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Sociological Explanations Of Social Status

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Social status is the position of a person or family, within the society. A person can earn their social status by their own achievements, which is known as achieved status, which can be achieved through education, occupation or marital status. Alternatively; your social class would be based on sex, age, race, family relationships, or birth which is known as ascribed status. People of the UK now fit into seven social classes, which research conducted by the BBC suggest; “More than 161,000 people took part in the Great British Class Survey, the largest study of class in the UK.” (BBC, 2013)
• Elite- the most privileged group in the UK, distinct from the other six classes through its wealth.
• Established middle class- the second wealthiest,
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Our social class or the way we act tend to affect the ways in which we are treated by teachers; by the police; by friends; by employers; by sexual partners; and by many others in society. When people treat others differently cause of their class, this is form of a personal discrimination or stereotyping and is done without getting to know a person first. It can also take the form of structural discrimination as explained by D, HILL “Taking place on a systematic, repetitive, embedded nature within particular social structures such as schooling, housing, employment, credit agencies.” (Hill, 2016) Social class is argued to influence a child or a young person education because the people who are in a lower social status are not able to afford private education. Private education is thought to be better for a child, as it has far fewer pupils in each class compared to local authority schools. Higher education is also harder for a child that is not from a higher social status family, as poorer families that need the extra money or have seen their child benefits cut due to the child reaching the age of 18 tend to feel pushed to go from education straight to paid work. “There were 3.9 million children living in poverty in the UK in 2014-15, that’s 9 children in a classroom of 30.” (2016, 2000) Or they do not do as well in higher education because to afford to live, they still need to earn money while studying. Higher education is the key path to a better paid occupation and if not able to attend due to worries like money, childcare or your school test results it will be a lot harder to find above minimum wage
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