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Bev Skegg's Study On The Formation Of Social Class

1833 Words8 Pages

Kelly(1993) distinguishes social inequality as two different social groups that are “characteristically amplified by corresponding differences in the distribution of prestige, privilege and culturally pertinent advantage and disadvantage.” Hence, there are many various forms of social inequality, but social class is a predominant focus in understanding and explaining it. In regards to social class, one could argue that there are “corresponding differences” between the upper classes and working classes/underclass. This distinction is supported by statistics produced by Trust for London which claims that “the richest tenth by financial asset wealth own 60% of all assets than those who are exempt”. However, despite there being a correlation between …show more content…

From her survey with 83 white working class female students, she found that they were disadvantaged by not only their class, but also due to the pressure of having to complete the gender role of caring and looking after their families. In her opinion, gender and class should be entwined to produce a detailed understanding of how one’s position in society is stagnated by the power of the bourgeoisie patriarchy. Bev Skegg(1997) concluded that the 83 woman “emerged as subjects through the nexus of structures, power relations and capital transfers which produce frameworks of representations and values which establish what it is like to be a working class woman”. This quote assumes that the “nexus of structures” disadvantage woman as the “power relations” and those that make “capital transfers” are the male bourgeoisie. This suggests that one’s gender as well as one’s social class can help us understand social inequality. Willis’ (2002) study on 12 working class “lads”, further supports Skegg’s(1997) views that gender and class are equal contributors in regards to social inequality. From his survey with various school boys, he identified a group of males whom he named the “lads”. These were working class boys who detested the education system, and instead valued manual work such as …show more content…

Taking into account grades gained at GCSEs, Jeffocate(1984) takes note of the correlation between ethnic differences in regards to achievement. For example, statistics published by the BBC in 2007 show that Chinese and Indian students outperform their white and African-Caribbean colleagues. For instance, in the year 2007, 64% of Indian children achieved 5 GCSEs in comparison to only 30% of Black Caribbean students. For Jeffocate(1984) , this ethnic differentiation is due to one’s social class, as he suggests that their under performance is due to their class background, due to the fact Indians are predominately middle class, whilst African-Caribbean students are predominately working class . Jeffcoate(1984) argues that this means that they are more likely to suffer a similar fate to the girls from Skegg’s (1997) study; making it more difficult for the working class ethnicities to achieve success, post education. This contributes to social division amongst ethnicities, as it means that the working class ethnicities are more likely to join low skilled manual jobs whilst the middle class ethnicities enjoy skilled work. Mcintosh( 2001) coins the term “white privilege” to refer to the social inequality

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