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How social stratification affects education
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The English writer George Orwell claimed that England is “the most class-ridden country under the sun”. In fact, it appears that not much has altered since the first half of the 20th century. “The classes have changed. But the barriers between them are made of the same clay: money, education, family and occupation.” (a class act) In English education a separation of systems is equal with a separation of classes. (a class act) The system which should provide students with equal opportunities disappoints and creates barriers and obstacles. It is becoming increasingly difficult to neglect the “social apartheid” created among people. This essay will deal with the following aspect of elitism in English educational system. The emphasis will be put on England, notwithstanding, with a regard to the United Kingdom. The first part of the analysis will examine the contrasting attitude towards higher education between privately and comprehensively educated pupils and their chances while applying to the universities. The second part will display students’ feelings and biases considering the most renowned universities. The final level of the analysis will depict the importance of academic roots in case of the United Kingdom’s most influential people.
“Successful is the marriage of money” (a class act) “The spirit level”, the research conducted by Wilkinson and Pickett in 2006, whose aim was to depict the level of equality in several chosen countries in comparison with the United Kingdom. Consequently, the latter was shown in a bad light. With the rising income inequality in the social mobility was almost null, which left United Kingdom far from e.g. Norway, Sweden or Denmark. This state is strictly connected with the educational system in Engl...
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...ssues by Phase: Access to Higher Education
Wilkinson, Richard, and Kate Pickett. "The Spirit Level: Why Equality Is Better for Everyone." (2011): n. pag. 2009. Web. 11 May 2014. .Social Mobility is Higher in More Equal Rich Countries
Wintour, Patrick. "UK's Lack of Social Mobility Is Due to Entrenched Elitism, Says Alan Milburn." Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 06 May 2014. .
"You Are All Too Elitist - Hodge." Times Higher Education. N.p., 28 June 2002. Web. 08 May 2014. .
Young, Toby. "Can Free Schools Deliver a Fairer Society?" (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 06 May 2014. .
In Tokarczyk’s essay, “Promises to Keep: Working Class Students and Higher Education,” she claims that working class students face both academic and institutional barriers in getting college degrees. According to Tokarczyk, working class students usually lack preparation for post-secondary education, which she categorizes as an “academic barrier” (85). Problems such as school policies that are not designed for working class students, peers who are not able to understand the situations that they have, and faculty m...
Lapham’s article was a concise, clear articulation on what school’s really – not learning institutes, but because of the benefits for the wealthy derived from the present system, it may never happen.
As much as society tries to deny the fact that the family that one comes from determines their fate, in almost every case this very fact is true. Today, we see how infants who are born into wealthy families are treated differently than children who are born into drug and disease-stricken poverty. Higher classed people stand out in society on both a local and national level much more than the average middle class working family.
Marshall (2005) identifies that “financial inequality” is not the solitary cause of “social inequality”, but it is often related. She suggests education plays a significant role in ‘class stratification’. Marshall (2005: p1), Part 2:
Social stratification refers to a society’s categorization of its people into rankings of socioeconomic tiers based on factors like wealth, income, race, education, and power (Conley ). In the United States, we use social classes as our social stratification system. Going back to the idea of equality of condition, starting in different social classes is not fair. The underclass doesn’t get a fair chance to move up in social class. An article written by Alana Semuels called Poor at 20, Poor for Life was published in the Atlantic. Semuels considered how social mobility has gone down in recent years. In her article, she states “It’s not an exaggeration: It really is getting harder to move up in America. Those who make very little money in their first jobs will probably still be making very little decades later, and those who start off making middle-class wages have similarly limited paths.” Proving the point that social mobility has become a pipe dream. Overall, social classes provide an invisible barrier that stop people from being able to move social
The myth that Australia is a classless society is still, till this day, circulating. With education opportunities differing, depending on your status in society and socioeconomic background, not all Australians share the same opportunity of education. Whether being a middle class citizen or an “elite” or from working class, all education opportunities offered, will be influenced by your financial status and hierarchy in society. Power can influence the outcome of an individual’s life.
The myth that Australia is a classless society is still, till this day, circulating. With education opportunities differing, depending on your status in society and socioeconomic background, not all Australians share the same opportunity of education. Whether being a middle class citizen or an “elite” or from working class, all education opportunities offered, will be influenced by your financial status and hierarchy in society.
Preventing poverty and improving the school system can help prevent class reproduction, but Macleod argues that, "what is required is the creation of a truly open society--a society where the life chances of those at the bottom are not radically different from those at the top and where wealth is distributed more equitably" (260). Until structural inequality is eliminated, wealth is more evenly distributed, and discrimination between classes ends, social reproduction will be to well known by society.
Lamb, Kevin. "The Problem of Equality". The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies. v20, #4 (Winter 1995) 467-479.
According to Henslin, mobility is the movement of individuals, families and groups from one social position to another (Henslin, 2015, p. 237-239). It can be viewed in terms of distribution of resources and power among the different social stratification and its effect on the people involved. Stratification is a ranking system for groups of people that continue to receive unequal rewards and life chances in society. Through stratification, society categorizes people and distributes valued resources based upon these categories (Henslin, 2015, p190). The social status of a person is determined by his or her work, how much money they have earned, and how they move their way up the social class.
The first difference you see between the middle and working class in education is the selection of primary schools as for some it is the first time they are going to enter into the academic world. At this point the family as a whole are entering into “unfamiliar worlds” (Jackson and Marsden, 1966, page 99) in the process of selecting and applying for schools. The middle class aim is to have their children go to a successful school with a good Ofsted report just like the working class. However it is harder for the working class to get into these schools due to a range of factors. Some of these restricting factors are their knowledge of the system and economic status or wealth; they may not have the facilities for tra...
British society, like many European countries in history, was divided hierarchically. Since the Industrial Revolution, this system has been constantly changing. The new social class structure during the Industrial Revolution brought about four classes: The New Nobel class which was big businesses; upper middle class which consisted of doctors, lawyers and professionals that were financial stable; lower middle class which was teachers, shop owners, and office workers; and the working class which was farmers and factory workers. This structure has caused detrimental effects in our economic system, leading to less wealth
“Social stratification of society, not simply a reflection of individual differences, other one is social stratification is a universal but variable” (Macionis, JJ & Plummer, K 2012, p.190).
References Benson J; Brown M,(2007) Knowledge Workers: what keeps them committed, what turns them away, Work, Employment and Society 21, (1), pp.124. Bernstein B (1961) Language and class, Taylor P ; Richardson Jr J; Yeo, A, (1995), The class structure and educational attainment, Sociology in Focus, pp.298, Ormskirk, Causeway Press. Marsh I; Keating M; Punch S, (2009), Chapter 15, Education, Sociology. Making sense of society, 4th ed, Harlow, Pearson Longman, pp.
Throughout the ages, individuals holding more power within a community generally have a higher standard of living. During 19th century England, for example, while the national wealth increased, it was not evenly, or fairly distributed. “The “average” working man remained very close to subsistence level at a time when he was surrounded by the evidence of the increase of national wealth,” (Thompson). The working class remained in poverty as the fruits of their labor went directly to the powers controlling capitalism in their community. Similar to the economic situation driving poverty in today’s modern society, the rich continued to become richer, yet the average worker’s compensation did not correlate with the level of their labors.