The History of Class in Britain

"The Way People Get Their Living is Their Social Outlook"- Marx

The Industrial Revolution was the catalyst for terms such as working, middle and upper class as people gathered in urban environments looking for employment. The working class were the factory workers, the middle class managed the factories, whilst the upper class owned the factories.

In the days of Victorian Britain, class was determined by power, authority and wealth. The old prejudices caused the middle and working class to be deprived of a voice in government, which meant they were unable to improve the quality of their lives.

Even further back was the Feudal class system, which was established by William the Conquerer and the Normans. Via this system, you were unable to move up the social system. You became what your father was before you.

Due to the progression in our cultural, social and economic positions I believe that attitudes towards class will have changed because our situations are completely different to what they were in the past. 

What is the class structure in Britain?

"Britain is obsessed with class"

Your class can be defined by a number of factors: occupation, background, wealth, education and social connections, so it can be hard to categorise an individual into a specific category.

Our economic system, Capitalism, which emerged in the 18th Century is a structure whereby people produce goods, or services, for a profit. The three fundamentals for production are: land, capital and labour. The upper class own the land and have the capital and the working classes are the labour force. The middle class would manage the working class on behalf of the upper class.

The Two Ronnies Class Sketch

The categories in the class structure of modern Britain are as follows:

Group	Description	NRS equivalent
1	Higher professional and managerial workers	A
2	Lower managerial and professional workers	B
3	Intermediate occupations	C1 and C2
4	Small Employers and non professional self-employed	C1 and C2
5	Lower Supervisory and technical	C1 and C2
6	Semi-Routine Occupations	D
7	Routine Occupations	D
8	Long-term unemployed	E

Often, we link social classes different from ourselves as 'others'. Edward Said, a Palestinian–American literary theoretician, describes labelling something, or someone, as 'other' is, "the act of stressing the perceived weaknesses of outsiders as a way of reinforcing the alleged strength of those in positions of power”. 
Which means, we label and judge others different from ourselves to reinforce what we know as 'normal'. (But, who are we to judge what is normal?) 
 
However, are these labels still relevant? Do we need to label people? Or should there be another way of recognising the status of an individual?

Can you guess the class of these people?

Take this quiz!!

Have Attitudes Changed?

  "Working 9-5 what a way to make a living..."

What did the public think?

Twelve individuals took my questionnaire and they were of the following demographic:

75% of my respondents believed they were of middle class, whilst 25% classified themselves of working class. However, 50% of the respondents believed they were born into a working class family, so 25% feel that they have ascended the social ladder.

The respondent's social class based on their occupation was as follows:

The respondents were most tolerant of the working and middle classes, which may be due to the fact they hailed from these class groups themselves.  Below, I have made a 'word association' table where my respondents described people of different classes in their own words. Oddly, some adjectives were used to describe both the underclass and the upperclass.

Most of my respondents felt that the structure of class within Britain had changed but some felt that they were to young to make a proper judgement and others felt there was not enough change to make a comment on. These are some of my responses... 

Grace, 87- "The divide between classes is not as bad as it used to be, it's not so extreme. There is help for the poor now." 

Emily, 22- "More people call themselves middle class when they are still of working class."

Aimee, 22- "Working and middle class has become a 'grey' area. It is hard to define."

Peter, 57- "The working and underclasses aren't so downtrodden. There isn't as much of a divide."

Matt, 50- "Education has helped to change the class structure in Britain. There is now more middle class."

Below are some examples of how my respondents would react, or feel, when talking to someone from an alternative class to them self...

"They look like a good egg"

Many of my respondents changed the way they spoke to some depending on whether they felt they were a good or bad 'egg'. Not on what class they were. 

"People like talking to me :)"

They all felt they would not change the way they spoke to someone of working or middle class, maybe as they all derive from these classes.

"Oh, you poor little thing!"

My oldest respondent said she would feel sympathetic to an underclass person. One respondent said they would not interact with either or upper class individuals. 

"F$%K B%£@H B!!*&T$D"                                                                   
Some felt they may be intimidated by someone of upper class or if they swore to much. Another said they would tone down their own swearing when talking to someone of upper class.

So, what does this mean?

"A working class hero is something to be"

The attitudes towards class in Britain do appear to have changed but why?

Firstly, I will bullet point factors that appear to have varied or stayed the same:

1. More of the population believe they are of middle class. 
2. There is less of a difference between upper and lower classes. There is less divide between them.
3. If you are of underclass you are not particularly dirty, malnourished or diseased like the underclass may have used to be. 
4. The working and middle class are still the majority.
5. Class is not longer decided by how much money you have BUT by the importance and difficulty of your employment. However, many people do not use that scale.

But why have things changed?

One of my older questionnaire respondents was able to answer this question in one word - education.

As time has progressed since that of the historic feudal system, society has developed and we now have compulsory education for all. As education has advanced so has technology, meaning that the labour intensive jobs, like farming, that were the norm for the majority of people in Britain has now been taken over by machinery.






As people have been able to earn more money they have been able to improve their own situations and progress up the social scale. We
have also been able to set up our own benefit system, so that people who do not earn their own wage are provided for with shelter, food and healthcare.






Most people are able to afford luxuries like holidays and transport, which may not have been possible half a century ago due to the need to feed and clothe yourself and your family. This may be why more and more of our society are able to categorise themselves as middle class.





Dignitaries do not play as an important role within our culture, which may also suggest why the divide between the classes is not as distinct as it used to be. 

How Do I Feel?

I feel that we need to label others in order to recognise someone who is similar, or different, from ourselves. Labelling others, not just their class status, but their sexuality, race, gender and religion allows us to recognise ourselves in others and how we are seen within our society. 

Mean Girls (Waters, 2004) is a brilliant example of this and how we fit within social groups. 

Mean Girls - Cliques (Click on link to view)

But, giving people labels, with or without knowing that person beforehand, can be upsetting and are often incorrect. Also, certain stereotypes of certain classes are most often wrong and we may treat someone differently due to these stereotypes. 

We often treat someone differently based on their employment, for example we may respect someone more who is a doctor than if they were a bin man, however, the bin man may not necessarily be any less of a decent person because of their job role. 

In the film Pretty Woman (Marshall, 1990) Julia Robert's character is treated differently due to the way she is dressed and the shop workers define her for being a prostitute. 

Pretty Woman- Shopping scene (Click on link to view)

I think that attitudes to class have changed within our society, not in a positive or negative way, but different from how they used to be. The difference between under and upper class is not as extreme as it used to be, we are more equal in status than ever, which is known as polarisation. However, we still associate certain traits with certain classes. 

Les Miserable (Hooper, 2012) is an example of how the underclasses, and upper classes,  lived and were treated in 19th Century France, which is considerably different to how underclasses live today. 

Les Miserable Trailer (Click on link to view)

The King's Speech (Hooper, 2010) shows how royals defined and judged a women because she was American and not from a royal family. 

In the present day, I think that immigrants are grouped together as being of a low social status as we hold false judgements against them and are often unfairly represented within the media.  The British society, although it has a melting pot of cultures within it, believe that immigrants are different from themselves and label them as such. Often immigrants are alienated within society as they are forced to adapt to alternative cultures. Many immigrants have come from their home country due to conflict and come to this country to be considered the lowest of the low. 

In an ideal world we would not feel the need to categorise people, however, it is human nature to do this, so, I feel we should try and do this based on someone's personality rather than their financial situation or their job. 

For Further Information...

If you would like further information on the class structure in Britain, please click the links below.

The Guardian -'Classing Britain: why defining social status is so difficult'

The Telegraph - Condemned to be working-class forever

The Telegraph -Will Britain's middle-class jobs go the same way as its working-class ones?

BBC Archive