Facts about British society
The British society is determinated in a traditional
class
system.
Upper
class ---
middle class ---
working class
More differentiated :
Upper class ---
upper middle ---
lower middle ---
working ---
lower
Factors which are important for the determination :
•
Birth
•
Education
•
Occupation
•
Income
•
Housing
•
Life
– style
•
Language
Upper Class :
•
Mainly
aristocracy and landowners
•
Only
4000 members
•
Aristocracy
is divided in
o
The
nobility ; politically represented in the house of
Lords
o
The
landed gentry ; „Baronets and „Knights“ ,
they are the ideal „country gentleman“ who own
and administer land
Upper
middle class :
•
Managers,
civil servants businessmen
•
Has
became a very important stratum in
society
•
Has a
lot of influence in politic, administration and civil
service
Lower
middle class :
•
Lesser
officials, owners of small businesses, office workers,
skilled workers like builders and electricians
•
Biggest
stratum of British society
•
Most
expanding group in Britain
Working
class :
•
factory
workers, waiters, shop assistants, the so called semi
– skilled
•
cleaners,
rubbish collectors, farm – labourers, the unskilled
•
close
family and community ties
•
more
separatet from from the other goups than in other countries
•
„us
against them“ attitude towards the other groups
•
today
this group is hardest hit by unemployment ; many must join
the lower class
Lower
class :
•
unemployed,
the elderly, the disabled, unsupported mothers, casual
labourers
•
low paid
•
one
third lives below the poverty line
•
many
West Indians
•
depending
on state benefits
The
lifestyle also shows the class differences. There are three
groups which can be distinguished :
•
The Rich
and the Upper – class lifestyle
•
The Well
– to – do and the Middle Class Lifestyle
•
The Poor
and the Working class lifestyle
Britain
is also a multi
– racial society
Comment
:
Today
the British society is still divided in social classes.
There are the upper class, the middle class and the working
class. If you want you can split up the middle class in
upper – and lower middle class and the working class
in working and lower. So you have five social groups to
distinguish.
To determinate these groups there are some important
factors like birth, income, occupation or education, for
example.
What you can see is that the number of workers has declined
from 75% in 1900 to 30% in 1990. Simoultaneously the middle
classes have largely grown because of the increase of
office workers and the people occupied in the tertiary
sector, the service industries.
Characteristic of the British society is the hard line of
haves and havenots. 1/5 of all wealth is concentrated in
the hands of the riches ( 1% of population).
So in people’s lifestyle the class differences can
most clearly be seen. There are three income groups to
distinguish.
At first there are the „Rich
and the upper class lifestyle“.
Many of them live in big country houses, they have double
barrel names, play cricket, rugby, do horse ridingand
skiing. Also of importance is to go to elite public schools
and universities.
The super riches do regattas or horse races. All in all
luxury
The
„Well – to – do and the middle class life
style“ is the
second group. Mostly both parents work, they have two cars,
and can spend their holidays abroad. These group is also
very ambitious about the education of their children.
Sometimes they make enormous financial sacrifices to send
their child to public school. They prefer to live in modern
suburbs and avoid contact with coloured immigrants
The third group is the „poor
and the working class lifestyle“.
They live in terraced houses, ofen a council house close to
their neighbours and mix easily with coloured people. They
spend their holidays, if they can afford any, in cheap
holiday camps in Britain or in Mallorca. They seperate
theselves from the other groups. Their children do mostly
not care about eduction.
The importance of language plays a big role in the social
class system. It is said to be the mirrorof social status
and education.
The upper class has ist own kind of speech and middle class
people trying to imitate them because of the fear of being
looked down upon.
In Britain you are classified by your accent and speaking a
local dialect means that you have low education and now
career opportunities.