Evaluate the view that class is the most important source of an individuals identity.

The exclusive lifestyle and experiences of the upper class mean that its young members tend to socialise with other members of the same class. This results in a tendency for the upper class to inter-marry. As time goes on more and more kinship connections develop between upper class families.

During their socialisation young members of the upper class are introduced to the exclusive social events such as hunting, shooting, Wimbledon etc. these social events provide a distinctive upper class life style, they also provide a circuit where further connections can be made.

The middle class unlike the upper class are open to ‘outsiders’ i.e. people who have come from working class backgrounds and achieved a middle class status. This means that social backgrounds of middle class people are fragmented so may have very little in common which in turn means that a shared culture and identity may not be immediately visible.

The Marxist, Pierre Bourdieu suggests that schools are essentially middle class institutions run by middle class teachers for the benefit of middle class pupils. He argues that what goes on in schools in terms of what is regarded as acceptable i.e. knowledge, language and behaviour is defined by middle class professionals. The home experience of middle class children provides them with the ‘right’ values, way of speaking, knowledge etc for interacting with other middle class children.  

Roberts argues that the middle class place a high value on the ideas of a ‘career’. This means they try to achieve a secure job, which has opportunities for promotion and is reasonable well paid. To do this they will need to achieve as many qualifications as they can and are therefore highly motivated and encouraged by the parents to do well at school. Once in a job they are very likely to work hard and become very work-centred.

Roberts also argues that the middle class are claimed to be involved with more leisure activities and be generally more active than said working class. More holidays, sports, more visits to the theatre and countryside etc take place and this happens much more frequently than other classes.

The economic basis for class identity and solidarity has weakened for the working class due to the heavy manual jobs declining , making room for the new, modern forms of work. However, despite all that, there are still things that branch the class together to create an identity.

Studies of traditional working class family life suggest that the gender roles were very segregated. It was important to a man’s identity that he provided for his wife and children, men were clearly the heads of the households.  Nowadays, there is more of a shared role where women are much more likely to have jobs of their own as it is for men to take some responsibility of the childcare and housework.

Children were often brought up to have very limited aspirations. Although some working class children benefited from education many left school at the age of 15/16 to go to work.

Newspapers in the UK openly take a political position and target particular socio-economic groups. For example the Daily Mirror portrayed itself as a newspaper, which best represented the political and social interests of the traditional working class.

A number of sociologists reject the idea that class is the dominant force in shaping peoples identities. They claim that what matters in contemporary society is no longer class and occupation. Identities are increasingly based on lifestyle and consumption.

Pakulski and Waters (1996) say that lifestyles are becoming a major source of social and personal identity. These lifestyles are less likely to be based on social class. Nowadays lifestyles and identities are much more diverse and flexible. They are based on individual choice rather than class background. Postmodernists support this as they say that identities are much more fluid and changeable.  People ‘pick and mix’ any identity. They say consumer culture has replaced the class culture as the major influence on identity

However Gordon Marshall et al (1989) argued that class is the most common and powerful source of social identity. He found that 60% of the sample he studied thought of themselves as belonging to a particular social class. Over 90% could place themselves in a class if prompted.  Marxist theory supports this where they say social classes are based on their economic position.

On the other hand, Mike Savage’s research suggests that class is still an important influence on people’s lives and living standards but class identities have weakened. Most people recognise the relevance of class in the wider society but are not keen to express their own personal identities in class terms. So the typical attitude towards class identity is one of mixed feelings.

Whilst social class proves very important for someone’s sense of identity, other aspects must be taken into account. Ethnicity, age and gender all affect our collective identity as well.

To conclude, class is important as a source of collective identity as people learn to identify with members of their own social class and become aware of the differences that separate social classes. It makes People become ‘class conscious’.