It can feel like the media is obsessed with class. But what does it mean in today’s society and has our attitude towards it changed?
It’s a question highlighted by cabinet office plans to discern job hunters class in order to get those from poor backgrounds into top roles. They hope to address issues of inequality in the civil service, but their action also raises interesting questions over how we define class and whether old distinctions still apply.
In the BBC’s 2013 Great British Class survey a total of seven distinct classes were discovered. But has it changed since then? Arguably class divisions are getting worse: the new chair of the UK’s equalities watchdog warned Britain can expect widening social divisions unless the government takes urgent action to tackle deep-rooted inequalities. It’s been claimed that as inequality increases there is a new level of snobbery, with class judgments more personally derogatory.
What do you think? Is the system as entrenched as ever or have old distinctions been abandoned? Are class judgements now much harsher? What does class mean to you and does it affect your life? Is it now much harder to move between classes? Does what school you went to matter or is it about the job you do? Are we now more obsessed than ever with it? Is class is actually relevant for people? Share your views via the form below.
