inequality and class

feminism

Feminist as a theory do not research too much into class as they focus on gender however..

Liberal feminists look at it through the workplace , women and men from working class are both exploited

Dworkin (Radical Feminist) - women form a gender class , it is below working class as they are heavily opressed as a group

Marxist feminists – highlight the inequality women face at working class from capitalism – Dunscome and Marsden triple shift

criticisms

A lot of early feminism was written by middle class women – they did not look at the position of working class women

Feminists look at intersectionality – which puts class under the umbrella of inequality – Age , Gender , Class , Ethnicity

Feminists highlight that inequality happens for both sexes in the working class , however women are far more likely to face inequality

postmodernism

Class is something that is structured around modernity , postmodernists reject the idea of class

Postmodernists see instead social groups

A Postmodernist society is seen as a group of individuals who are a 'state of being'

Pakulski and Waters (1996) discuss that class is pointless

Postmodernists suggest that inequality is divided into different aspects such as economic , power and prestige - similar to Weberian

critisms

Statistical evidence shows that class is evident when discussing inequality

Although the lines may be blurred there are classes , Working class have distinct characteristics

Inequality happens to classes

It is very theoretical , there isn't much evidence behind it

new right

Class division is natural and just a process of society

See society as meritocratic , the best people get to live in the upper class because they’ve worked hard

Inequality is justified as it is a tool to pressure members of society into working harder similar to functionalist

saunders

(1984) class positions depends on the amount of resilience an individual has

It also relies on how much someone relies on the state for support

Someone who has private healthcare , a good income and doesn’t require any support can be seen as higher class

The underclass and working class are of a lower class because they rely heavily on state intervention

Saunders (2010) later says that there is social mobility and those who are poorer it is their own fault for their inequality as they do not work hard enough and rely on this consumption cleavage

Charles Murray - underclass

1996) suggests that the poorest members of society who face inequality is warranted

His idea of the underclass is often debated amongst sociologists

This class is based on reliance and support from the government (Benefits)

These people have different values from the rest of society (Parsons Value Consensus)

Underclass are criminals and don't want to work so deserve the inequality that they face

criticisms

Consumer Cleavage is a difficult theory to use as often working class have support from government to subsidies working – IE working childcare credits

New right blames the poor for poverty – a lot of social factors

Statistical evidence is hard to identify the underclass with shared norms and values

It implies that all crime and negative attitudes in society are a result of poverty