Inequalities relating to social class

Inequalities relating to social class

1. The government use National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NSEC)

   • An occupationally based classification that uses households as the main unit of analysis

2. Housing

   • There are clear patterns of ownership, with a big distinction between ownership (with or without a mortgage) and renting in the UK
   • Patterns of home ownership are likely to reflect patterns of income differentials
   • Managers and senior officials- £42,164 - 39 hours weekly Process, plant and machinery operatives- 19,113 - 44.8 hours
   • Large employers and higher managerial occupations= 14%- owned outright, 77%- owned with mortgage, 2%- rented from social sector, 6%-rented privatey
     • Never worked/long-term unemployed- 12%- owned, 2%- owned with mortgage, 73% rented from social sector, 13% rented privately

3. Education

   • 1992= 60%- students from managerial/professional backgrounds achieved 5 or more GCSE's 2002=77% Unskilled Manual background in 1992= 16%, 2002= 32%
     • The gap between higher and lower social classes at GCSE remains significant
       • Economic, cultural and social capital are all important markers of difference

4. Health

   • Evidence from the Healthcare Commission- Life expectancy data for1997/99 show men in the highest social class live 7.4 years longer than men in the lowest social class, the difference for women being 5.7 years
     • People in routine occupations have the worst self-reported health among people in employment, with rates more than double those for people in higher managerial and professional occupations
   • Cancer mortality and cancer survival rates show strong gradients by social class and deprivation
     • Teenage motherhood 7x more common from manual than professional backgrounds

5. Politics

   • Almost one third of current MP's attended independent schools, which educate only 7% of population, 72% went to University, including 43% who attend one of 13 leading universities and over a quarter who went to Oxbridge
   • Conservative MPs were more likely to have attended private schools, while Labour least likely at 18%

6. Functionalism

   • Social class inequality and difference are inevitable features of healthy contemporary society
     • Talent and hard work are rewarded
       • View society as a meritocracy- where access to social rewards is determined by talent and achievement rather than social background
       • Competition is considered healthy. Economic inequalities ensure that the most qualified people will secure the most functionally important jobs in society
   • Davis and Moore suggest pay is related to talent and that there's a general consensus that the most important jobs are secured by the most able individuals, who are paid appropriately
   • Enables the legitimisation of the system of inequality and these ideas lead to the concept of the meritocracy