Outline and evaluate sociological explanations for changing class structure

In the last years there has been a shift in the class structure of society which includes the
sizes of classes and the distribution of wealth and income across the UK. For example, there
is now more social mobility to move up or down the classes, women since the 1970's have
become a major part of the work force, there is more reliance on the welfare state or 'nanny
state' and an even smaller minority of people make up the elite ruling class holding most of
the wealth and power in our society.
One of the changes in the class structure has been the working-class who's members are
very powerful and in the elite of our society. The majority of these people have made their
wealth from industry and finance, a famous example being Alan Sugar who is a business
man in the UK and are part of a very small, concentrated amount of people yet they hold
most of our nations wealth. Accurate statistics show that it would take a full time working
class member around 149 years to earn a chief executive's wage of 3,855,172. Other
people who have means of making large quantities of money and becoming members of the
ruling class are celebrities who through the media and various other ways earn a huge
amount of wealth which is not traditional of the upper class, but a more modern happening.
There has been debate about whether this is true and whether the ruling class will decline or
strengthen in the changing class structure of the UK. For example, sociologist Lansley says
that birth is the main determining factor for the ruling class such as the celebrities, business
men and industry controllers because they are born into the life of wealth and advantages so
the ruling class aren't in decline. In addition, Scott believes that in large companies only a
small amount of people of the ruling class control them and therefore it has strengthened the
capitalist class not depleted them as they are getting a huge source of power and wealth
from this. On the other hand, many sociologists argue that due to the expansion of the
middle class and many state service jobs now being produced that eventually more people
will become part of the middle class and that the ruling class will dwindle even more. In
addition, Roberts says that as inheritance tax has risen, the wealth of the upper class has
begun to fall as their money is taken away from them.
As well as this in the changing class structure, the middle class it is argued has changed
massively. There has been a shift from manual labour jobs and manufacturing to an increase
in state service jobs such as teachers, nurses, clerks and managerial roles which has caused
the middle class to expand and allows people more social mobility (usually in the working
class) where they can climb up or down the class system, which is often referred to as
embourgiousement. Included in the middle class are the professionals who's numbers have
increased as the welfare state has become more relied upon in society. The shift in the class
structure has meant that, in Savages opinion, professionals make sure that their children get
good education and good jobs by the economic and cultural capital that they possess from
their line of work. In addition, they can self recruit within their organisation making them
become more socially exclusive, according to 'the government's social mobility task force
2009.' This is something that didn't occur before the changing of the social class structure.
In addition, included in the expanding middle class are the managers who aren't quite a
close knit as the professionals and are more likely to have less job security. Although they
mostly have goals for their children wanting them to have a university education they aren't

quite as able to secure them as easily as professionals due having less of a network or
socially exclusive group as professionals. Moreover, Savage argues that many managers
have more social mobility and the option to move upwards and the extremely well paid
super class which was found by sociologists Adonis and Pollard. Another group included in
the middle class is the self employed who are quite a wide range of occupations from
plumbers to artists who have increased in numbers due technology which is another
development that has happened in society and helped to change the class structure in
society. The final group of the expanding middle-class is the white collar workers that when
studies were conducted were often low pay and in poor conditions. Sociologist Braverman
who is a sociologist believes that due to the shift in class structure many of these jobs have
become de-skilled mundane jobs which require little knowledge or education. Its also
argued that 91 percent of white collar workers have no or little control over their work and
marxists Westergaard and Resler argue that white collar workers are more similar to the
working class labourers than part of the middle class. This is due to the poor conditions and
exploitation of the workers.
However, some sociologists claim that the middle class hasn't really expanded and that
according to neo marxist Wright there are only two classes the bourgeoisie and the
proletariat and that even though some workers appear to fit into neither categories and are
overlapping both classes, that there is no such thing a the middle class. In other words,
people are either ruling class or working-class, there is no in-between. On the other hand
sociologist Savage disagrees and say that there definitely is a middle class yet it has been
fragmented into a wide range of divisions based on property, skills and cultural assets which
show that the has been a change in class structure.
The final point that the class structure has changed is the affects that have taken place within
the working class. It is argued that the traditional working class is dwindling which is due to
the development of technology, the decline in manufacturing and globalisation which has
taken a tole on the working-class. The modern working class are thought to go to work just
for the need of money not for job satisfaction which is unlike the traditional working class
who had jobs to last for their life such as coal mining in which many would follow in the
steps of their fathers. In addition a noticeable factor is the change in being a close knit
community to focusing more on family life and being more privatised than previous years. It
is said that the new working-class spend their leisure time with family and within their own
home rather than being in a union which is aware of their social inequalities and sense of
class consciousness. Sociologists Lockwood, Goldthorpe and Crewe state that the new
working-class are often working in new manufacturing industries in the south without a
union or community, benefiting the capitalist society even more and showing a huge shift in
the class system.

Moreover, sociologist Robert argues that an obvious change in class structure is that many
new jobs have been created due to the rise of technology yet they are low paid and under
poor conditions which has become routine where people sit in front of computer screens
every day. In addition the traditional gender roles of the working-class has been
compromised by the change in class structures as since the 1970s where women have been
able to work, not only are men not the main bread-winner of the home any more, but many
men feel their masculinity is depleted when most job vacancies are within the service sector
which is mainly run by women. A study which outlines the change in class structure within
the working class is one which was carried out by McDowell who looked at young workingclass males in the Sheffield and Cambridge area at the 'crisis of masculinity.' The men's
views on masculinity caused their attitudes and goals to change so that they believed
masculinity consisted of waged work which offered low wage and slim chance of upward
mobility.
However, marxists argue that the working class is still a union and a community which
argues that class system hasn't really shifted much. Moreover, Savage argues that people
liked being part of their class as it gave them a sense of normality and 'ordinariness.'
Alternatively, sociologist Vincent argues that there has been a change within the class
structure as members of the working class wanted to be seen as 'respectable' working class
members in London and not the 'roughs' of society which shows a change between the
proud community of the traditional working-class. In addition, Miles says that not only have
the working class become less of a community but due to the UK becoming ethnically
diverse this has created racial divisions within working class which has disrupted the union,
this shows another possible change in the class system. Finally, sociologist Roberts denies
that the working class has acquired a class consciousness and claims that members have
become more disorganised than ever.
In conclusion, although there are studies to suggest that there hasn't been much of a change
in the class structure over previous years, such as the fact that most of the wealth and power
still remains within the hands of the ruling class, the working class are still low paid and
exploited by the upper class whether they're working in manual or non-manual jobs. Much
of the evidence suggests that there is more class mobility in society where members of the
working class can join a middle class job and move to a higher class which is beneficial.
However, although working class jobs have evolved to be less manual, pay has not
increased or become more fair and the rich have been proven to be getting more wealthier,
so whether the change in the class system is positive or negative is debatable, yet there has
been definite change over the past years in the class structure.