An Online Journal The journal article chosen is “Social Class Differences in Coronary Hearth Disease in Middle-Aged Men: Implications for Prevention”. (Emberson, 2003). The study evaluated the relationship between occupational social class and major Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) deaths and all-cause mortality rates over 20 years among 5628 middle-aged British men. (Emberson, 2003) This article is interesting for a number of reasons. First, as the authors are basically medical experts rather than sociologists, they assume that the division between classes as revealed by a man’s occupation is a legitimate method of dividing a population. Thus social class is considered to be a discrete and definable concept by the authors. If it is not, then the whole premise of their study is based upon rather faulty ground. The article begins by stating that CHD rates have fallen over the last twenty years but that the fall has been concentrated among the “highest social groups” so that the relative differences between those of that at the “top” and those at the “bottom” of the social scale have widened. The article states that social class (as determined by job occupation) is often used as a convenient and available indicator of the underlying socioeconomic factors. Thus social class is related to the occupation, which in turn is related to money. The authors assume that social classes it easily defined by the person themselves, even though they admit that people social class may actually change over time because, over the twenty years the occupation is likely to change. A person may enjoy a move from low to high class or may suffer from a move from high to low class. In very interesting part of this study is that at the baseline each man was asked about his longest held occupation in terms of type designation, and social status. The distribution observed in the study was almost exactly the same as that obtained for national census data recorded around the same time. The similarity between the two findings suggest that people are very good at identifying the social class to which they belong. This may suggest that social class, far from being of less importance in Britain today is actually something that is still considered on a constant basis by people from all walks of life. The study showed that there were real differences between low class and high class men. Manual men tend to have higher blood pressure, are considerably more likely to be cigarette smokers and heavy drinkers, and are less likely to be physically active in their leisure time. Manual man tended to be shorter than the non-manual men and had a lower lung function. The study concluded that the changes in the coronary heart disease could be put down to changes within the behavior of the upper class men rather than among the manual men. The upper class men tended to be more knowledgeable about health matters and took better care of themselves than the manual men. It can be seen that a health study that used social class as a tool rather than it being the central point of the study is very helpful in showing that social class differences are indeed important within Britain today. Approach Two: A Government Document Currently the government in Britain thinks that social class exists in a very real form. A government minister has been appointed whose specific task is to look of the problems caused by social class. Hillary Armstrong is the Cabinet Minister for Social Exclusion. The very existence of this post is telling. The government sees social class as an inherently evil and something that needs to be changed. In a recent speech Hillary Armstrong has stated that she got into politics the columns as a social worker she had seen “that the government intervenes far too late to bring about the kind of positive changes that break the cycle of deprivation of good.” (Armstrong, 2005) New Labor seems to think that the whole of Britain should be a massive middle class through entirely getting rid of poverty and taxing the rich so that they pay their fair share into the country. In comparison to the previous article social classes are seen as the central part of the problem rather than a measure that can be used to identify other problems. Armstrong sees government as a kind of white Knight riding in to save the day for, as she puts it “the most vulnerable among those from the hardships brought on by deprivation” (Armstrong, 2005). Arm strong has also identified a series of what she calls “myths”. These include the myth that social exclusion is inevitable, the myth that government cannot predict who will end up in difficulty in order to intervene early, and also the overall myth that even if we can reduce mainstream poverty there’s little hope we can do about the most excluded. The labor government rejects the idea that has been propagated since Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations that in order for capitalism to succeed there must be a lower class, an “excluded” as Armstrong puts it. It is interesting to note that Armstrong sees a classless society as the aim of government. As opposed to the first study in which the authors seek to find out what society actually is Armstrong seeks a vision of what society should be. This is not to say that Armstrong is in any way naive but rather to point out that different kinds of examination have different kinds of the ends. It seems as though the definition of class and the manner in which it is used depends upon some kind of moral judgment over whether class is a good or a bad thing. Approach Three: A Newspaper Article The purpose of a newspaper article must be contrasted to that of the previous documents considered. Previous two documents had a purpose of informing, to study and to persuade:- the newspaper article has all of these purposes in mind and yet we also needs to entertain its readers. A newspaper article is a problem being sold and should be seen in this way. Thus a reader of The Daily Telegraph will have a very different point of view to the reader of the Guardian. The Daily Telegraph reader will expect a certain point of view on the matter of social class whereas The Guardian reader will expect a totally different point of view. For this reason this study is going to consider a newspaper that claims and the emphasis is on the word claims to be independent that is not to sway to the Right or the Left but to be within the center all British mainstream politics. That newspaper is The Independent. A recent leading article took on the rather difficult subject of children with special needs and their inclusion or otherwise within ordinary the schools. This was an article about social class because the handicapped may be seen as a “subclass”: one that is often ignored or misunderstood. But the reforms to special education occurred when David Blunkett was the education minister. Mr. Blunkett is, as the reader will probably know, blind and so it is difficult to criticize him for policies that seeking the inclusion of the special needs children within ordinary schools. The article does not indulge in the kind of reverse discrimination in which those with handicaps are treated with kid gloves compared to those without them. Blankets legislation stipulated that “it was the right of any child to be taught in a mainstream school.” (Independent, 2006). The independent are ironically states simply “fair enough” to these policies but then criticizes Blunkett for not actually putting the practical resources at the disposal of teachers to be able to teach these children. The article could almost be seen as a reaction to the previous one in which the minister suggested that social classes were all to be rejected as a legitimate division within society. In other words some children are so handicapped that they cannot be told alongside “normal” children. This social stratification is needed for two reasons: first the other children will be unable to learn in the same way if these children are within the class and secondly because the teachers need specialized training that cannot be provided to them in ordinary teacher training programs. At times The independent suggests ideology needs to be trumped by practical considerations. Few people would deny that it is an ideal not to discriminate against handicapped children by putting them in special schools that seem to ostracize them from normal society, but unless the government is prepared to invest huge sums of money in new training programs and in new facilities in virtually every school in the country such social divisions among children while unpleasant are perhaps inevitable. The independent leading article ends with a statement that the Baroness who had pioneered inclusion over 30 years ago has recently condemned the legacy from David Plunkett of what she calls a dogmatic approach. Conclusion It becomes clear from this brief discussion of three different studies that use class as a tool or as the main subject for analysis, that class is still a major component of British society. We no longer live within a country in which classes were regarded as a virtuous and inevitable way of dividing the country. The word class always has some kind of pejorative associated with it. The first study used class in a remarkably open and honest manner. Class was merely a variable used to study medical differences between men of different ages and occupations. Class was assumed in the study. No moral judgment was put to it because it merely exists. The second analysis of class was very different, it was put forward by a politician with very specific opinions upon class and who had a vision for a classless Britain. Class was seen within the study as a powerful but deeply divisive force. The leading article from the independent tool, the tricky and difficult subject of a subclass, that of handicapped children within the mainstream education system. While it was realistic in accepting the fact that class is an inevitable part of every society, it also pointed out that government must be careful to treat the most vulnerable of its citizens in as equal a manner as possible. The word possible is the most important factor here. An idealistic vision of a classless society is a nice fairytale, but it is just that. The country of Britain was once terribly divided by classes that put a majority of the people in a subservient position. Thankfully those days are past. But the capitalist system which like it or not does seem to give a good life to as many people as possible, seems to need a class stratification system in order to succeed. The task of the country, both for the people in general and the government in particular is to make sure that these classes are not dealt with in a different or demeaning manner. The variety of the articles that are being considered here showed that this task can be undertaken in a respectful, intelligent and practical manner. _______________________________________ Works Cited Armstrong, Hilary. “The Invisible Generation: Picking up the Pieces to Predicting and Prevailing”. Ministry for Social Exclusion, May, 2005. Emberson , Jonothan. Et al. “Social Class Differences in Coronary Hearth Disease in Middle-Aged Men: Implications for Prevention” in International Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 33, #2, pp.289-296. Leading Article, The Independent, May 17, 2006. Read More