The Social Classes - Essay Example

Is It Possible To Tell Which Social Class Someone Is From The Way They Speak? Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Course Name Date of Submission Is It Possible To Tell Which Social Class Someone Is From The Way They Speak? Introduction Social class is perhaps the most important concepts for understanding the society. However, the concept is not well understood with sociologists doddering in the way they define it. Broadly speaking social class refers to the socio-economic status of an individual in the society. In other words, social class means the social status that an individual’s belongs in a social hierarchy in the society. Although traditionally the social class of an individual was determined by an individual’s amount of wealth and occupation, this is no longer the case due to the advancements that have occurred over the years. Currently, social class is not just viewed in terms of occupation and material wealth that one has, but also in terms of prestige, standing, beauty, respect and physical ability. Herk (2012, p. 24) defines social class as a group of people who occupy same position in the economic system of production. Although it is always easy to tell the social status of an individual by looking at where they live and the amount of wealth they posses, questions abounds as to whether or not it is possible to tell the social status of an individual from the way they speak, notes Browne (2005, p. 16). The first section of this essay defines the different types of social classes in Britain and proceeds to highlight the determinants of social classes. The third section discusses whether or not it is possible to tell the social status of an individual from the way they speak. Lastly, the essay will conclude with a brief summary of the entire paper. Types of Social Classes in Britain The study of social class is very important as it helps in understanding the society. As mentioned earlier, social class refers to the social status that an individual belongs in the social hierarchy in the society. Because people are never equal in everything, every society has people that can be grouped into different social classes. Britain is one of the unequal societies, hence has different groups of people that belongs to different social classes. In Britain, there are three major social classes that its people belong. The first category is the lower class Britons. According to Marshall et al. (2005, p. 67) study, about 15% to 20% of Britons fall within the lower social class. Lower social class is for people who are poor, jobless and homeless (Browne 2005, p. 19). Individuals within this social class are facing myriads of life challenges because they are hard hit by poverty. The majority of Britons in this social class category have low level of educational attainment with just a few having managed to finish high school. Because these people live in poverty, they face other challenges, such as lack of medical care, food, shelter, vocational training, food and safety challenges. Because of their low status in the society, the lower class are often ridiculed and stigmatized in which they are sometimes referred by the media as the “under class.” The second category of social class in British society is the working class individuals. The working class, as the name suggests are individuals with minimal level of education and usually participate in “manual labor” (Bernstein (2005, p. 11). Accordingly, they have very little or no prestige as they have to work hard to make a living. Estimates indicate that about 30% of Britons fall within the working class category. These people work mainly as maids, cooks, waitress and clerical duties, such as cashiering. Accordingly, people within the working class face many challenges as that are not only underpaid, but also have little or no opportunity for development. In fact, they are sometimes mocked as the working poor because they suffer despite having jobs (Marshall et al. 2005, p. 61). The skilled workers within this category, such as tailors, carpenters, electricians and plumbers, though make money that teachers or office secretaries, their jobs are not only more demanding physically, but also dangerous. Third is the middle class Britons. Middle class people are individuals that have white collar jobs and have more money and wealth than those that fall below them in the social hierarchy though they earn less than those above them in the “social ladder.” The middle class individuals are divided into two categories, according to the levels of wealth, prestige and education. The first are the lower middle class that comprises of less educated individuals with fewer incomes, according to Browne (2005, p. 22). People falling within this category include teachers, small business people, secretaries and managers. The other is the upper middle class individual that comprises of the highly educated people with high income levels. People falling within the upper middle class include doctors, accountants, lawyers, CEOs and stockbrokers among others. Currently, the majority of Britons fall within the middle class. According to Marshall et al. (2005, p. 89) study, about 50% to 60% of Britons are in the middle class. The other category of social class in Britain is the upper class individuals. The upper class comprises of the rich in Britain and controls more than 25% of the country’s wealth (Marshall et al. 2005, p. 102). Upper class is divided further into two categories namely lower-upper and upper-upper. Those in the lower-upper class are those with new wealth derived from business ventures and investments among others. Those in the upper-upper, otherwise called aristocratic individuals are those with “old money.” Old money means that these are people who have been rich for generation with some of the wealth having been inherited from forefathers, notes Savage (2015, p. 45). Individuals in this category of the social class enjoy a lot of prestige and have more money that they can spend. People in the upper-upper class usually live in isolated neighborhoods, meat at expensive social clubs with their children learning at the finest schools. Because of the massive wealth they have, the upper-upper social class individual wields a lot of power and influence in the society. According to Marshall et al. (2005, p. 107), about 1% to 3% of Britons fall within the upper class. Determinants of Social Status Sociologists use various criteria in classifying people into social classes. Firstly, wealth and income is one of the determinants of the social class that one belongs. In this respect, the possession of huge amounts of wealth is used to differentiate people of the upper class from other social classes in the society (Hiller and Philliber 1986, p. 16). Individuals with substantial wealth and income not only occupy high social position in the society, but also command a lot of respect. Second determinant is the occupation of an individual. Occupation refers to what one does to earn a living, according to Savage (2015, p. 13). These include accountants, doctors, professors and layers among others. Those who have high-prestige professions usually earn more than manual or casual workers and as such are accorded a higher social status than those performing hard or manual jobs, such as car mechanics. Thirdly, education is the other social status determinant. The level of education that one has attained is usually used to determine the class status that an individual belongs. According to Bernstein (2005, p. 96), the less educated are usually grouped under the lower or working class. By contrast, the highly educated people in the society are accorded a high social status because of the position they occupy or likely to occupy in the society in the future as a result of their high educational attainment. Lastly, prestige is the other determinant used to determine the social status of an individual in the society. Hiller and Philliber (1986, p. 19) define prestige as the degree of respect and admiration that people have of a given profession. It is critical to note that prestige is independent of the occupier of the position. For instance, people consider living within the wealthy neighborhoods a prestige. As such, they associate it with high social status even if the person has no substantial amount of wealth. Link between Language and Social Class The link between social class and the way one speaks has been a controversial issue. For many years, sociolinguistics has made attempts to study the link between the two. In most studies, however, it has been found that, because language is a social phenomenon, it can help tell the social class in which one belongs. Most studies have shown that people tend to change the way they speak to match the social status they hold in the society, notes Savage (2015, p. 4). Herk (2012, p. 36) argues that it is easy to tell an individual’s social status by merely listening to the way they speak. According to the author, one needs not necessary have to be told the social status of an individual as long as the person can speak, as the conversations alone will tell it all. However, to understand the influence that social status has on the language and speaking pattern of individuals, it is important to begin by defining the term language variety and variations. According to Hudson (1996, p. 7), language variety is “a set of linguistics items with similar social distribution.” Herk (2012, p. 41) took the definition further by defining language variation as different ways of saying a similar thing. Language variation, on the other hand, refers to different ways in which people speak same language. Using Britain as an example, whereas English is a common native language spoken by the majority, different people might speak the English language differently in terms of accent and dialect among others. Rahman (2014, p. 19) notes that language variety is expressed in codes, or dialects while variations have to do with diverse styles and accents used to express the codes or dialects. This implies that language variations and varieties are interlinked. English language that is spoken in Britain has varieties with specific speech communities known as dialects. However, the Standard English is considered a variety. Nevertheless, the ways in which Britons speak the same language differs from one social class to another. Based on the existence of language varieties and variations, Shvetser (1986, p. 111) observed that social class has a huge influence on the language variations. According to Rahman (2014, p. 20), every society is divided into different classes. The author notes that the social class that one belongs has a huge influence on the language and the way one speaks. In this respect, Rahman (2014, p. 20) argues that, by just listening to how an individual speaks, it is possible to know in which social class they belong. The author proceeds to note that, the more heterogeneous a society is, the more diverse its language becomes. According Herk (2012, p. 54) study, people who belong to the upper class tends to speak in a more appropriate manner than those below them in the social hierarchy. People of the upper social class speak in a cool and respectful manner. Rahman (2014, p. 21) notes that, because of the appropriate language that upper class individuals use in their language, it is possible to tell such individuals by listening to them speak. In fact, the author noted that, when a person belonging to the upper class speaks with one from the lower class, it is easy to differentiate from which social class each belongs by just listening to the way they communicate other factors held constant. According to Bernstein (2005, p. 101), the language variations result from the fact that social classes tends to produce what Bernstein calls “sociolects.” The author, however, cautions that some people tend to speak in a certain manner with the intent of making people feel that they belong to the upper class even if they do not belong to the class just for prestige and recognition. It has also been noted that it is possible to know the social class that one belongs by determining whether they speak standard or non-standard language. Standard language is the language that is spoken by the educated, noble and the elites in the society. Standard language is usually considered prestigious. Non-standard language, on the other hand, is those languages that are less-prestigious, spoken mainly in informal situations and particularly by the less educated and those in the lower social class (Herk 2012, p. 69). Therefore, by merely listening to an individual speak standard language; it is possible to associate the person with middle or upper class because the language is spoken by the educated, noble and elite in the society. In fact, because of the class that university professors belong and the status they hold in the society, they are not expected to speak like a garment factory worker. According to Rahman (2014, p. 26), a university professor is expected to speak well mannered and crafted formal language that befits his/her status in the society. Rahman (2014, p. 27) attributes this to the fact that their status in the society as role models to the society requires them to speak standard formal language. On the contrary, the working class, such as the garment factory workers tends to speak non-standard language that is mainly informal in nature because their social status dictates so. Therefore, because of the differences in the way a professor and garment factory worker speak, it is easy to tell the social status of the two by merely listening to them speaks. Accent is the other aspect of language that sociolinguistics use in indentifying the social class that one belongs. Savage (2015, p. 62) reckons that people in different social classes tend to use different accents that are accepted by the members that belong to that social group. For instance, the accent that a begger uses in the streets can easily be used to tell that the person belongs to the poor or low class. On the contrary, the accent that an individual in the middle or upper class uses differs significantly from the accent used by people in the low class. According to Rahman (2014, p. 29), one cannot expect a businessman negotiating a business deal or tender to use a similar accent as that used by a begger in the streets. As such, it becomes easy to tell the social class that one belongs by just listening to the accent that an individual uses in communicating. Additionally, it has been noted that people who are highly educated tend to flout about their education to show people their status in the society. In this respect, people who are highly educated tend to use complicated vocabularies and profession jargons in their communication as a show of their level of education of line of profession. By contrary, Bernstein (2005, p. 105) observed that people who have less education tend to speak a simple native language without the use of profession jargon. As such, it becomes very easy to tell the social class where an individual belongs by listening to the way they speak and the jargons and vocabularies that they add in their communication. Conclusion The discussion has shown that every society is stratified into different social classes. Britain is a classical example of a society that is stratified into different social classes. These include lower class, working class, middle class and upper class. Those in the lower class are the poor, less educated, the unemployed and less privileged in the society. Working class consists of those working mainly in the informal sectors, and is poorly paid. Middle class, who forms the majority of Britons, are the educated and well paid individuals. The upper class, however, are the wealthy in the society who have more money than they can spend. The existence of different social classes has attracted interest of sociolinguistics that has attempted to determine whether the social class has an influence on an individual’s language. However, from the literature, it became apparent that the social class has a huge influence of the language of an individual. For instance, a university professor usually speaks differently from garment factory workers because of the different social classes that the two are in the economic system. Therefore, based on the discussion and evidences provided, it can be deduced that it is possible to tell the social class of an individual from the way one speaks. References Bernstein, B 2005, Theoretical studies towards a sociology of language. Routledge, London. Browne, K 2005, An introduction to sociology. Polity, Boston. Herk, G 2012, What Is sociolinguistics. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ. Hiller, D. V., & Philliber, W. W 1986, “Determinants of social class identification for dual-earner couples.” Journal of Marriage and Family, vol. 48, no. 3, pp. 583-587. Hudson, R. A 1996, Sociolinguistics (2nded.). New York: Cambridge University Press. Marshall, G., Newby, H., Rose, D., & Vogler, C 2005, Social class in modern Britain. Routledge, London. Rahman, A 2014, The influence of social classes on language variations: A Study on the people of Dhaka city. BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, accessed 7 January 2016 http://dspace.bracu.ac.bd/bitstream/handle/10361/3551/10103019.pdf?sequence=1 Savage, M 2015, Social class in the 21st century. Penguin Books Limited, New York, NY. Shvetser, A. D 1986, Contemporary sociolinguistics: Theory, problems, methods. John Benjamins Publishing, Cambridge, MA. Read More

Accordingly, they have very little or no prestige as they have to work hard to make a living. Estimates indicate that about 30% of Britons fall within the working class category. These people work mainly as maids, cooks, waitress and clerical duties, such as cashiering. Accordingly, people within the working class face many challenges as that are not only underpaid, but also have little or no opportunity for development. In fact, they are sometimes mocked as the working poor because they suffer despite having jobs (Marshall et al. 2005, p. 61).

The skilled workers within this category, such as tailors, carpenters, electricians and plumbers, though make money that teachers or office secretaries, their jobs are not only more demanding physically, but also dangerous. Third is the middle class Britons. Middle class people are individuals that have white collar jobs and have more money and wealth than those that fall below them in the social hierarchy though they earn less than those above them in the “social ladder.” The middle class individuals are divided into two categories, according to the levels of wealth, prestige and education.

The first are the lower middle class that comprises of less educated individuals with fewer incomes, according to Browne (2005, p. 22). People falling within this category include teachers, small business people, secretaries and managers. The other is the upper middle class individual that comprises of the highly educated people with high income levels. People falling within the upper middle class include doctors, accountants, lawyers, CEOs and stockbrokers among others. Currently, the majority of Britons fall within the middle class.

According to Marshall et al. (2005, p. 89) study, about 50% to 60% of Britons are in the middle class. The other category of social class in Britain is the upper class individuals. The upper class comprises of the rich in Britain and controls more than 25% of the country’s wealth (Marshall et al. 2005, p. 102). Upper class is divided further into two categories namely lower-upper and upper-upper. Those in the lower-upper class are those with new wealth derived from business ventures and investments among others.

Those in the upper-upper, otherwise called aristocratic individuals are those with “old money.” Old money means that these are people who have been rich for generation with some of the wealth having been inherited from forefathers, notes Savage (2015, p. 45). Individuals in this category of the social class enjoy a lot of prestige and have more money that they can spend. People in the upper-upper class usually live in isolated neighborhoods, meat at expensive social clubs with their children learning at the finest schools.

Because of the massive wealth they have, the upper-upper social class individual wields a lot of power and influence in the society. According to Marshall et al. (2005, p. 107), about 1% to 3% of Britons fall within the upper class. Determinants of Social Status Sociologists use various criteria in classifying people into social classes. Firstly, wealth and income is one of the determinants of the social class that one belongs. In this respect, the possession of huge amounts of wealth is used to differentiate people of the upper class from other social classes in the society (Hiller and Philliber 1986, p. 16). Individuals with substantial wealth and income not only occupy high social position in the society, but also command a lot of respect.

Second determinant is the occupation of an individual. Occupation refers to what one does to earn a living, according to Savage (2015, p. 13). These include accountants, doctors, professors and layers among others. Those who have high-prestige professions usually earn more than manual or casual workers and as such are accorded a higher social status than those performing hard or manual jobs, such as car mechanics. Thirdly, education is the other social status determinant. The level of education that one has attained is usually used to determine the class status that an individual belongs.

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