Is Britain A Class-Less Society Analysis

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Recommended: Postmodernism and its effects on society

Use two texts from the module to consider whether Britain today is or is not a class-less society.

Class is a ‘system of ordering society whereby people are divided into sets based on perceived social or economic factors.’ When considering whether or not Britain runs a class system one must consider its political system, being Capitalism in this case. Capitalism is ‘an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.’ It is according to Marxist readings that Britain today is a society that is based entirely upon class as there is …show more content…

We live in a world in which diversity, flexibility, choice and consumption is encouraged. For instance this is shown through the variety of jobs one can have in his/hers lifetime. Nazneen in Brick Lane starts a part-time job making garments in bulks using her sewing machine. Whilst Robert tends to portray himself as someone who is still experimenting with his job role as a doctor; so much so that he claims to be the authority. The old you according to postmodernists is your class, your family background and the area where you may live; yet the new you is about designer labels, the right clothing, music and cars. Both texts do not look at Britain from such a perspective; instead they look upon Marxists readings in greater depth. ‘Postmodernism points out that the genres through which we describe the brutal ‘facts’ of history set the terms for how we read our collective’s past legacy.’ Thus suggesting that in terms of class that the rich may stay rich and the poor may stay poor but one can play around with the idea and suggest ways for it to not be the case but it will always be like that as you cannot possibly ‘escape from it.’ Capitalism will always exist but individuals begin to distance themselves from class. Although in Brick Lane Nazneen’s family is portrayed as a working class family who live in an estate and Christopher in Blue/Orange as the underclass because of his African Caribbean background- postmodernists would argue that this view is entirely outdated. Society is forming a global culture in which beliefs are being shared around the world and consumption is becoming the central feature of our lives. Society is so very fragmented now that the upper class and working class have almost merged into one. Musical tastes are shared and appreciated and designer labels have become available to many. However it can be argued although class

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