How Does Social Class Affect People's Lives Essay

This essay sample on How Does Social Class Affect People’s Lives Essay provides all necessary basic info on this matter, including the most common “for and against” arguments. Below are the introduction, body and conclusion parts of this essay.

LIFE CHANCES

SOCIAL CLASS CONTINUES TO HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON LIFE CHANCES OF INDIVIDUALS IN THE CONTEMPORARY UK. DISCUSS THIS VIEW, USING APPROPRIATE EVIDENCE.

In a modern western society persons strive to accomplish the things that are labelled as desirable, the best phone, a large house and a nice auto.

These are all known as trade goods alongside instruction, wellness and lodging but these trade goods are really seldom distributed every bit and so really accomplishing these things can be hard ( Stroud, 2001 ) . The ability and chance a individual has to accomplish these trade goods is known as a person’s life opportunities. There are assorted factors that can find a person’s life opportunities including familial heritage, societal category of parents, instruction, childhood poorness, household, attitudes and favoritism, plus many more ( Aldridge, 2004 ) .

A person’s life opportunities will frequently be determined by their societal category within their society. Social category is one of the oldest and perchance one of the most relentless inequalities in British society. Classs are groups of people that all portion the same ideals, chances and cultural beliefs. These category systems can be defined by achieved or ascribed position. Achieved position is position that has been worked for, whereas ascribed position is from birth. Some category systems have societal mobility, which gives persons the chance to travel up or down categories.

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Social Class Uk

Throughout history there have been records of many different category systems, including bondage, the feudal system and the Hindu caste system. Some of these category systems still exist even in today’s modernised universe. Despite many adaptations taking topographic point as life continues to alter harmonizing to the National Equality Panel the UK is still a long manner from being a society of equal chance. There has been a batch of alteration over the last two decennaries that have so improved the life opportunities of many ; these alterations have narrowed the inequalities in net incomes, gender and instruction for cultural minorities ( Timmins, 2010 ) . The biggest inequality that can be seen within the UK would be with income, with the bulk of the UK’s wealth being owned by merely a little per centum.

Within the modern-day UK there appears to be a category system divided into three classs, upper category, in-between category and working category. For each of these three categories at that place will be differences in the sort of advantages or disadvantages the people within them can hold. These differences may be recognised by obvious inequality with trade goods such as council lodging or in private owned lodging in choice locations, instruction at choice schools compared to province instruction, private health care opposed to NHS health care and extremely paid businesss against ill paid or no business chances. There could besides be disadvantages due to a person’s speech pattern and idiom, visual aspect and vesture and the leisure activities that individual indulges in. There may besides be other less obvious inequalities, from societal category, that can impact a person’s life opportunities.

In a modern society societal category and life opportunities depend mostly on economic differences between groups, such as wealth and income, ownership of goods, and a person’s place in society ( SFEU, n.d ) . The biggest differences in societal category within the UK can be seen through a person’s business. The upper categories can populate off unearned income, such as land rents or heritage. There are non many upper category people populating off unearned income, despite there being some really affluent people. In the UK most people fall into in-between category or working category classs. The in-between category is broken down into the higher in-between category and the lower in-between category. The higher in-between category clasp businesss in professional work such as jurisprudence, medical specialty or owning concerns. This type of work requires instruction, makings and accomplishments. While the lower in-between category clasp businesss such as instructors and lens makers. At one clip lower in-between category businesss were sought after and would hold been regarded as higher in-between category, but due to these professions now being stable good paid places they have decreased in category standing ( Mills, 1956, cited in Anon, n.d ) . Working categories hold manual labour businesss and although this can frequently necessitate a batch of accomplishment it is non by and large good paid ( Anon, n.d ) .

It is more than obvious to state that if a kid has a good instruction and achieves high makings so that kid is most likely to derive a high paying occupation. A individual born into a household life in poorness would evidently non hold the same chance to go to a top quality private school as a individual born into a affluent household. There is besides the consideration of catchment countries with instruction that could forestall a individual being able to go to a better school than provided in their local country. A batch of the best schools in the UK do hold scholarship and bursary chances, nevertheless these do non ever use as some of the persons from poorer societies are unable or unaware of how to use for this aid and if they do they could still be refused. For case, a kid from a council estate, populating with unemployed parents on the outskirts of a metropolis would non be able to travel to a private funded school in a large metropolis. Whereas a kid with parents as histrions will about ever be immediately enrolled to the best private schools available.

The chief factor that affects wellness inequality in the UK is societal category. There are many surveies that show people born in to hapless households have less opportunity of endurance, turn up with hapless wellness and may decease at an early age. NHS waiting lists at an all clip high, those persons with either low incomes or no incomes are progressively waiting longer for potentially lifesaving intervention. In contrast to this those people in what is considered the upper categories are able to pay to hold intervention in private and about instantly, besides holding the chance to take the best surgeon/doctor to execute the intervention. There is besides the fact that many working category businesss cause unwellness but the people enduring are unable to take clip off from their employment for fright of dismissal. Health inequalities may non be straight caused by societal category itself but more as a consequence of societal category inequality. Poor wellness can be a consequence of hapless life conditions, bad eating wonts, behavioral wonts such as smoke and imbibing and deficiency of exercising ( Macintyre, cited in Burton, 2014 ) .

Another difference between life opportunities and differing societal categories is the manner offense is handled. A batch of national statistics province that most offense is committed by working category males. This is non needfully true as a batch of affluent people frequently commit offenses but are non prosecuted. Even when they are prosecuted there are major differences in the intervention involved. For case a white on the job category male arrested for fraud will happen himself face down on the paving and handcuffed behind his dorsum. He will so be taken to a local constabulary station, thrown in a cell and finally interviewed for hours before holding DNA, fingerprints and exposures taken before being released. In entire contrast to this a affluent public figure such as a politician or famous person would be contacted through their PA or agent with a petition to go to the constabulary station at a clip suited and convenient for them. They will non be handcuffed, put in a cell or subjected to many hours of question. They may hold to supply DNA, fingerprints and exposure but this could besides depend on the individual in inquiry.

Mentions

Aldridge, S. ( 2004 )Life Chances & A ; Social Mobility: An Overview of the Evidence[ online ] . Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.swslim.org.uk/documents/themes/lt10_lifechances_socialmobility.pdf [ Accessed on: 25^ThursdayFebruary 2014 ] .

Anon. ( n.d )Social Inequality Class War[ online ] . Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.google.co.uk/url? sa=t & A ; rct=j & A ; q= & A ; esrc=s & A ; source=web & A ; cd=4 & A ; ved=0CE4QFjAD & A ; url=https % 3A % 2F % 2Fhwb.wales.gov.uk % 2Fcms % 2Fhwbcontent % 2FShared % 2520Documents % 2Fvtc % 2F2009-10 % 2Fsociology % 2Fj-griffiths-a2 % 2F08 % 2520Class % 2520inequality.doc & A ; ei=cwUNU9qYGoLC7AaH0YGADQ & A ; usg=AFQjCNHztbBO4TkYV-B6XSNIwk_jZoTLiA & A ; sig2=Jpwtyqz8c6wbtXevFwkpBw & A ; bvm=bv.61725948, d.ZGU & A ; cad=rja [ Accessed on: 25^ThursdayFebruary 2014 ] .

Burton, J. ( 2013 )Class and Stratification Access Sociology[ Class Hand-out ] . Access to Social Science: Life Chances, Northampton College. 1^stMarch.

Crossman, A. ( n.d )Sociology of Social Inequality[ online ] . Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //sociology.about.com/od/Disciplines/a/Sociology-Of-Social-Inequality.htm [ Accessed on: 27^ThursdayFebruary 2014 ] .

Scots Further Education Unit. ( n.d )Sociology Social Stratification Intermediate ?[ online ] . Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.google.co.uk/url? sa=t & A ; rct=j & A ; q= & A ; esrc=s & A ; source=web & A ; cd=5 & A ; ved=0CFYQFjAE & A ; url=http % 3A % 2F % 2Fwww.educationscotland.gov.uk % 2FImages % 2FSocialStratInt12_tcm4-335917.doc & A ; ei=cwUNU9qYGoLC7AaH0YGADQ & A ; usg=AFQjCNFy43tMDIvoc1psuuKEX06umWxxgQ & amp ; sig2=5lS1A_bga4yStmZ-aZ4NxA & A ; bvm=bv.61725948, d.ZGU & A ; cad=rja [ Accessed on: 25^ThursdayFebruary 2014 ] .

Sparknotes. ( n.d )Social Stratification and Inequality. Modern Stratification Systems[ online ] . Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.sparknotes.com/sociology/social-stratification-and-inequality/section3.rhtml [ Accessed on: 27^ThursdayFebruary 2014 ] .

Stroud, A. ( 2001 )How Social Class Affects Life Opportunities[ online ] . Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.markedbyteachers.com/gcse/sociology/how-social-class-affects-life-chances.html [ Accessed on: 27^ThursdayFebruary 2014 ] .

Timmins, N. ( 2010 )Social advantages still shape life opportunities[ online ] . Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.ft.com/cms/s/0/72110f9e-0ab1-11df-b35f-00144feabdc0.html – axzz2ujHY6eXs [ Accessed on: 1^stMarch 2014 ] .

Bibliography

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Bancroft, A. & A ; Rogers, S. ( 2010 )Introduction to Sociology. Max Weber – Class, Status and Power[ online ] . Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.cf.ac.uk/socsi/undergraduate/introsoc/weber11.html [ Accessed on: 27^ThursdayFebruary 2014 ] .

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S-cool. ( n.d )Class[ online ] . Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.s-cool.co.uk/a-level/sociology/inequalities/revise-it/class [ Accessed on: 1^stMarch 2014 ] .