Sociology

http://soc.sagepub.com/ The Importance of Class

Graham Crow and Catherine Pope Sociology 2008 42: 1045 DOI: 10.1177/0038038508096932 The online version of this article can be found at: http://soc.sagepub.com/content/42/6/1045

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Editorial Foreword

Sociology
Copyright 2008 BSA Publications Ltd Volume 42(6): 10451048 DOI: 10.1177/0038038508096932 SAGE Publications Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore

Editorial Foreword: The Importance of Class

I

Graham Crow and Catherine Pope

Joint Editors, Sociology

In the world in which we now live, divisions into class are outmoded and meaningless. Margaret Thatcher. Speech to Conservative Central Council, Buxton 1988. A class free society is not a slogan, but in Britain can become a reality. Gordon Brown. Speech to the Labour Party Conference, Bournemouth 2007. The divide between rich and poor in Britain has widened to its greatest gap for more than 40 years. Reuters headline on the launch of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report Poverty, Wealth and Place in Britain 1968 to 2005 17 July 2007

In a review essay on various publications dealing with the sociology of work in an earlier issue of this journal, Ian McIntosh recalled that it was Zygmunt Bauman who suggested that sociologists never solve problems, they just get bored and move on to something more interesting instead. McIntosh argued that not only had the sociology of work suffered in this respect (2003: 362), but that this was also the fate of the sociology of class. This argument provides an interesting angle from which to view the contents of the current issue in which debates about social class figure prominently. We can agree at the outset that sociologists have not solved the problems of social class. This is certainly true in the sense of doing away with the adverse consequences of class inequality, which remain pressing (despite the many sociologically-inspired solutions that have been proposed and acted upon). And if the problems of social class are understood in the more theoretical sense of developing a conceptual framework for the analysis of patterned inequality around which a consensus could emerge, once again it would take a brave person to claim success. In terms of the discussion of class in the current issue of the journal, let us begin with Rosemary Cromptons contribution, written in response to the Special Issue 41(5) which was devoted to Sociology and Its Public Face(s), in which the subject of class figured prominently. Cromptons career-long engagement in debates about social class and inequality makes her especially wellplaced to chart their evolution and to assess whether they are moving towards a solution. She argues that several things have hampered the development of
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agreement about how class phenomena should best be understood, including polarized disputes about the relative merits and shortcomings of quantitative and qualitative data. If some sociologists have responded to these disputes by moving their research attention elsewhere, this is arguably less attributable to boredom than it is to the difficulties of engaging with others who refuse to acknowledge the value of alternative approaches to their own. She is also critical of those sociologists who have questioned the continuing usefulness of methodological tools that have been the mainstay of social class research in recent decades, notably the sample survey and the interview. This part of her analysis throws down a challenge to those proponents of innovative methodological tools to demonstrate that their approach can not only achieve new results but also do so without losing anything in the process. Her particular concern with Mike Savage and Roger Burrows case for using social transactional data is that this method is better at describing and classifying than it is at uncovering and explaining causal mechanisms. The article in the current issue by Brigitte Le Roux and her colleagues on class and cultural division in the UK is not a direct response to Cromptons comments but it does contribute to the on-going debate about how best to study class. This article can readily be cited in support of Cromptons case regarding the benefits that come from the analysis of quantitative data, in this case data relating to the degree of correspondence between peoples class positions and their cultural practices and tastes. It also contributes to the body of research that demonstrates empirically the continuing salience of class, and directly counters the politicians claims reproduced at the start of this editorial. The fact that it does so drawing on quantitative methods that were used by Pierre Bourdieu also promises to revitalize those aspects of the debate about how best to conceptualize class. A particularly compelling reason why this aspect of debate still needs to be addressed is that relating to comparison. There are two dimensions to this issue, as Crompton notes. One is that cross-national comparisons require an analytical framework that establishes common ground yet is sensitive to variations between cultures. The second is that the larger the number of classes an analytical framework contains, the more unwieldy comparisons between classes become. In her research investigating white middle-class families that have chosen comprehensive schooling for their children, Diane Reay refers to the middle classes in the plural, reflecting the important point that the adjective middleclass is not particularly helpful if used to denote membership of a homogeneous entity. Her designation of one of her participants as upper middle-class captures one dimension of this heterogeneity, but the thrust of her argument is that middle-class parents and children do not as a bloc separate themselves off from working-class others. The political values associated with commitment to collective welfare provision constitute a common rationale in their accounts of the choice of local comprehensive schooling, distinguishing them from their peers who have opted out of this system. Paradoxically, this choice can bring competitive advantages in terms of the greater preparedness for interaction with

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others that is gained, compared to the social awkwardness that can be anticipated will follow from exclusive educational provision. Reays argument about the reproduction of class advantage has close parallels to that put forward by Don Weenink about cosmopolitan parents and their childrens education. Like Reay, Weenink argues that his data do not support monolithic interpretations of class, and he makes the provocative distinction between those parents who regard cosmopolitan education as a benefit in its own right and those who see it as a stepping stone to competitive advantage through the acquisition of a positional good. As Bill Jordan and his colleagues (1994) have argued, the policy implications of putting the family first deserve careful and continuous monitoring because of their significance for the reproduction of inequalities across generations, however much people may frame their actions in the rhetoric of altruistic concern for the welfare of others. This is not to say that the development of a cosmopolitan outlook is merely superficial. Florian Pichlers article on cosmopolitanism in Europe demonstrates that people can and do step outside of their immediate social worlds, although it is unsurprising to learn that cosmopolitan attitudes are more prevalent among professional, managerial and intermediate classes, in contrast to the greater propensity for manual workers and people engaged in agriculture to be nationalistic. The extent to which individualization is working to undermine the value of analysis of social phenomena in class terms has become a familiar point of departure for researchers. Debates about this are particularly intense in the analysis of the labour market positions of young adults, who are the subject of Ranji Devadasons article. Devadason draws on fieldwork conducted in the United Kingdom and Sweden to discuss the nature of what appears to be growing diversity in young peoples experiences of employment, unemployment and careers. Echoing Cromptons point about cross-national comparisons, the argument is advanced that contrasting welfare state arrangements need to be factored in to the analysis of how and why young people have the orientations to the future that they do, as well as class distinctions between research participants on high, intermediate and low incomes. Moving from the realm of the labour market to the sphere of consumption, Jason Rutter and Jo Bryces article on counterfeit goods challenges common sense assumptions about who is involved, since their data show that a narrowly economic theory of counterfeit goods consumption does not convince. The contrasting pattern of consumption associated with FairTrade goods analysed by Matthew Adams and Jayne Raisborough points towards a similar conclusion, that the purchase of goods has an ethical as well as an economic dimension to it that deserves sociologists attention. And finally regarding the theme of social class in this issue, Chris Warhurst and his colleagues research note on the UK hotel industry reminds us that one persons consumption requires another persons work, which in the case of hotel work is persistently low-paid. The reasons for this deserve discussion because legislation introducing the national minimum wage has been only partially effective in bringing about change. (The recent FairTips campaign by the UK trades union Unite has drawn attention to the ways in which some

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employers in the restaurant industry use tips to supplement wages as a way of avoiding paying the minimum wage). This issue of Sociology makes a strong case that there are plenty of sociologists who continue to be interested in and engage with the problems of class, both theoretical and practical. This does not contradict the case made by Bauman with which we opened this editorial foreword, since he went on to contend that even if sociologists cannot solve problems, sociology still offers an informed, wise, enlightened commentary on current experience which makes a vital contribution to enriching this experience and widening horizons (2001: 28). Debates about social class continue to have much to add to this project.

References
Bauman, Z. (2001) The Telos Interview in P. Beilharz (ed.) The Bauman Reader, p. 1829. Oxford: Blackwell. Jordan, B., Redley, M. and James, S. (1994) Putting the Family First: Identities, decisions, citizenship. London: UCL Press. McIntosh, I. (2003) Back to Work?, Sociology 37(2): 3616.

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