Outline And Assess Explanations of class inequality Flashcards
Functionalist View
Social inequality are inevitable features of a healthy contemporary society where talent and hard work are rewarded. Economic inequalities ensure that the most qualified people secure the most functionally important jobs in society.
Davis & Moore (45)
Functionalist - Society is meritocracy - those who have talent and work hard are rewarded and provided social mobility. Pay is related to talent - important jobs are secured by those who are most appropriate and therefore functional.
Functionalist Criticism
There is not a consensus with regard to which are the most important jobs - bankers well paid but nurses more important? Some groups start with more status and power and are therefore able to ensure they and their children access the education they need for higher status jobs.
Marx and Engels (1868)
Marxist - Capitalism allows the bourgeoisie to exploit working class. Order and stability exist in society because ruling class exercise power over all other groups. Capitalism survives because the inherent inequalities are either not recognized or accepted as just.
Braverman (72)
Marxist - Deskilling of white-collar jobs due to technology changes e.g. manufacturing work in factories replaced by machine. Deskilling leads to loss of bargaining power and pay.
Bordieu
Marxist - Cultural tastes play a part in creating boundaries between social classes - beauty e.g. wealth, upper class etc. gets you places. Cultural reproduction of upper class - young are taught materialistic values.
Marxist Eval
Doubt over degree that people are ruled by ruling class. Not everyone has false class consciousness; some know full well they are exploited. Postmodernism - class is dead, back up with stat.
Neo-Marxist
Neo-Marxists have attempted to explain and include the middle class
Wright
Neo-Marxist - Explained the middle class in terms of their ‘contradictory class location’. The middle class is able to exploit the working class and be exploited b the upper class and is a permanent feature of the class structure. Concluded that class conflict and exploitation is more complicated than Marx explanation but are still a basis of power and wealth in society.
Weberianism
Social classes exist and social class is made up of people who share a similar market and work situation. Two dimensions of work and market get people to a class - their market situation - amount of money they receive, and work situation - the conditions of service the person enjoys in their work.
Goldthorpe and Heath (92)
Weberian - Society could be divided into three main social groups - key point of division being different work and market situations each group shared.
Crompton (93)
Weberian - Status groups compete with one another and practice social closure. The British ruling class works to preserve the market and tend to socialize with those they consider to have the same status as themselves.
Weberian Eval
Weberians have difficulty in defining their own class situations. Postmodernism - agrees that if class exists, it would be dynamic and interchangeable, however it doesn’t determine who we are.
Pakulski and Waters (96)
Postmodernist - Class is a dead concept - Lifestyles are becoming a central feature of people’s lives and a major source of identity and that they are less likely to be based on class.
Polhemus (97)
Postmodernist - Everyone has access to the same consumer goods e.g. TV, fashion etc. Identity is not dictated by class.Consumption means people buy into the image and identity they want.
