Social class is measured by educational level, income or occupational status

Reproduction-you are more likely to belong to the same social class as your parents Mobility-a part of the population will move up or down on the social ladder

ORIGIN(parental income & occupational status) DESTINATION (your income & occupational status) EDUCATION (your level of education)

Karl Marx (again) brief history of class conflict- INDUSTRIALIZATION-machines replaced human labour,creates poverty & social unrest which lead to lower wages, high unemployment rates & poor working conditions. Workers organized in protest against their situation. Since the government feared their revolution, they seriously considered the workers interests

2 western strageties to resolve class conflict-**MERITOCRACY=weakning the boundaries between socio-economic classes by increasing social mobility (equal opportunity) REDISTRIBUTION**-reducing inequalites by redistributing income from higher to lower classes (equal outcomes, skewness)

The western system stratification is justified by MERISTOCRACY-where you are in society is the result of your own skill & effort. You are stratified into and educational trajectory based on expected capacity, derived from standarized tests

Meritocraces aim to eliminate the reproduction of social class in capitalist democracies by IMPROVING ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION

to some extent they have succeeded-after WO2 educational levels have risen & social mobility increased. High class occupations (are less revered compared to some generations ago)

however, the link between origin & destination has remained stable since the 1990s. Social reproduction now occurs via the educational system= NEW CLASS RELATED DIVIDES=increased social distance between educational groups

Finally, the reward structure behind the meritocracy is sometimes difficult to justify-does a banker really deserve more than a carpetner

The meritocracy works as a belief system= in order to erode class identites, the public must believe that the system works-our consequences of this belief is the greater individual responsibility for your socio economic position in society

THE WELFARE STATE-central in the idea of class conflict, it also considered the result of negotiations between organized interests of workers & employers

FUNCTIONS OF THE WELFARE STATE=built on principles of worker solidarity and universal income protection. It aims to maximize PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT and ELIMINATE POVERTY in 3 ways= Worker protection, horizontal redistribution, vertical redistribution

WORKER PROTECTION-minimum wage, employmet protection legislation, working conditions legislation

biggest job of the welfare-equalize income but to reduce life course inequalities-unemploymet benefits, pension savings, health insurence

Reducing inequalities between social classes by destributing income-progressive income tax, means-tested supplements , social housing

RETRENCHEMENT OF THE WELFRARE STATE=the welfare state has faced budget constriants and employment protection was ruining market funcitoning. 1)activating and targeted benefits 2)more flexible employment

welfare politics have created NEW INTEREST GROUPS-benefiters such as pensioners. a generational divide is looming, also in attitudes towards the welfare state

new generations face greater DEBTS due to housing costs and study loans. Welfare arrangements such as pensions and social assistance are being RETRENCHED

Increasing number of precarious workers=volatile income(0 hours contract), minimal job protection(accident insurance, employee rights), welfare exclusion(unemmployment rights)

much of the class inequalities have become GLOBALIZED as multinational corporations export production to low-wage countries

GLOBALIZATION as a double edged swored-increses the negotiation power of multinational companies, limits the autonomy of the nation-state