Sociology: Did Class Die?

Some commentators claim that Britain is becoming a classless society, one where the stamp of class leaves only a faint impression on people’s lives. Before checking whether this statement is true or not, the definition of “class” should be fathomed first. In a broad sense, social class is a collection of similarly placed individuals from a certain social group, who not only share common interests, but also similar lifestyle and cultural identities (Giddens, 2009: 458). Another key phrase supposed to be clear is the “faint impression”, which indicates that the class system now only has little influence on people’s lives. This essay will first introduce three basic theories of social class-Functionalism, Marxism and Weberianism. After examining the class changes in UK, it will discuss the significance of social classes from two opposite views. Finally, an evaluation of class will be conveyed, and question deriving from the first sentence will be answered.

Functionalists held a positive attitude towards social classes (also called social stratification). Talcott Parson, one of the famous functionalists, argued that the emergence of different social classes is both inevitable and functional. The social stratification is thought to stem from the common values. Once common values exist, dissimilar individuals will be evaluated by shared values and thereby forming their own value consensus, which is the agreement of their group identity, resulting in the ranked social classes (Haralambos, Holborn, 2004:4). Durkheim, recognised as the funder of Functionalism, claims that the relationship among diverse social classes is cooperated and interdependence. Integrating together, these social groups perform different functions to prevent society from breaking down, which makes stratification functional to promote social stability (Parsons, 2009:7).

Though in functionalists’ opinion, social classes show the harmony of a society, Marxists’ attitude towards social