MUSICAL CHAIRS?
Social class, unemployment and welfare
Norman Rose: Recruitment Society “There is an element of snobbery which says, ‘I’ve got these qualifications, I’m too good’, “People think because they have a degree or a qualification they should not go for anything other than their line of expertise.”
It’s August 2016 You have graduated, but are not employed Would you work at Poundland?
Today 1.
Returning to class and stratification
2.
Poverty and unemployment
3.
From welfare to workfare
Progressing in social divisions
This module focuses on the distinction between social differences and divisions and considers responses to these divisions
In this lecture we examine social class as a social difference and unemployment/poverty as a form of division
In addition, we consider changes in the welfare state as a ‘classed’ response to this social division
Today’s key questions 1.
2.
What do we mean by class and how does this relate to stratification?
Why are some people unemployed and others not?
Returning to class
Stratification There are differences and divisions between individuals within society
Definitions of class provide an explanation of why stratification occurs
Class structures
Social class is (was?) at the core of sociological explanations of social stratification
Class is regarded as a structural influence that produces social patterns and influences human behaviour
However, there is considerable debate around class, primarily - Is class determined by economics (structure) or cultural lifestyle (agency)?
Class: Competing definitions Anthony Giddens (2013, p.485) “Although is a contested concept, a general definition is that a class is a large scale grouping of people who share common economic resources, which strongly influence the type of lifestyle they are able to lead” Kate Fox, Watching the English (2005) “class in England has nothing to do with money, and very little to do with occupation”
Talking in class “Utter any one of these ‘seven deadly sins’ in the presence of these higher classes, and their on-board class-radar devices will start bleeping and flashing: you will immediately be demoted to middle-middle class, at best, probably lower – and in some cases automatically classified as working class” (Fox, pp.77-78)
When you can't hear what someone has said, do you say…? a) Pardon
b) Sorry
Do you go to the…? a) Toilet
b)Loo
c) Lavatory
d) Bog
When you need to wipe your mouth at meal time, do you use a…? a) Serviette
b) Napkin
c)Hand
Your evening meal is called a…? a) Tea
b) Dinner
c)Supper
In the social space in your house, do you sit on the…? a) Settee
b) Couch
c)Sofa
d) Floor
c)Sitting room
d)Drawing room
This social space is called a…? a) Lounge
b)Living room
At the end of your evening meal you might eat…? a)Pudding
b) Sweet
c)Dessert
e) Dunny
Pardon
Toilet
Tea
Napkin
Settee
Lounge
Does any of this matter?
Class as division and as identity
Karl Marx and Max Weber argued that class is a form of social division whereby stratification occurred because of injustices within social structures
Cultural notions of class do not carry the same kind of antagonism, and tend to soften our sense of injustice by offering a point of identification as a point of social difference
So, do differences in class culture lead to social divisions?
Class socialisation 
Class cultures are constructed through our socialisation into our environments

Whilst the capacity to transform this identity exists, we tend to reproduce our environment, and the economic factors within it
Teaching class
French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) argued that class positions are ‘taught’ from an early age
Bourdieu labelled the acquisition of class characteristics ‘cultural capital’
Cultural capital is expressed in everything from taste to thought process, language and expression of emotions
Cultural capital is most powerfully seen in the social skills and resources (including knowledge) that provide social advantages
Poor children, poor adults?
According to the ‘Foundation Years: Preventing Poor Children becoming Poor Adults’ report of 2010:
Middle class children have heard 33 million words by the time they have reached school Working class children have heard 10 million Wealthier children from ‘stable homes’ will have heard 440,000 more positive comments by the age of 3
The report suggests that there is a ‘poverty cycle’ that is reproduced through ‘poor’ parenting
This cycle is not necessarily related to income, but to the lifestyles and attitudes of the parents – social class
It’s August 2016 You’re employed by a child poverty charity
What recommendations would you be making about breaking the ‘poverty cycle?’
On your Marx 
Karl Marx argued that capitalism was inherently exploitative and the accumulation of wealth would automatically lead to the accumulation of misery

For Marx, class is created in the contradiction between the interests of those who controlled production and those who sold their labour
Economic class structures
The capitalist economy produced two ‘great classes’ The
bourgeoisie are those who control of production and thus have the ability to reproduce themselves outside of their own labour
By
contrast, the proletariat are those with nothing to sell but their labour (and bodies) and are exploited because of unequal access to productive resources
Here class is determined by economics, although different cultures might emerge between classes
Australia
Poverty
Poverty as division
Poverty returns us to key questions of structure vs. agency: Are
people poor/unemployed because of ‘personal characteristics’, or structural issues?
If
it is structural, is it ‘economic’ or ‘cultural’?
Our answers to these questions influence our responses, particularly in political decisions
Poverty in Britain
Absolute poverty, living at subsidence level, is extremely rare in modern Britain, but relative poverty is measure at 60% of the national median income
Relative poverty or ‘living below the poverty’ line does occur: officially 42% of children live below this line in Tower Hamlets
Poverty has a significant affect on life chances, including health outcomes, lack of access to services and educational achievements
Chasing out the poor
Approximately 1/3 of Londoners live in poverty
One of the primary causes of poverty is unemployment or low wages (poverty wages)
It is estimated that Londoners need £8.80ph to live – in 2013 18% of jobs in London paid less than this
Moreover, as the cost of living rises relative to wages, deprivation rises
Unemployment
Unemployment
Changes in employment status are a significant factor in determining poverty
Unemployment is a specifically capitalist concept – it relies on the possibility of selling labour to be employed
Measuring unemployment is highly political as a large proportion of the population is not employed but not ‘unemployed’
To be unemployed means you have to be ‘actively’ looking for work
NEETS
Inequalities in employment status affect some groups far more than others
One particularly concerning category is ‘NEETS’, or not in employment, education or in training (aged from 16 to 24)
955,000, or 13% those 16-24 in the UK, are NEETS
About half were looking for jobs and unemployed, others were economically ‘inactive’
Youth unemployment has become a matter of global concern
Spain 56% Greece 65% Egypt 77% Somali 75%
Do you worry about being unemployed?
What are the main causes of unemployment amongst your peers?
Where have all jobs gone?
Manufacturing employment in the UK has fallen from 7 million in 1979 to 2.83 in 2009 (Chavs, 2012, p.35).
This trend has occurred across the Western world as both ‘developing’ and ‘developed’ economies restructured to take advantage of cheaper labour costs
These shifts have had a significant impact on the working classes and our perception of them
The end of the working class?
Rapidly decreases in traditional working class jobs has weakened identifications with ‘working-class culture’
The security of these roles has been replaced by lower-paid and status roles in the service industry
These changes have led to a shift in the way we understand class structures and understand poverty
Outside of the socially mobile 
Rather than blame the system, individualistic approaches insist on the agency of the poor

Class is assumed to be chosen rather than fixed: we have the capacity to change our approach to stratification

If economic inequality exists, it is justified as long as there is social mobility between class groupings
(un)Deserving poor “It's not PC to say it but there are 'undeserving poor'. There are people who abuse the system, sub-let their Council houses, claim benefits they are not entitled to, won't work because they are too lazy, have plenty money to cover all their needs or are plain criminals. They get the 'deserving' poor a bad name. But they are protected as much as the deserving poor - because nobody has called them out. They skew the statistics; they make the budgets bigger; they are having a laugh frankly, at all our expense, but mostly at the expense of those who can least afford it.� Mary Roche, 2009, Councillor, Waterford Council
Dependency culture
The agency approach came to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s as Western welfare states came under pressure
Governments and populist ideology came to focus on the ‘lifestyles’ of the poor
Charles Murray (1984) argued that a dependency culture had developed whereby state support creates a subculture defined by a lack of personal ambition
This idea has become particularly popular with the conservative popular press in Britain
A dependent sub-class?
Beyond (or because of) the media, there has emerged a strong ideological belief that a culture has developed whereby people ‘choose’ a life of crime, welfare and illegitimate ‘breeding’
Alternatively, it is argued that a structural ‘poverty trap’ reproduces underclass conditions and excludes people from society
In each sense there is a large and social excluded grouping with little social mobility, what changes is the sociological explanations and political responses
See: Prideaux SJ (2010). The welfare politics of Charles Murray are alive and well in the UK International Journal of Social Welfare 19: 293–302 Wiggan, J (2013)Telling stories of 21st century welfare: The UK Coalition government and the neo-liberal discourse of worklessness and dependency. Critical Social Policy. 32, 3. 383-405. .
Chav hatred
A common name that has emerged for the ‘undeserving poor’ is ‘Chav’
Owen Jones (2010) has argued that Chav has become a point of hatred for the upper and middle class
Moreover, he argues that class is the only cultural characteristic that can be openly mocked
Jones suggests that this resentment is a continuation of the traditional mocking of the poor by the upper class
Why might ‘Chavs’ attract such negative emotions?
Welfare
The welfare state
State welfare systems emerged in the 20th century as systemised way of responding to poverty and meeting the basic needs of citizens
The welfare state is a redistribution of wealth to the poorest and is at the core of taxation debates
Welfare states also fit into modernist ideals of progress and the ‘decent society’ and sat within a widespread expansion of the state
Help and injustice
There are two defining assumptions of the welfare state:
That our economic structures have a tendency to exclude some people, who will need help to survive and re-enter society;
That society as a whole has a responsibility towards these people.
The latter can be for social stability or social justice
Universal benefits 
One of the key debates is whether welfare should be universal or dependent upon social position

Moreover, should the provision of welfare come with conditions (for the tax payer)?
From welfare to workfare
In order to tackle the perceived dependency culture, welfare systems in the west have increased moved to ‘workfare’
Workfare systems emphasis personal responsibility and ‘making work pay’
‘Positive welfare’ and ‘rights and responsibilities’
The assumption is that individuals are rational and will choose not to work if welfare benefits are sufficient
Blaming the Poor
There have been a number of recent changes in the British welfare state:
A ‘universal credit’ replaces six different income-related benefits
Capping total benefits at $26,000 per year (the median household income)
The ‘Bedroom tax’
Benefit restrictions (being forced to accept job offers)
Do you agree?
So‌
What are the primary causes of unemployment in the UK and what should be done about them?
Next Week Check your Privilege From elitism to equality READING Stanworth, P. (2006) Elites. In Payne, G. (2006) Social Divisions (2nd Ed.), Basingstoke: Macmillan. Jones, O (2014) Introduction. In The Establishment. London: Penguin.
The assessment Students are to select ONE of the themes from weeks 2-5 and apply it to a context that they have experienced, either directly or indirectly.
The purpose of this assessment is for students to apply academic literature to understand a personal experience or context. There are three sections to this assessment: Describe the experience or context for the selected theme (maximum 100 words) Discuss how the main debates within the relevant academic literature can help you to critically analyse and understand this experience (800 words)
Identify three questions this assessment raises for you in regards to the experience/context identified (maximum 100 words)