Fiona Devine

A new model of social class? Findings from the BBC's Great British Class Survey experiment

The social scientific analysis of social class is attracting renewed interest given the accentuation of economic and social inequalities throughout the world. The most widely validated measure of social class, the Nuffield class schema, developed in the 1970s, was codified in the UK’s National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC) and places people in one of seven main classes according to their occupation and employment status. This principally distinguishes between people working in routine or semi-routine occupations employed on a ‘labour contract’ on the one hand, and those working in professional or managerial occupations employed on a ‘service contract’ on the other. However, this occupationally based class schema does not effectively capture the role of social and cultural processes in generating class divisions. We analyse the largest survey of social class ever conducted in the UK, the BBC’s 2011 Great British Class Survey, with 161,400 web respondents, as well as a nationally representative sample survey, which includes unusually detailed questions asked on social, cultural and economic capital. Using latent class analysis on these variables, we derive seven classes. We demonstrate the existence of an ‘elite’, whose wealth separates them from an established middle class, as well as a class of technical experts and a class of ‘new affluent’ workers. We also show that at the lower levels of the class structure, alongside an ageing traditional working class, there is a ‘precariat’ characterised by very low levels of capital, and a group of emergent service workers. We think that this new seven class model recognises both social polarisation in British society and class fragmentation in its middle layers, and will attract enormous interest from a wide social scientific community in offering an up-to-date multi-dimensional model of social class.

Hollowing out of the welfare state and social capital

Social capital has become an increasingly popular concept within some academic and government circles as a means of exploring how communities can embark upon a process of civic renewal by establishing bridges of reciprocity between community members from diverse social and cultural backgrounds. In this article we place the popularity of social capital within the historical context of the ‘hollowing out of the welfare state’. This allows us to highlight four interrelated problems that hollowing out processes pose for the establishment of social capital in the UK today.

Is Social Mobility Really Declining? Intergenerational Class Mobility in Britain in the 1990s and the 2000s

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on social mobility in contemporary Britain among economists and sociologists. Using the 1991 British Household Panel Survey and the 2005 General Household Survey, we focus on the mobility trajectories of male and female respondents aged 25-59. In terms of absolute mobility, we find somewhat unfavourable trends in upward mobility for men although long-term mobility from the working class into salariat positions is still in evidence. An increase in downward mobility is clearly evident. In relation to women, we find favourable trends in upward mobility and unchanging downward mobility over the fourteen-year time period. With regard to relative mobility, we find signs of greater fluidity in the overall pattern and declining advantages of the higher salariat origin for both men and women. We consider these findings in relation to the public debate on social mobility and the academic response and we note the different preoccupations of participants in the debate. We conclude by suggesting that the interdisciplinary debate between economists and sociologists has been fruitful although a recognition of similarities, and not simply differences in position, pushes knowledge and understanding forward.

Professional Work and Professional Careers in Manchester's Business and Financial Sector

This paper examines professional work and professional careers and the extent to which professionals face change, uncertainty and risk in their careers. The key issue is whether the power and privilege of the professions is being undermined. It draws on research from Manchesters business and financial sector including accountancy, law, actuarial work and corporate finance. Interviews with senior partners and managers in a range of organisations indicate that important changes in the professions are taking place including diversification, inter-professional competition, organisational change and specialisation. There has also been a change in relationships with clients and an intensification of work. Interviews with junior professionals show that job mobility is high in the early career although most envisaged staying with one organisation for the majority of their careers. Hours of work were long but not necessarily seen as onerous. They were well remunerated in commanding high salaries at a relatively young age with the prospect of greatly enhanced rewards in the future. Few had experiences of redundancy and none of unemployment although the consensus of opinion was that the professions are no longer a job for life. Perceptions of insecurity were greater than experiences of it. It is argued that the privilege and power of the professions can only be understood in the context of the organisations in which they are employed and the political economy in which those organisations operate. Increased economic competitiveness has led to changes in professional work but professionals continue to enjoy advantaged careers in the labour market.

On Social Class, Anno 2014

This article responds to the critical reception of the arguments made about social class in Savage et al. (2013). It emphasises the need to disentangle different strands of debate so as not to conflate four separate issues: (a) the value of the seven class model proposed; (b) the potential of the large web survey – the Great British Class Survey (GBCS) for future research; (c) the value of Bourdieusian perspectives for re-energising class analysis; and (d) the academic and public reception to the GBCS itself. We argue that, in order to do justice to the full potential of the GBCS, we need a concept of class which does not reduce it to a technical measure of a single variable and which recognises how multiple axes of inequality can crystallise as social classes. Whilst recognising the limitations of what we are able to claim on the basis of the GBCS, we argue that the seven classes defined in Savage et al. (2013) have sociological resonance in pointing to the need to move away from a focus on class boundaries at the middle reaches of the class structure towards an analysis of the power of elite formation.

The changing relationship between origins, education and destinations in the 1990s and 2000s

This paper examines the changing relationship between origins, education and destinations in mobility processes. The meritocracy thesis suggests the relationships between origins and education and between origins and destination will weaken while the relationship between education and destinations will strengthen. Comparing data from the 1991 British Household Panel Survey and the 2005 General Household Survey, we test these associations for men and women. We find that the relationship between origins and education and origins and destinations has weakened for both sexes. While these findings are supportive of the meritocracy thesis, they are not, however, evidence of a secular trend towards merit-based selection. Contrary to the thesis, we also find the association between education and destinations has weakened for men and women. The relationship between education and destinations is more complicated than is often assumed and the role of meritocratic and non-meritocratic factors in occupational success needs to be better understood.

Taking the next step: class, resources and educational choice across the generations

Most young people in the UK now stay on in education or training when they finish school. Numbers will continue to increase following the implementation of raising the participation age. Despite an upward trend in further education participation, young peoples pathways continue to be shaped by class and gender. This paper explores the choices and decisions made by young people in their final year of compulsory schooling and describes how these class and gender inequalities are reproduced. We also spoke to parents about their own trajectories and their involvement in guiding their childrens next steps. Our concern is with young people in ‘the middle’: not most at risk of social exclusion, but certainly not the most privileged. The decisions at this key transitional point are socially embedded. Processes of class reproduction and class mobility are dependent upon both structural context and access to advantageous resources. The opportunity structures for our participants were very different for the two generations. We note the wider role that social resources play at this moment, and the classed differences between the children of parents who had experienced some upward mobility and those who had remained in working-class positions.

Affluent workers revisited : privatism and the working class

Privatism and the working class geographical mobility sociability with kin sociability with neighbours sociability with fellow workers conjugal roles leisure aspirations and social perspectives industrial and political perspectives.

The Future of Regional Cities in the Information Age: The Impact of Information Technology on Manchester’s Financial and Business Services Sector

Castells identifies two potential consequences of the introduction of information technology into the workplace: dispersal of the workforce and individualization of work, including the spread of teleworking. Such tendencies would undermine one of the rationales for cities: bringing large numbers of people together in order to choreograph their work. Has information technology had the impact that Castells suggests? Evidence from interviews with members of the financial and business services sector in central Manchester is used to test Castells’ claim about the effects of information technology on work and workers.The interviewees reveal that, despite changes in working practices resulting from heavy investment in information technologies, the potency of formal and informal face-to-face interaction to generate cohesion and trust, and maintain competitiveness, encourages firms to locate in the city centre and curtails the attraction of teleworking.

Doing social science

Looking critically at nine examples of recent research, Doing Social Science gives a thorough yet accessible examination of how research is planned, carried out, recorded and analysed in real life situations. The book covers core and new areas of social science, with each chapter looking at a different contemporary study that taps into a key aspect of modern everyday life. Diverse and globally relevant, these studies include themes from on-line gaming and news interviews, to post-colonial life and Goth subculture. The book relates the theory behind such social issues to the methods being used, as it gives critical evaluation alongside careful explanation and invaluable advice. Showing how the choice and use of particular methods and techniques can critically shape the findings of social science research, the authors also explain how to deal with complex research issues