Britain's Seven-Class Structure and Upward Mobility Limits

Introduction: Class Structure in Modern Britain

Great Britain has always possessed a rigid class structure with few chances for upward mobility. In modern times, however, class structure has received a significant face-lift. Instead of the traditional three-tier model, a seven-tier class structure is now in place, measured across social, cultural, and economic dimensions. Class within British society is therefore not categorized solely by how much money a person has, but also by how socially and culturally active they are. There is ongoing debate about whether class plays as important a role in British society today as it did in the past. Evidence suggests that it does, and that the more money and influence a person has, the more likely they are to succeed and receive greater opportunities — undermining the notion that class no longer significantly shapes a person's future.

The Seven Social Classes Explained

In contemporary Britain, social class in the United Kingdom is divided into seven distinct groups. In fact, only about 39% of people in Britain fit the traditional categories of upper class, middle class, and working class. The seven-class model uses distinct labels, with the elite at the top and the lowest class termed the precariat — a word derived from "precarious," "poor," and "proletariat."

The elite class holds the highest social standing in Britain. People in this class possess the greatest wealth and the highest levels of all three capitals — economic, social, and cultural. Below them is the established middle class, the second wealthiest group. This is the largest and most sociable class group, scoring highly across all three capitals and particularly high in cultural capital. Next is the technical middle class, one of several new classes that are small in number. Members of this group score high in economic terms but low in cultural and social capital; they tend toward social isolation and cultural apathy.

Below the technical middle class are the new affluent workers — a young group that is both culturally and socially active, with average levels of economic capital. The traditional working class scores low across all forms of capital but is not entirely deprived, as members tend to hold moderately high property values. The emergent service workers rank below this group; they score low in economic capital but high in cultural and social capital. Finally, the precariat — the lowest class — scores low on all capitals and faces the highest levels of deprivation.

Social and Cultural Capital as Class Determinants

Although these classes are not determined solely by job title and income, they remain limiting in terms of the opportunities and quality of education available to people within them. Research in this area is still developing: "To gain clarity on causes of and barriers to reducing social inequalities in health, social epidemiologists will need to generate improved theoretical frameworks and the necessary data to test and refine them" (Krieger, 2001, p. 30).

In an article by Stephens, Markus, and Fryberg, the authors discuss the sociocultural self-model. First, this model hypothesizes that distinct characteristics — such as individual talents — and organizational conditions — such as access to resources — function as symbiotic forces that mutually constitute each other and are best understood together. "Second, the sociocultural self-model recognizes that both individual characteristics and structural conditions indirectly influence behavior through the selves that emerge in the situation" (Stephens, Markus, and Fryberg, 2012, p. 723). Applying this lens to British class structure suggests that talent alone cannot enable movement between classes; structural conditions must also be considered.

Another body of research examined six themes relevant to understanding social class: "(a) gender, time, and the division of labor in the home; (b) paid work: too much or too little; (c) maternal employment and child outcomes; (d) work-family conflict; (e) work, family, stress, and health; and (f) work-family policy" (Bianchi and Milkie, 2010, p. 705). These topics illustrate the continuing effect of class in Britain. Although people are no longer measured on income alone, various factors still limit a person's standing in — and choices within — British society. For example, the concepts of Maximally Maintained Inequality (MMI) and Effectively Maintained Inequality (EMI) argue that educational disparities tend to persist regardless of expansion, because those from more privileged class backgrounds are better positioned to access superior schools. They are "better placed to take up the new educational opportunities that expansion affords (MMI) and to secure for themselves qualitatively better kinds of education at any given level (EMI)" (Boliver, 2010, p. 229).

Conclusion: Persistent Barriers in British Class Structure

Although some may argue that Britain's new class structure has erased the most limiting and archaic notions of class from previous eras, significant barriers remain. People with greater wealth continue to enjoy greater advantages, and people born into established families tend to marry others from similar backgrounds. Prejudice persists, and lower-class individuals face restricted opportunities for growth and advancement. The prospect of entering a higher class remains remote for those born into the lower tiers, and upward mobility — while theoretically possible — remains the exception rather than the rule in British society.

References

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Bianchi, S. and Milkie, M. (2010). Work and family research in the first decade of the 21st century. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72(3), pp. 705–725.

Boliver, V. (2010). Expansion, differentiation, and the persistence of social class inequalities in British higher education. High Educ, 61(3), pp. 229–242.

Holden, C., Kilkey, M., and Ramia, G. (2011). Social policy review. Policy Press, Bristol.

Krieger, N. (2001). Theories for social epidemiology in the 21st century: an ecosocial perspective. International Journal of Epidemiology, 30(4), pp. 668–677.

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Stephens, N., Markus, H., and Fryberg, S. (2012). Social class disparities in health and education: reducing inequality by applying a sociocultural self-model of behavior. Psychological Review, 119(4), pp. 723–744.