Bruce And John Sociology

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It is the central premise of 28 Up that the trajectory of one’s life may be explained in terms of class. While the impact of institutions such as religion, the family, and education may play a more direct role in the development of the self, class is considered by many to be the ultimate, determinant factor. After all, according to sociologists of the Marxian tradition, economic structures provide the basis for all social phenomena. How then, considering the near-identical class backgrounds of Bruce and John, can these two men come to lead such distinct lives? Despite their socio-economic similarities, differences related to familial structures, education and resultant ethical dispositions will send Bruce and John along a radically different …show more content…

He had lived with his father in Rhodesia during which time he gained an understanding of racial discrimination and inequality. At the age of 7 he expressed his desire to engage in missionary work. The familial structure responsible for Bruce’s socialisation did not ingrain within him the same elitist predilections experienced by John. His direct exposure to injustice, coupled with his divided family, allowed Bruce to engage with ideas beyond the confines of his class. Bruce read mathematics at Oxford, and beforehand attended St Paul’s school. At the age of 14 Bruce stated that “they do not enforce being upper class at St Paul’s” and they commanded you to treat the poor well. He eventually became a public school teacher within a poor suburb of London. When asked about private education Bruce asserted that “there is a class society” and that “private schools may help its continuance”. His decision to work in a public school may also be explained in terms of his religiosity. Bruce has, throughout all stages of his life, identified as a devout Christian. It has been argued by many social theorists that religion is simply a means of distracting the oppressed masses from the true nature of their conditions so as to solidify political and economic stratification. However, religion, according to Karl Marx, is “at once the

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