Connection Between Class Identity in Society and the Place Essay Example
The essay uses data from the DD102 material to support the claim that there is a connection between class identity in society and the place. From the Capitalistic class system to the modern Meritocratic, the urban organisation changed the working lifestyle, creating new connections between class and place. According to Bourdieu, class was not only economic but cultural and social, all factors that determined socioeconomic status. Sociologists in the 19th century showed the divisions in overpopulated cities between rich and poor and drew connections between class and place. Interviews with people who had belonged in those areas for generations show the changes in classes that created new connections. In modern society, classes connect to place by differences in consumption behaviour, and the 2012 Olympics shows attempts to improve social capital.
Class refers to a system that organises people by dividing them into groups based on interests, behaviour, appearance, and financial disposition. It implies it results from different factors of inequalities in a capitalist society. In the 19th century, Karl Marx connected the position in society with the type of work and lifestyle, naming the proletariat: poor and the bourgeoisie: the wealthy. People's behaviour changed with the decline of industries affecting the traditional working-class family and ended the gender role tradition that created a meritocratic society. In a meritocracy, living standards improve because wages and prices increase every year. Quantitative facts on people's income show that instead, the wealthy earned forty times their proportion in contrast to the poorest (OECD, 2011 cited in Stephanie Taylor, 2014, p. 14).
Earnings show that inequalities still exist in Britain and have become larger. A 2002 scheme maps financial class divisions regarding occupations and consumption of goods and services, concluding that economic and social inequalities function to perpetuate differences and that Britain now has three dominant classes: elite, middle-class, and lower-low (Crompton, 2008, cited in Stephanie Taylor, 2014, p.17). The sociologist Pierre Bourdieu in 1984 extended the idea of 'capital' from its economic meaning to other resources distributed unequally in society. The class position depends on monetary, cultural, and social capital. A group of sociologists worked with the BBC Lab UK in 2011 to develop a class survey based on Bourdieu's approach to social and cultural capital. The qualitative study by Savage and colleagues recognised that new classes also developed from people's consumption habits. (Savage et al., BBC science, 2013, cited in Kath Woodward, 2014, p.190).
Statistic data shows industrialisation made people migrate from the countryside to cities near work, such as Manchester. Historical records from the nineteenth century showed deep social divisions connected to place of living. Friedrich Engels, in 1840, investigated capitalism and the organisation of the city surrounding where the poorest conditions were hidden and isolated from the connections with wealthier class. He wrote about Manchester's uneven social geography, arguing that the capitalist economy created class differences and segregation with cramped, poor housing hidden from the view of the upper-class homes (Engels, cited in Dixon and Hinchliffe,2014, p.90). According to Engels, the divisions created physical and mental barriers that allowed the wealthier to isolate the working class.
Social explorer Charles Booth produced pioneering maps that colour-coded London's streets in line with its fast-changing population. Booth's map highlights the social organisation and changes, including Deptford High Street. In 1899, his map showed a 'well-to-do' community in one of London's poorest areas. The wealthy southern families gave space to skilled workers while the north end deteriorated further until the slums were demolished, and the first public housing was built in the 1930s. Further urban changes forced the connected class to abandon the area in the 1970s. Through the years, social housing replaced tenement housing, whilst the southern section slipped down the poverty scale until this day, and it contains connections between lower-class identities (Booth, 1899, cited in K. Woodward, 2014.p. 47). A trading family on the high street remains today and gives qualitative proof of how the changes affected the neighbourhood; next to where relatives had their shops in Reginald Street, Hale Road has fallen on the social scale. (The Open University, 2022 a).
Portland Road in West London has two districts situated East and West. Wealthy estates were built next to slums, housing pigs and gipsies. Qualitative records show the neighbouring rich and poor remained disconnected on Portland Road. One wealthy resident admits having no connections to the poorer neighbourhood, and another claim there is no reason to mix. Portland Road's social housing community became isolated by the wealthy houses that now have barriers, perpetuating class division based on location (The Open University, 2022 b). Both classes connect differently to the area independently, the wealthier shut themselves away hidden, while their neighbours are constantly reminded of their status. Census data gains people's detailed information and allows social scientists to draw historical maps to compare and to explain why property prices have been increasing, creating inequalities, showing the rich congregate in their own established areas.
Sport is important to the modern economic system as it contributes to the consumer society, which promises a better lifestyle. The London 2012 Olympic games were held in the capital's five poorest districts after the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) showed it was home to the city's most deprived working-class and least involved in sports activity. Regeneration attempts in the '80s, '90s, '00s created an area that was socially polarised, with relative affluence inside an area of poverty. The excessiveness of the Olympic games contrasted with the area, but the Olympics attempted to regenerate this segregated area and to converge it with the rest of London. The 2012 games promised identical socioeconomic possibilities as their wealthier neighbours across London (Woodward 2014, p.47/50). With the creation of new jobs, the games brought new residents to move into the area, which was crucial to convergence. These residents gained employment during the buildings phase. However, employment opportunities did not overcome the economic disparities with other parts of London. The LSE survey shows qualitative data on residents of Newham found the Olympic legacy did not deliver the financial benefits and affordable housing as promised. The survey showed few gained education or jobs from the Olympics and could no longer live there (LSE,2012, cited in Woodward, 2014 p.49). The Olympics show that wealthy migrants can connect to their class in a renovated area.
The growing class differences mean people will pay to live in an area that fits their class and connects places and class through the quality of occupations, education and healthcare. Danny Dorling comments that 'the further away your home is from poor people, the more it'll be worth' (The Open University, 2022 c). People voluntarily segregate themselves from others and live in gated communities because of economic factors. In such groups, fences, gates and safety staff keep the population separated from others. Quantitative research in England in 2003 discovered that over one thousand communities were attracted to such locations (Dixon and Hinchliffe, 2014, p. 96). The European Union (EU) and the Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) publish quantitative data on demographics, along with regular censuses; these are precious 'big data' sources for social scientists. This data does not include specific information; therefore, social scientists use qualitative data to identify trends that comprise experiential questions, particular questionnaires, and interviews to understand the human impact better.
Quantitative and qualitative evidence highlighted the identity connections related to living, with limitations and benefits. With Engels, Booth, and Savage's qualitative and quantitative data, the essay highlighted how people connected with the place of living with historical evidence and drew connections with the changes in society that encouraged social scientists to focus on different capital necessary for positive coexistence. It then supported the claim using interviews that strengthened the links between class identity and location. The Olympic example then highlighted the difficulties of building a more cohesive area to the rest of London and its impact on the class already there that moved out to leave space to the new class that could afford it.
