Aldridge S (2004) also states that there are two types of movement in order to move up the social mobility ladder, these are, long-range social mobility which is where a person makes a big movement from semi-skilled up to professional, for example, a hair dresser to a teacher, and short-range social mobility, which is a short movement from unskilled to semi-skilled, for example, a cleaner to a hairdresser.
I am going to focus on one aspect of social stratification, which will be social class. I have chosen social class because I find this aspect the most interesting and it also links with all of the other aspects of social stratification. According to Eysenck H (1971), social class is based on a person’s wealth, their income, their occupation and their status in society. However, social class affects how well people do at school, financial factors, cultural factors and other in-school factors. Social class tends to affect educational achievement for many reasons. Eysenck H (1971) states that pupils from professional backgrounds, such as doctors, are more likely to enter higher education than those from unskilled backgrounds, such as cleaners, Pupils from middle class backgrounds are more likely to study A-levels, whereas working class pupils are more likely to take vocational subjects and pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, who have a very low income, are more likely to leave school at 16 and are less likely to start school being able to read.
Eysenck H (1971) explains that there are explanations that occur in school that can influence a child’s achievement. There are factors such as, labelling a student based on their status in society, which can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy, which is where people behave in a way that is predicted. According to Eysenck H (1971), negative labelling can mean that students are put into lowers sets or streams, causing some pupils to rebel against the school values, which then form subcultures. Eysenck H (1971) explains that these subcultures can either be pro-school subcultures or anti-school subcultures. Pro-school subcultures are where the pupils try hard and are proud of their educational achievement. However, anti-school subcultures are where the pupils do not see the point in education and see school as somewhere to mess around with friends. However, Eysenck H (1971) states that the labelling theory is far too deterministic. It assumes that pupils who are negatively labelled, fail but this is untrue, as some pupils who are labelled want to better themselves by turning their life around and prove themselves. A piece of research from Ball (1981) found that the pupils that were in the top sets were those from the higher social classes, where the teachers taught them in a different way because the teachers had higher expectations from them.
According to, Gewirtz S (1999) there has been a major study, which found that middle-class parents are more able to choose which schools their children attend. This is because they have more opportunities in life than working class families. Gewirtz S (1999) also explains that middle-class parents have cultural and economic capital so they are therefore skilled at picking out the most appropriate schools for their children and can afford the cost of travelling to those schools. However, working class parents, who are restricted in where they can send their children to school because they do not have the choices so they have to opt for the local schools.
As social class is based on income and wealth, those from working class backgrounds, who are the poorest, will suffer tremendously because they are not able to provide their children with the materials that they need for school, such as books and the Internet. Low-income families cannot afford to send their children to nursery or to private schools so they will not be able to send them to university due to the lack of money. Ensenck H (1971) explain that poverty and unsatisfactory living standards, which are overcrowded, is very likely to cause health problems, which leads to the child being absent from school, which then results in that child falling behind at school and missing the education that the child needs.
Ensenck H (1971) explains that there is a big difference between income and wealth, where wealth is where money can be inherited or won, for example winning the lottery and income is the money earned through wages from work or profits from shares. Income and wealth affect what a person can afford for themselves and their children, for example, sending them to a private school.
According to Ensenck H (1971), sociologist Bernstein, who conducted a study in 1970 found that working class pupils in the East End in London were unable to cope with the style of language that was taught by the school, they tended to use the restricted code, which is where people use very short forms of speech which is usually ‘slang.’ However, Bernstein also found that the middle class pupils used the elaborated code, which is where the pupils speak very explicitly and expand on their sentences to make their speech more in-depth. Another sociologist, Bourdieu (1971,1974) believes that middle class pupils are at an advantage because they have the right kind of ‘cultural capital.’ According to Ensenck H (1971), this cultural capital is said to have the right language, skills, knowledge and attitudes. Bourdieu (1971,1974) also states that the more cultural capital you have, the more successful you will be in education as the cultural capital provides the basics in order for the pupils to learn.
There is a strong link with social class and health, where the people that are in the lower social classes are more likely to suffer from long-term illnesses, such as coronary heart disease. Therefore, people from higher social classes are said to live longer than those people that are from the lower social classes. Ensenck H (1971) explains that the Black Report clearly shows that the poorer you are, the more prone you are to diseases and infections.
In order to measure social class, the government uses the Register’s General Classification scale and the Goldthorpe’s Class Scheme. The Register’s General Classification scale is based on a person’s occupation, income and status and the Goldthorpe’s Class Scheme is based on a person’s class and forms a hierarchy in terms of income, highest income at the top.
According to Parsons T (1951), the extent of inequality in the income distribution has changed considerably over the last three decades. However, between 1994 and 1995 and again 2002 and 2003 the income distribution was broadly stable. Between 1979 and 1983 inequality gradually decreased, but this was more than reversed in the 1980s. Parsons T (1951) also states that during the economic downturn of the first half of the 1990s there was little real growth anywhere in the income distribution. The distribution of wealth is even more unequal than that of income. However, wealth became more evenly distributed over the 20th century as a whole.
In Britain today, there are more opportunities for working class people to go to university, where financial help is provided in order to increase educational opportunities to climb up the social mobility ladder. Aldridge S (2004) explains that, there has been a general increase in the standards of living for the working class people too, such as more people are being able to afford holidays abroad, consumer goods like mobile phones, and more people are being able to afford their own homes due to council house sales.
From my own personal experience at school, I tended to be ignored because I was from a working class background that suffered from material deprivation and were very poor. My parents were unable to buy me things like revision guides to help me through my studies so I had it quite hard. However, I have made it to university, having not much support from my teachers at school as they were more interested in the brighter children that were predicted the highest grades. However, I was encouraged by my parents and had lots of support from them so this made me a very determined person. I think the fact that I am quite a strong character has helped me reach my goal. Having now explored all aspects of social stratification, I do not really agree with the term because I believe that if you want something badly enough, you will get there in the end through dedication and hard work, no matter what your status is in society.
References
Saunders, P, (1990) - Social Class and Stratification, Routledge
Ensenck H (1971) – Race, Intelligence and Education – London: Temple Smith
Aldridge S (2004) – life chances and social mobility: An overview of the evidence
Gewirtz S (1999) – Education Action Zones – Making sense of Action Zones – Social Policy Association
Parsons T (1951) – The social system – The free press
