ipl-logo

Final Essay

765 Words4 Pages

Choose two aspects of social class and discuss how they apply to British society past and present

The definition of class society mentioned by Floater (2015) is that “in societies stratified by class a person's class status is determined by membership of a group. ” The British classes at past were composed of working class, middle class and upper class. With the great development of world economy, some changes have taken place and people expect to become wealthier by grasping the marvelous opportunities in life. The abundant life of western citizens is what people in other countries admire at. From the perspective of many other eastern countries, Britain is a typical country which is the symbol of wealth. However, the fact is not the same …show more content…

Compared with the past, the middle class of British possesses not only money, but also wealth and the total amount constantly increases at present due to the growth of economy. This group contains billionaires and millionaires. In 2006, more than 4,000 individuals had one million pounds of annual bonus in financial investment circle (O’ Driscoll, 2009). Furthermore, the wealth in working class is still the lowest among three classes, 4% of British families had no income in 1968, but the proportion increased in the following years (McDonough, 1997).In generally, this class need subsidies, such as housing subsidy, children subsidy, and education subsidy. These subsidies are the way to keep the basic living of the working class (Floater, 2015) and sometimes the subsidy has reached to an absurd degree. Moreover, the wealth of working and middle class could swap that working class could join to the middle class through wealth …show more content…

Based on the wealth in three classes introduced above, the lifestyle of different classes have different characteristics. Seeking- pleasure is a representative lifestyle in the upper class. In the past they usually lived in the glorious manors corresponding to their noble identities. In their spare time, such blue blood would have some entertainment like horsing which was an aristocratic activity. And it is very common activity in the upper class until now. The lifestyle of most upper class tends to be enjoyment, although they can’t live as extravagantly as before at

Show More
Related
193 Words | 1 Pages

In the article “Confronting Inequality” by Paul Krugman it explains how and why large changes between wages of wealth and the problems between the social classes. America's middle class in today’s society are exceeding their limits in effort to give their children opportunities many middle class parents did not have themselves. Ways that many middle class parents are doing this is by buying homes that they can't afford; this is so their children will be able to attend a good school. Another reason why middle class parent are doing this so that their children can have more opportunities to one day slow the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor. Another reason that inequality between the classes is important Krugman believes is because

Read More
570 Words | 3 Pages

The upper class is on the top of the social class and are the “wealthiest”. Certain stereotypes of upper class have been their appearance of being well dressed with expensive clothing. They are seen to have expensive lifestyles expensive vacations. Their behavior

Read More
838 Words | 4 Pages

This also kind of ties in with the last point. High class or upper class depending on how it is looked at is still better than middle or lower class. People can have bigger and better houses. They can have nice cars. They can get all the toys and gadgets they want.

Read More
1123 Words | 5 Pages

However, due to the ideology that one can make money if they tried, the middle class cling to this ideology as hope to one day make it to the upper class. While resenting the low class for not doing the same when so much of the middle class tax money goes to the government which is supposed to help the poor. The middle class fails to realize two important socioeconomic facts: that the upper class is in control, so they make the middle class pay taxes, also the fact that the lower class receives only a small fraction of the taxes, since most of the taxes are pocketed by the upper

Read More
1188 Words | 5 Pages

Education was playing an important role, so it was really prestigious to have own library in the house, full of books. But it was very expensive to have real ones, so people used “fake” books just to create an illusion how rich they are. Nouveau riche were pointing on everything and were not shy to talk about their money. Good word to describe that time period --

Read More
1157 Words | 5 Pages

A vast majority of the upper class in the British Empire had no need to trouble themselves with working as their families had spent generations and generations amassing a fortune for their heirs to live off of. They spent their time living lavishly, serving on the royal court, and busying themselves with political matters. Counting themselves lucky to at least not living the lives of the less fortunate souls that they employed was the middle class. Middle class families typically were business owners and led moderately comfortable lives. Although, this class was very sparse at the beginning of Victoria’s time.

Read More
223 Words | 1 Pages

The income and wealth split middle class into upper middle and lower middle classes. Working Class:

Read More
683 Words | 3 Pages

The Application Paper Keitha Williams Argosy University The Application Paper I choose the article from class consciousness to culture, action, and social organization. The social problem address in this article is Social Class. Social Class refers to a group of people with similar attributes such as, wealth, and status. Researchers choose to use various different forms of systematic data collection techniques to research this issue.

Read More
806 Words | 4 Pages

The Leisure Class is a book written by Thorstein Veblen in 1899 which outlines the formation and critiques of the upper class in society and how their existence affects the rest of society. This book is very critical and condemning of the upper class whilst also providing basic economic education in a light, tongue-in-cheek manner. Veblen (1899) begins his book by showing how the leisure class originated in basic society before class distinctions and forms of ownership were established during the shift from primitive savagery to barbarism. He also does not openly state that the leisure class was the “rich” but does imply so in many ways.

Read More
718 Words | 3 Pages

The food that the Upper-Class eat was rich and health than the lower class food. The Upper Class also enjoyed spices imported from different countries. The upper class had a better lifestyle than the lower class,

Read More
810 Words | 4 Pages

There are differences in the lives of the rich and poor in every society. Today, wealthier people are able to live much more comfortably than their poorer counterparts. In Victorian era England, the division of the upper and lower class was much more extreme. To start off, there are many differences and similarities in the daily life of upper and lower class people in the Victorian era.

Read More
714 Words | 3 Pages

The upper class or rich class was very well off. They usually had very large houses/mansions. They had very fancy outfits and accessories. They would like to show off to other people in the upper class by having expensive clothing and decorations in the house. The women of the house usually helped in the kitchen, sew,

Read More
955 Words | 4 Pages

Instances which create a trend-based nostalgic desires for an idyllic past, eventually come to be selected by the masses i.e. the rise of Western-based primal living methods, which have become normalised by influencers. In addition to this, when members of society start to practice and then cannot afford such a lifestyle, or use all their finances to follow this “trendy” way of life, will they become destitute for wanting to impersonate a standard of living that Monarchs and those with access to financial resources could easily afford to dabble in? For instance, if the financial elite eventually develop un-interest in such a lifestyle, they are unlikely to experience financial damage comparable to the lower-classes. Not forgetting that medieval peasants had no choice but to completely dedicate their time and energy towards old-fashioned agrarian work without the use of technology, thus resulting in a loss of time and ability to partake in education which rendered them subservient to their lords [Fig

Read More
1892 Words | 8 Pages

Class distinction is a theme that is present during all time periods; it was a fundamental part of the structure of English society during the eighteenth century; "The key feature of eighteenth-century English society was that it was arranged as a status hierarchy" (Lehmberg, Meigs and Heyck). During this time, it was not the level of income that was seen as the deciding factor of a person 's position in society, but rather their social ranking; the upper ranks, which were known as the gentry, were families whose status was secured by their land ownership, the second rank were the middle-class (tradesmen) and the bottom of the social structure were the working class. These divides in the societal structure of the eighteenth century are clearly evident in the works of John Gay and Samuel Richardson. According to Wallech, in eighteenth century England, a person 's social position was "associated [...] with a calculus of property, privilege, dress, education, honor, obligation, residence, occupation, friendship, beauty, strength, and wisdom.

Read More
1023 Words | 5 Pages

The essay aims to evaluate the social structure of the Victorian Era in regards of their social classes that includes Elite class, upper class, middle class, working class and lower class and their issues that they had faced while living their life in that era. However, before highlighting the social structure of Victorian era, it is important to understand the formation and working of Victorian society. Last of all, it further discusses the rise of Victorian middle class era that has transformed the Britain Society in the current social structure. Introduction to Victorian Era

Read More

More about Final Essay

Related Topics

Open Document