The Great Pyramid of Virginia or the Racial Pyramid of Inequality

America during the 1700s was a land full of opportunities and adversities. A setting where one can experience both freedom and slavery. It was a place filled with irony, while on the path to becoming the one of the mightiest nations in the world. One area where this dissonance was most prevalent was in the state of Virginia. Where a hierarchical pyramid of different social classes coexisted and triumphed over the inferior. Michael McDonnell analyzes the controversial compromises and topics that were discussed during eighteenth-century Virginia in this scholarly article. McDonnell emphasizes how amidst the Revolutionary war being fought against Britain, there was another war being fought on the America’s hometurf. A Class War. A political and social battle between various classes of a hierarchical pyramid, where those in the upper divisions did not want to play the same roles as those below them.

To help better demonstrate on what kinds of unfair compromises were proposed, McDonnell utilized a variety of primary sources from the time period to show us. By starting off with the conflict on recruiting more men for the Continental army, new recruits were not only offered a small amount of land, but also an enslaved Virginian as well. This shows how ironic it was that soldiers who were fighting for their liberty are rewarded with slaves. But as McDonnell put it, the topic of race and slavery was just another subject to conceal a more profound debate. The debate on class and labor. Legislators hoped by giving the lower class whites an incentive such as a free slave and land, that they would join the army. This turned out to not work as well as many lower classmen resented the elites for not giving up more shares of land and slaves as the wealthy did not want to join the army themselves.

In this instance, McDonnell cites how support to middle-class demands for redistributive taxes, whether in slaves or property to pay higher bounties to lower-class soldiers would bring on a revolution in the state. This was something that McDonnell expresses was the ‘wish of a majority of the assembly ”. The majority of the votes coming from the wealthy elites in favor of the compromise, while the lower class whites were against it.

When describing Virginia in the late 1700s, it’s common for it to be viewed as just a slave society divided between white planters and black slaves. But the truth was that Virginia was much more of a complicated place. Michael McDonnell uses thesis’s and main points from other scholars to support this argument. For instance, on the topic of Virginia’s complicity, McDonnell describes on how Edmund Morgan’s analysis of seventeenth-century Virginia gave historians one of the most powerful and explicit class-based analyses of the colonial society. Morgan made a solid argument on how racial unity shrouded over class divisions in Virginia, and how it was responsible to the idea of a shared commitment to racial slavery. McDonnell praises Edmund Morgan on how his thesis has helped promoted in clearing the powerful image that Virginia was solely a slave society, but at the same time criticizes him on obscuring more about the state than revealing. The obscurities included economic inequalities and social class differences that remained hidden under the shadow of slavery.

As the animosity for the ruling elites of Virginia grew, the wealthy political leaders were forced to calm things down. In order to bring back a brief period of tranquility, they decided to rally the all white citizens of different social classes under one common ground. Slavery. With the ongoing threat of many slaves wanting to join the British side with Governor Dunmore, many patriot and political leaders in Virginia wanted to send an assertive message to enslaved Virginians contemplating insurrection. Many white citizens agreed to this as Slaves were on the very bottom of the social pyramid and insurrection against their “superiors” was unacceptable. The plan was to create and hope that a semipermanent military force combined with a modernized militia and an elite group of minutemen would offer both an internal as well as external line of defense. As McDonnell describes in the article, this scheme did not work. Mobilization for war ended up exposing pre existing tensions and division differences among white Virginians. There were exemptions from the militia offered that many poor Virginians resented. An example would be the exemption of overseers which the poor believed shielded the wealthy slave owners from military service at the expense of the poor non slavers.

Class differences were at the forefront of many complaints, and the lower class petitioners did not hesitate to make these explicit. The petitioners stated that joining the military was “extremely hard & no ways equitable or Just that we should be obliged to leave our Families in such a Situation that if ever we shou’d return again Woud find our Wives & Children dispers’d up & down the Country. Whereas the ‘Overseers are aliving in ease & Affluence”. McDonnell shows why the petitioners were upset, because they were risking leaving their families and keeping them fed, while upper class citizens like overseers and plantation owners were living at ease. To make matters worse, enlistments were hampered by the elites own admission resulting in the upper classes being assigned to positions as appointed officers. This type of social inequality is what was the cause of tension between each class.

Even until this day, the United States Of America has issues with its social classes, where those in the bottom tiers strive to rise, while those at the top reap the benefits. But unlike the present, Michael McDonnell shows us that social hierarchy eighteenth century Virginia relied on two utmost important things. Land and Slaves. Both were property that directed what type of life you will live. Many scholars such as Noah Webster had a few things to say about this, and it was that “Wherever we cast our eyes, we see this truth, that property is the basis of power”. Property which included slavery as well. All in all, Virginia was a place filled with social injustice and inequality. Those in the high classes try to undermine those below them. As the fight for freedom from Britain continues on the outside, the fight for social freedom goes on in the inside.

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Theme of Social Class in Great Expectations

One theme from Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations is the great difference in social classes. Throughout the story the main character, Pip, goes from living in a small, poor village, destined to be a blacksmith to becoming a wealthy gentleman who lives in a large home in London. During Pip’s journey a clear divide can be seen between the wealthy, high class of England and the poor laborer class.

This divide between classes is seen as soon as the first higher class person in the story is mentioned: Miss Havisham. When Mrs. Joe and Mr. Pumblechook discuss Pip visiting Miss Havisham’s house to play, Pip recalls, “I had heard of Miss Havisham up town – everybody for miles round, had heard of Miss Havisham up town- as an immensely rich and grim lady who lived in a large and dismal house barricaded against robbers, and who led a life of seclusion” (Dickens 50).

Even though Miss Hivisham spends all her time in seclusion up town she is known for miles around because of her high standings, which gives a sense that the high class led extremely different existences than the poor. This theme is seen again when Pip tries to teach Joe things he has learned from Miss Havisham: “What I acquired, I tried to impart to Joe. This statement sounds so well, that I cannot in my conscience let it pass unexplained.

I wanted to make Joe less ignorant and common, that he might be worthier of my society and less open to Estella’s reproach” (Dickens 109). Even with the small amount Pip has learned about being a gentleman he already feels like he is on a different level than Joe and that Joe would have something to gain from being more like him. The sharp division of classes appears many other times during Great Expectations and helps show how different life was for different groups of people in England. The book gives two distinct viewpoints for this time period.

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Social class is linked to educational achievement

Table of contents

It has been suggested that societal category is linked to educational accomplishment. The lower the socio-economic position of a household, so it is said, follows a form of low educational accomplishment. Conversely, kids from so called, center and upper category households in general tend to be higher winners academically than their on the job category equals, and are more likely to go to university. Research suggests that kids with parents in extremely paid professions are more likely to obtain higher class in their GCSEs, take A degrees and so go on onto university than kids with parents in low paid manual employment. Therefore, it could be argued that a kids ability to go socially nomadic remains inactive, as it is likely that they will go on along the way of their parents.

The research undertaken for this undertaking seeks to find if the same applies to maturate pupils either go toing Bath Spa University or maturate alumnuss known to the research workers. The research will try to look into whether or non there is any correlativity between parental societal category and that of the mature pupils and graduates educational accomplishments. The research will besides research the impression of societal mobility and seek to detect if the topics of the survey believe that they have or will, accomplish societal mobility due to their educational accomplishments.

The consequences of this survey, if the result is favorable, could perchance assist to promote other mature pupils from lower socio-economic backgrounds into higher instruction. However, if the consequences seem to hold with old research, which argues that lower income households feel that the costs outweigh the benefits of higher instruction, and hence would non see university, so the research may hold an inauspicious affect and merely reenforce the fact that people feel that a university instruction is merely for the wealthy.

The consequences of the survey could enable universities to nail jobs mature pupils face, which could enable them to explicate schemes to promote pupils from lower socio-economic backgrounds to use for a topographic point at university. However the consequences could reenforce the generalization or old research which suggests that kids from working category households are less likely to travel to university and hence deter people from even trying to travel through the application procedure.

The consequences could besides assist to detect replies to go on the procedure of shuting the spread between societal category and educational accomplishment. However, if the findings suggests the opposite to already published research, eg, if our findings argue that societal category has no bearing on the educational accomplishment of the topics of the survey, so inquiries would necessitate to be asked as to why our survey appears to differ from the norm.

Hypothesis

Does societal category affect educational accomplishment? This research will try to set up a nexus between societal category and educational accomplishment. As already stated in the debut, research ( current and historical ) suggests that low socio-economic position constantly leads to low educational accomplishment. The undermentioned research is intended to look into whether this generalized impression is true of the topics who volunteered to be interviewed for this undertaking.

The variables to be measured will be that of ; the societal category of the topics parents and the educational accomplishments of the topic.

Following on from this the research will besides try to set up whether or non the single topics have, or expect to accomplish, societal mobility due to their educational accomplishments.

Literature reappraisal

There are many pieces of research which have attempted to reply the inquiry ‘does societal category affect educational accomplishment ‘ . Assorted theories have been introduced as to the grounds why kids from lower societal categories appear to make less good academically than their more advantaged equals and as to why at that place seems to be a big spread in the consumption of university topographic points from people from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Connor et Al ( 2001 ) found that there was a continuing and “ long standing form of societal exclusion ” of lower category groups in higher instruction. Their research suggests that there are legion factors which lead to the under-representation of the lower categories, including ; household background and support, and fiscal considerations. They besides make the interesting point that over the last 50 old ages statute law has been put in topographic point to guarantee that educational patterned advance is based on ability instead than wealth. However, their research seems to propose that the statute law has non been successful in accomplishing its purposes.

Research conducted by Goldthorpe ( 1996 ) agrees with the findings of Connor et Al goldthorpe provinces that the differences between societal category and educational attainment have changed really small since the beginning of the 1900 ‘s. It is suggested that kids from lower category households have remained more likely to go forth the instruction system once they have finished their compulsory instruction than their more financially advantaged equals. This could be due to the fact that parents with a higher economic position appear in general to put a higher value on instruction than the parents of kids from the lower categories. It has been suggested that the lower categories place more value on vocational and on the occupation developing instead than higher instruction.

There has been research such as that by bowles and gintis ( 1976 ) that suggests that instruction is a signifier of ‘cultural reproduction ‘ . They argue that the dominant or higher categories use their power to guarantee ‘social structural reproduction ‘ . Therefore, it is suggested that societal control is maintained by the educational system by working category inequality. In practise schools would non lawfully be allowed to consciously discriminate against kids from lower societal categories. However, there may be unconscious favoritism. For illustration, kids are praised and given inducements such as certifications for stand outing in the schoolroom. Yet the kids more likely to stand out are those from more advantaged households who are able to afford the excess resources such as excursions and books. Following on from this, Goodwin and le expansive ( 1987 ) suggest that those households in greatest demand are non the mark of educational subsidies. They argue that province support for instruction by and large merely helps the more financially advantaged households maintain their ability to come in higher instruction.

However, although it could be argued that statute law, schools and support are all colored towards households of higher socio-economic position, Gambetta ( 1987 ) suggests that a kids ability to come in higher instruction is all due to their parents. Gambetta found that the picks parents made comparative to their kids ability was based on their perceived societal category. Therefore working category households were less ambitious with respects to their kids instruction than those of higher socio-economic position.

As the above research suggests that societal category affects educational accomplishment in kids, it so has to be asked ‘does the same apply to adults? ‘

A study on higher instruction and societal category ( Bolton 2010 ) shows historical informations referring how societal category affected university engagement in the early twentieth century. The information shows that the per centum of entrants with male parents who have a manual business, and hence considered working category, were as follows ;

  • 1928-1947 23 %
  • 1955 25 %
  • 1961 25 %

As the authorities have introduced statute law to assist shut the spread between societal category and entryway to higher instruction at that place should perchance be additions in these Numberss in more recent times. However, informations from UCAS shows that in 2001 the Numberss were much the same as those shown supra. In 2001 merely 27 % of entrants were from a working category background. However, the study concluded that ;

‘since the mid 2000 ‘s ; immature people from disadvantaged countries are well more likely to come in higher instruction ‘ ( Bolton 2010 ) .

However, a research paper entitled ‘ Social Class and Higher Education ‘ ( Connor et al 2001 ) commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills ( DfES ) suggests that there are many factors every bit good as societal category that affect possible pupils determinations to come in into higher instruction. The research workers province that ;

“ pupils from lower societal category backgrounds take into history a wider scope of issues than their opposite numbers in higher societal category groups when taking the determination to come in higher instruction ” .

The countries of concern for those from a working category background included the fiscal facet, nevertheless, they besides raised issues such as experiencing unable to get by with the work load, the application procedure and personal issues such as working during term clip and besides set uping child care.

However, the chief issue does look to be that of a fiscal nature. Those from the lower classed either would instead get down paid employment every bit shortly as possible after go forthing mandatory instruction or they feel that the cost of analyzing at university outweighs the benefits. Despite the chief findings of this study being reasonably negative towards higher edication by the lower categories there were some positive facets. The participants of the survey from the lower categories who had decided to come in university did so with the belief that the makings that they would finally derive would intend that their calling preospects and future gaining possible were raised well.

The little graduated table research undertaking which follows is slackly based on old research into societal category and higher instruction. If the published research is right so we should happen that societal category does in fact affect educational accomplishments in grownups.

If our research corresponds with others, so we should happen that merely about 25 % of our participants who are from working category backgrounds have entered into higher instruction.

Methodology

The focal point of this survey was to find whether or non socio-economic position had any impact on educational accomplishment. A series of inquiries were devised to be delivered in either a face to confront interview or by manner of an electronic mail questionnaire, depending on which was more practical, due to distance and clip restraints. Those topics who were asked to answer via electronic mail were asked to react in every bit much item as possible instead than merely yes or no replies. The purpose of the inquiries asked was to find the effects of the topics parents societal category and educational accomplishment on that of their kids.

The initial inquiries asked were general inquiries to find the age, sex and location of the interviewee. This was followed by a set of inquiries to set up parental educational accomplishment and societal category. The inquiries besides attempted to set up whether or non their parents attitude towards instruction had any impact on the topics educational picks. The concluding set of inquiries sought to detect the educational accomplishments of the topic and their current or future socio-economic position.

Of the topics are undergraduates and of the questionnaires were completed by manner of face to confront interviews. Another were conducted via electronic mail questionnaire. The interviews and questionnaires took about 10 proceedings to finish. All of the persons who were asked to react did so.

The determination to utilize interviews and questionnaires was taken because we felt that we could acquire a more unequivocal reply to our hypothesis this manner instead than a simple questionnaire that merely needed yes and no replies. However, there are restrictions when utilizing this method for research. Some of the inquiries which were asked were unfastened to sentiment and besides self-perception. Some of the information was besides 2nd manus as we had asked for information about parents. Once once more, this may non be entirely dependable as the topics were non asked for unequivocal cogent evidence of either their parents, or their ain educational accomplishment or societal position. Therefore, the research is based on the premise that the topics were true in the answering of the inquiries.

There are other restrictions. The research was really little graduated table and therefore it could be argued that the sample of topics is non representative of the general population of under alumnus and alumnus in the United Kingdom. However, as a usher it could take to similar inquiries being asked on a larger graduated table to enable the theory that societal category does or does non hold an consequence on educational accomplishment, depending on the findings of this research, to be proved or disproved.

With respects to the ethical considerations of this research, those who participated were ensured namelessness at all times. No names have been used in the write up of the research and merely the general location and age of the particiants have been documented. All participants were made aware of the grounds for the research and how the information they gave would be used. They were besides informed that a transcript of the finished research undertaking would be made available to them for their blessing, if they so requested, before it would be handed into the university. They were besides made aware that they could retreat their part at any clip before the entry day of the month.

Findings and decision

The chief intent of our research undertaking was to find whether or non a on the job category background created a barrier to higher instruction for grownups in the same manner as antecedently mentioned research suggests it has on kids. The research argues that kids of mandatory school age are at a disadvantage educationally if they are from low income households and we wanted to look into as to whether or non this translated into maturity.

Our findings seem to propose that low socio economic position does non restrict the opportunities of grownups come ining into higher instruction. Seven out of the 12 subjects interviewed categorised themselves as coming from a working category background and six of them had either gained grades or were analyzing for a grade at the present clip. This translates to about 86 % of people from lower category background come ining into higher instruction, whereas old research has stated that the norm is about 25 % . However the contradiction is likely due to the little graduated table of the undertaking which was undertaken. The other five participants considered themselves to be from a in-between category background and all five had enetered into higher instruction.

Therefore, our little graduated table research undertaking seems to propose that there is no disadvantage in a individuals ability to derive makings from university or other higher instruction constitutions based soley on their on the job category background. It could be said that it is an persons ain motive and aspirations, or deficiency of both, that has the most impact on their educational accomplishment, instead than their on the job category background. One of the topics interviewed declared that her parents had ;

“ influenced me to travel out and accomplish what I want careless of category, money or background ” .

Bing at university as a mature pupil I felt that the result of our research would in fact find that category did non find educational accomplishment. However, it is a really little graduated table undertaking and could non be perceived to be dependable information which reflects the educational accomplishments based on category for the state as a whole. The information could be seen as colored and undependable as eleven out the 12 subjects interviewed had been, or were presently at, university. Those interviewed were besides known to the research workers. If there had been a wholly random sample of topics from a shopping promenade for illustration at that place would hold perchance been a really different result. I feel that to do the research valid and dependable it would necessitate to be done on a much larger graduated table. The topics interviewed should be selected at random throughout the united land to enable a broad assortment of people and therefore a varied choice of replies, which would perchance in bend produce more valid and dependable information which would more likely correspond to old research in the same field.

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Ideology, Ethnicity, Social Class, and Gender

Culture is defined as the systematic philosophy of life or as the behaviour, beliefs and symbols that people accept. These customs passed from one generation to the other because it transforms their behaviour and character. Cultural studies include political economy, communication, social theory, literary theory, media theory etc.

The study mainly focuses on how a particular phenomenon relates to ideology, ethnicity, social class and gender. Culture also plays an important role in art and literature. Raymond William’s “cultural materialism” plays a dominant role in the field of cultural studies. William’s definition of culture is apt and significant in this connection:

Culture is one of the two or three complicated words in English. This is so partly because of its intricate historical development in several European languages, but mainly because it has now come to be used for important concepts in several distinct intellectual disciplines and in several distinct and incompatible system of thought. (William 76)

The process of culture has become so powerful that it decides the identity of a man on the one hand and on the other hand it assimilates the different cultures in a single thread. If we talk about the relevance of culture in the perspective of present scenario it is more complex than earlier. The impact of globalization has increased the cultural differences. Due to culture studies, society has undergone many changes such as the change in life style, behaviour, perception and religion etc.

As due to the effect of globalization though people are getting appreciation, but they are losing their customs and traditions which were the boon to them. Our culture is decaying because people are neglecting their traditions, manners and customs. They are adopting the western culture blindly without knowing whether it is good or bad. If we want to live happily we have to bring our culture back.

So, in this paper, I am taking up Rita Garg’s novel, An Abbreviated Child: Gloom to Bloom and have tried to trace the decay in culture through different characters of the novel. The culture does not have a fixed definition; it changes from time to time, generation to generation.

The novelist, very aptly describes the condition of the poor folk who are passing their life in pain and sufferance because they don’t get opportunities and life is stuck for them. Any attempt made to get over, sticks their feet and hands in their misery-woven net. In this novel, the setting covers the land from Canada and America to Delhi and Uttarakhand. The folk talked about belong to the Shivalik Hills, the border hilly area. Incidentally, this hill range also has Jaunsar Babar area where Draupadi was married to the Pandava brothers in the Mahabharata. The Shivalik hill range has constraints of its own type and that is projected well but in precise language by the novelist.

This area has more of labour class and the labouring women keep doing their job. Nonetheless, they have to cut short the time to be given to children; consequentially, the child may or may not grow to the proper circumstances in life. Kalia, the villainy following man, was born as a handsome and active boy but also naughty. His labour class mother often made the child lick opium so that she would be working and the child would sleep quietly and not face hazards at such sites as quarry, damn or landslide.

As a matter of fact, this practice, in this area of hills, produces not one but many Kalias. The poor women practise this on their children and the latter become alcoholics. Kalia gets used to drinks and dies early. Prior to his death, he sells his sister Gauri, for Income Tax free Rs. 20,000. All the time he needs money. This act of Kalia is not uncommon. This hillside is known for the payment made by the groom. Here, the buyer of Gauri makes her work as an animal to plough the farm and to work as a woman otherwise.

Status of women in hill states is quite different due to prevailing topographical and geographical condition where woman are involved in more physical activities outside home like work in the fields, orchards, and rearing animal and also engaged in small cottage industries. More and more women are also holding jobs in government offices and private sector as well. Besides, their role has become important in decision making, planning and execution our rural development schemes. (Indian Journal of Public Administration)

This entire novel deals with the dismal scene of poverty and over population. Under these circumstances, the effort to uplift the poor through education and employment are worth acclamation. To improve upon further, some individuals ought to come forward and help the needy. No matter, at what level. Here the novelist talks of an orphanage run by Mrs Preet Rani. Over here, many orphans are given proper care. As per the talent, they achieve the difficult goals.

This region of Shivalik Hills is not prosperous. To fight poverty, both men and women work. In this race, the young children suffer. Their sufferings of childhood follow them till late ages. An easy way to keep the son under control is to control the senses. This is so widespread that no one minds this and no one pays heed to check the practice. The long practice has become the part of culture even. It is taken for granted that such a life style is normal.

The repercussions are too much. The character of Kalia suffices to prove this. In his case, it was his mother who used to make him lick opium when her mother-in-law was unwell. The permanent loss out of the event is that the abbreviation of the child is a natural outcome. The growth of a race depends on the strength of the entire community. A weak race is no race. Rather this is to mar the race or the culture.

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Differences in Worldview Exhibited by the Different Social Classes

Humans are social animals. They can not live alone in this world all by themselves. All humans need other humans in order to live their lives properly. They might be able to live without fulfilling their emotional desires etc but they can certainly not live without fulfilling certain material needs such as food. For example, even if a person manages to live without friends and family who fulfill emotional needs and needs of belongingness, he will not be able to live properly without the farmer who grows food or the barber who cuts his hair.

Thus, humans live in large groups of people where different people perform different duties and make each other’s lives simpler, easier and better to live. If one person does something, he needs the other one to do something else and this way, they exchange the benefits of performing one task rather properly instead of doing many things in a haphazard manner. These groups of people are called societies. Societies are the basis of lifestyles and cultures (Fiona, 1997). However, this all is not that simple.

Some humans in the societies are much better off than many others while, in contrast, some are way below the line. Some enjoy best opportunities of life while some don’t even have proper food to eat. Hence, there exists a whole system of social classes in which there are various blocks or sub-groups of people based upon various factors like income brackets, life styles, cultures, religions, nationalities and so on. (Crothers, 1996) Social Classes These social classes perform various different duties in the societies and have entirely different lifestyles and outlook of life.

These classes live physically in the same world, but in actuality, their worlds are absolutely different. In fact, different is a very weak a word to describe how apart they are. The people belonging to these classes have entirely different world views and perceive the world totally differently depending on there life styles and circumstances. Although different types of societies are divided into various kinds of social classes, in its essence, there are three basic social classes based on the income levels that exist in almost every society (Fiona, 1997).

These classes do not exist in isolation, but are intermingled. Moreover, it is more like a continuum, that is, transition classes like Upper-Middle Class exist as well. These are the class differences that advertisers should be aware of in targeting different classes of people. World Views Exhibited by Social Classes The perception of the world, by the social classes, varies widely.

The rich people have no idea what poverty is and what is it like to earn living on a daily basis. The Upper Class or the Elite people sit at the executive positions giving orders to the working class (The Middle and Lower Classes). To the rich, the world is heaven where they can whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want. They just wish for it and bingo! Generally they disregard the poor, as if it is their birth right to be rich. Whatever they do is right and they have they right to exploit everyone and everything below them. (Summer, 2008)

In contrast, the working class’s life revolves around work and is spent struggling balancing work and life. However, the life of middle class (generally the educated portion of the working class) is comparatively easier than that of the lower class (mostly uneducated or poorly educated). The middle class people live a comparatively moderate life when it comes to income and fulfillment of desires (Crothers, 2008). They perceive the world to be generally uncomfortable but not like hell.

For them, there is misery, exploitation and tough luck in this world, but there is a ray of hope as well, since due to their education and experiences, they do have a chance to work hard and jump up to the upper class. Out of all classes, the lower class is the one which suffers the most in these and other dimensions. For them, there is very rarely a ray of hope of getting any better. To them, the world is like hell, full of miseries, poverty and exploitation (be it social, moral, political or any other exploitation) and life can never be good no matter how hard they try.

Conclusion

Therefore, I conclude, that although these social classes exist in the same world under the same sun, the perception that they have of this world is entirely different. The rich continue to exploit the poor while the poor keep on being exploited, living in disappointments, doing nothing about it. The rich has absolutely no idea what poor goes through, each and every single day while the poor has no clue to what it is like to be rich. (Summer, 2008)

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Examine The Sociological Views

There have been many changes in society that have affected children over the last 50 years, however there are several different sociological views on whether these changes have been beneficial to children or not. Functionalist sociologists have the ‘march of progress’ view, as they believe that the experience of childhood has massively improved over the last 50 years. They believe that society is more child-centred today than ever before.

The introduction of contraception has led to couples having smaller families, therefore meaning that children now tend to receive more attention from their parents. Similarly, parents are also able to care for their children better due to the introduction of the welfare state and child benefits. Climbie’s case and ‘Every Child Matters’ has led to the improvement of social services and child protection, meaning childhood is much safer now than it was 50 years ago.

Children are also in better health due to the NHS, meaning more children survive childhood now than ever before. All children can now receive state education up until the age of 18, meaning they are better educated and can achieve much higher in adulthood, whilst experiencing a longer period of youth. All of these changes have improved the experience of childhood and cause Functionalists to believe that things are getting better. However, Marxist and Feminist sociologists disagree, claiming that the march of progress view is too positive.

They believe that a child’s experience of childhood depends on their class, ethnicity and gender, and that Functionalists overlook the inequalities between these factors. This is called the ‘conflict’ view. Class has an effect on childhood as generally if a family is poor, the children are more likely to have a poor upbringing. Ethnicity is found to have an effect as Asian parents have been found to be much stricter on their kids.

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Social-Class and the Link with Employability

MM33920 – Management Research Methods Assignment 1 Select a research topic of your interest and explain relevance of the selected topic. Clearly define how it will benefit the industry and/or society. Also provide literature review. Robert Sumnall Aberystwyth University Tel: +447581448829 Aber E-Mail: ros27 Research Area: ‘Employability’ Research Topic: ‘Social-Class and the link with Employability’ General Research Question: ‘Is a Graduates Socio-economic background a determinant on their employability? Throughout this assignment I will be writing about my proposed research model in three sections. The first section will be the relevance of my selected topic of research; this will be written to give the reader a clearer understanding of what the research will consist of, as well as the reasoning behind doing it. The second section of my assignment I will clearly define how it will benefit the industry/society, by doing so it will help explain what my research can bring to the table, in terms of coming to a resolution or developing upon already existing resolutions.

The final section of my assignment will be a literature review. The ideology behind a literature review is a means of reviewing the main ideas and points already known about the research relating to my area of interest, it also shows that I have a deepened understanding of the current literature and I am competent in the subject area. (Alan Bryman, 2011) 1) Explain relevance of Selected Topic So why choose employability and social class? What relevance does this topic have?

To start with, being a under-graduate myself who has a genuine interest in this topic simply due to growing up in what I would consider a ‘middle class’ family, there were also those around me who had life harder financially, or could be considered a lower class family. I always remember they struggled with certain areas of schooling and my thought process has now led me to be curious about whether those backgrounds can affect employability as a graduate.

Before I go in to commenting on why this research will be beneficial for my chosen area, let us first dissect the topic. As stated in the prior paragraph, my topic is focusing on Employability and Social class. The topic itself has a variance of sub-topics and questions that can stem from it, as social-class stretches across a lot of issues, and employability stretching even further.

Some examples of sub-topics could be employability for international graduate students and their financial backgrounds, what top level CEO’s socio-economic background was like, and then stretching into more in-depth thought processes such as do school children who had free school meals show a correlation between employability and their peers who were without free meals, later on in their life.

That last sub-topic has been considered from TeachFirst’s application handbook which had statistical data to show that “Just 16% of pupils eligible for free school meals make it to university, compared to 96% from independent schools” (TeachFirst, 2013). Exclusive of the relevance to me personally, the relevance also stretches to my academic subject of study: Business & Management, the main reason being that because a keen eye for efficient ‘Employability’ in a person is one of the most crucial skills a business manager can have sometimes (Employing the correct employees for the job). Andrews. J, Higson. H, 2008) (McQuaid, R. W. , & Lindsay, C. 2005) those two articles develop their research and text on the fundamentals of employability and its relevance to success, and what contributes to that success. Bringing that back to the relevance of my own topical research, by being relevant and effective in my course it holds a heightened level of relevance to me both personally and academically. So what relevance does the topic bring to the reader?

More importantly than just writing about the relevance of the topic generally, what relevance does this topic have on the reader? This is not to get confused with the benefits which will be addressed in the next paragraph. After the research has been completed, the reader will be able to take away a much clearer understanding of the results, this can both inspire and motivate the reader to create or carry out their own research into the topic, or at very least bring them to start looking into the topic themselves.

A topic like Social-Class and the implications on Employability is a relevant topic because every person comes from a certain financial/socio-economic backgrounds themselves, and typically everyone wants to be employed at some point. The research will open the reader’s eyes into the advantages or disadvantages of coming from certain backgrounds, and sometimes the truth can be harsh. The potentially harsh truth of the research will hold validity to the reader, and give them something to work with themselves to counteract such harsh truths from affecting their own lives.

To summarise my last paragraph, the reader will hold a personal similarity with the research somewhere down the line because everyone has their own background they can relate to. The research can be confusing and frustrating to the reader, but there are benefits to this topic being explored, and I will cover those now. 2) What benefits will the research have on the industry/society? Before going into the benefits of the research, I feel it is appropriate to say that the research can only benefit the industry/society if it is noticed.

By this I mean that all the research in the world can be done on a topic, but if nobody reads it or sees it, or inspires someone to put the research into an outcome, it will not benefit anybody. With that said let us get to the benefits, the research is based upon employability and social-class, the topic is broad and covers a lot of grounds. The first and foremost obvious form of benefit would be an increase in knowledge on the topic for the society, with increased knowledge people are more comfortable with understanding the topic and how to get more from it.

For example, should the government be informed of the research on employability and social-class, it may spur them on to solving the problems of unemployment with creating schemes or models, as both topics are amongst the government’s list of problems to resolve in the UK. Where the government could step up would be in education centres like primary and secondary schools and certain colleges, ensuring those students who come from financially struggling backgrounds have an equal chance of success in their future as their peers, who are better off.

A statistic from Labour Force Survey (2011), shows that a staggering 20% of 16-24 year olds are classified as NEET (Not in education, training or Employment). (BBC, 2011) That’s approximately 1/5th of all teenagers and young adults essentially doing nothing with their lives in terms of employment, for one reason or another. Let us compare that figure with the statistic that nearly 50% of children who claim free school meals achieve no GCSE passes above a D-grade, (Cassen and Kingdon, 2007).

This existent research has helped to create charitable (non-government funded) services such as FirstTeach to prevent these statistics increasing. By the government being notified of the research it may increase the likelihood of the government bettering the educational system to ensure that there are no students left without, simply due to their financial backgrounds. I understand that there are other variables that will affect a student’s chances of success, but the current statistics are appalling and the knowledge increase can bring about a resolution.

Without getting too philosophical in terms of whether there are benefits of increased knowledge to mankind, let us consider this research to be done in an altruistic sense to help those who aren’t going to succeed or their chance of success is hindered. Another benefit to the industry from conducting the research is to help those existing educational improvement foundations which use the statistics and research to fuel their business goals, or even use them to motivate people to join.

As already mentioned, one service that set out to provide every chance of success to students whose socio-economics background is limited is TeachFirst, they employ graduate students to teach. Founded in 2002 they have built their way up the ladder to being 4th in the Times graduate employers, whilst the teachers they employ have helped hundreds of thousands of students achieve success (FirstTeach, 2013). In terms of making an impact on employment and social-class issues, they are killing two birds with one stone.

They help under-privileged younger students whilst employing graduates. Services like this will benefit from the research through relaying back to graduates to motivate them to join, ultimately growing and helping more and more younger students. A potential outcome of this research is that it ends up in the eyes of an inspired individual who wants to give back to the community; they set up their own version of TeachFirst and go about helping younger students, even though an extreme instance it would not be able to come about without the topical research.

Ultimately the aim of this research is to bring to realisation the problems that lower-class/socio-economically disadvantaged students may face, and to then improve the employability and prospects of those students. 3) Literature Review The idea behind writing a literature review when writing research is to understand what is already known about the subject you are going to be researching, it helps to show where the existing knowledge is strong or weak and what other author’s mistakes in the field were.

On top of these it can also help to inspire the researcher and develop their research direction more if their precise question of research is not yet set in stone. (A. Bryman, E. Bell. 2011). Whilst reviewing the literature on graduates employability based on social-class, it became evident that a set of particular trends were continuously showing up throughout the research, interestingly my original considerations of what would be a factor affecting employability was matched slightly (employer’s wish to hire the best people from the best socio-economic background), but with other interesting factors.

The major trends involved with the literature are broken down as follows: Students from a disadvantaged socio-economic background/lower social-class lacked the same level of confidence as their advantaged peers, students from a lower social-class struggled to build there CV/employability with voluntary work experience due to funding and availability and students who aren’t a custom to having the middle/upper-class role models found it difficult to associate themselves with those higher level jobs, e. g. ad no contacts in a professional field and had no one they could relate to/look up to back home. As there are similarities throughout the literature, there are also common limitations to the research, which are equal throughout the reading also. I go into further details of this literature below. Since employability and social-class/socio-economic background take on such a wide range of factors and variables, to save word space this literature review is going to look mostly at graduates employability status and their socio-economic backgrounds and ‘social class’ factors whilst at university.

Considering the statistics that were written earlier, it is argued that there is a correlation between social class and employability, particularly from a younger age (taking into account the school meals and pass rates). Greenbank and Hepworth’s research that took place highlighted three key areas for a graduate’s employability; those were financial issues, networks and values.

They stated that usually financial issues that lower-class students were faced with is the availability to do un-paid voluntary work to boost their CV, however not being able to do so, due to working paid part-time jobs to have some income that just get them by. Ultimately this is not increasing their employability. However their study showed that in this report’s circumstance it was not the financial issues that prevented them from working voluntarily, but more that the lower-class students did not realise that employers valued that type of experience.

In terms of ‘networks’ the rationale of their study was that working class students were disadvantaged in the graduate market because they lacked the presence of social capital, unlike their middle-class peers who were more frequently around professionals and the lack of a ‘role-model’ meant the students desire and optimism to reach such a level was lower. (P. Greenbank, S. Hepworth, 2008).

However, there are limitations to this research, the first major one being that the research was taken place at one individual university institution, to make their research more viable on a wider-spread case they would have to involve other universities, maybe other local universities to get an area specific set of data. There is already controversy on certain universities holding higher or lower amount of distinct social-classes.

A Similar result was found by Cheri, their analysis which was constructed from a survey and HESA statistics, on ‘the factors determining graduate employability and how these effect employment prospects of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, from ethnic minorities and mature students’. Their findings establish graduates from socially-disadvantaged groups do less well in employability due to the institutions they attend, the subject choice of study, the class of the degree they obtain and the entry qualifications the higher education (GCSE, A-Level).

The analyses also showed that regardless of those factors being controlled for, socio-economic background will have an effect upon employment. Similar to Greenbank’s findings, Cheri found graduates that participated in substantial work experience whilst in higher education had employability benefits to all students, however the type of work that differed between the lower-class and socio-economically disadvantaged and he middle-class resulted in work experience being obtained but not really useful in terms of boosting employability. To conclude their findings, socio economics background, ethnic background and age all had indirect effects upon employability through the institution such as type, subject of study, entry qualifications and degree classification. Even when the above factors were controlled for, those with a disadvantaged socio-economic background were still not doing as well as their middle-class and above peers.

Inclusive is a table (table: 1) which represents ‘factors which are associated with successful employment outcomes’, it clarifies that the socio-economically advantaged student has an employability advantage over their disadvantaged peers, as they are able to access the employment outcomes easier. I have also included a chart (chart: 1) which represents ‘the effects of social origin on the graduates’ labour market situation’; it highlights factors which are likely to have a direct relationship between biographical background and employability.

The chart includes parent’s social status and education, ethnicity and age of entry as determinants to ‘success’ in the labour market. (Cheri, 2002). As with Greenbank’s research, this study was taken out on a single university this time it was the Open University. Although the research is extensive, it is very singular, and the research would be made more wide-spread viable if it was conducted in various institutions, it was also taken in a questionnaire form which has potential limitations of students not telling the complete truth in their answers due to embarrassment or fear e. . not wanting to admit they come from a . There is further clarification of lower social classes being disadvantaged in Forsyth & Furlong’s research on socio-economic disadvantage in further and higher education. Their theorem and research was that lower social class members of the UK typically lacked confidence to go after more prestigious courses of study or qualification and almost tolerated going for a less advanced course.

They argued that certain lower-class students didn’t pursue the longer period courses (Architecture or nursing which are 5+ years in some institutes) simply because the student didn’t want the extra years of debt, and the way the student finance support was set up Forsyth claimed the research showed ‘the current student finance policy tends to push the most talented disadvantaged school-leavers towards courses well below their full academic otential’ This research backs up the already existent evidence (Cheri, Greenbank) that lower social-classes are disadvantaged for various reasons, each researcher has mentioned some slightly different reasoning. Inclusive of the research which showed that a high percentage of upper-class students were studying a degree by the time they had left school (70% studying a university degree, 15% Not studying at all and 15% studying a HND), these figures showed that the lower-class students had a lot of competition, paired with their employability disadvantages meant for a hard time post-university to get ahead in the labour market.

The Bar graph was created from a study with 198 full-time students. (Forsyth, 2003) This research was more widespread unlike Greenbank and Cheri’s, as this was a continuation of research already conducted from 1999, this brings about a limitation that the previous research could have changed from that time making it out of date, and this research was then based off that out of date work. The research was taken out on around 400 pupils who had left secondary school in 1999, this meaning that they were basing results on what that graduate year had done with their lives after school.

Limitations present here would mean that it could be coincidental that certain social-class backgrounds of that graduate year went onto university and those with lower social-class aren’t in education or at a degree level of education. Below are some charts and tables to further clarify what has been written in the literature review. Tables and Document Related Charts Chart: 1 (Cheri, ‘the effects of social origin on the graduates’ labour market situation’, 2002) Table: 1 (Cheri, ‘factors which are associated with successful employment outcomes’, 2002)

Bar Graph: 1 (Forsyth, Social class and final destination. 2003) Bibliography Alan Bryman, E. B. , 2011. Business research Methods. New York: Oxford. Alan Bryman, E. B. , 2011. Business research Methods. New York: Oxford, Chapter 4, Page: 103. Andrews, J. & Higson. H. (2008). Graduate Employability, “Soft Skills” Versus “Hard” Business Knowledge: A European Study. Higher Education in Europe, 33(4), 411-422. Doi: 10. 1080/03797720802522627 BBC, 2011. ‘NEET’ youths figure at second-quarter high. [Online] Available at: http://www. bbc. co. k/news/education-14644613 [Accessed 13 March 2013]. Cassen, R. & Kingdon, G. (2007). Tackling low educational achievement. Joseph Rowntree Foundation (pp. 1-94). London. Cheri, I. (2002). Access to what: analysis of factors determining graduate employability, a report to the HEFCE by the centre for Higher, (November), 1-8. Cheri, I. (2002). Access to what: analysis of factors determining graduate employability a report to the HEFCE by the centre for Higher, (November), 1-8. Page 8, Table 1: ‘Factors which are associated with successful employment outcomes’ Cheri, I. (2002).

Access to what: analysis of factors determining graduate employability, a report to the HEFCE by the centre for Higher, (November), 1-8. Page 13, Chart 1: ‘The effects of social origin on the graduates’ labour market situation’ City And Law Leaflets, (2013), TeachFirst ‘The challenge starts here’, London. (Published: 2013) [Online] Available at: http://www. teachfirst. org. uk/TFhome [Accessed 13 March 2013] Forsyth, A. , & Furlong, A. (2003). ‘Losing out? Experience in further and higher education’. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, The Policy Press (pp. 1-68). Bristol Forsyth, A. & Furlong, A. (2003). ‘Losing out? Experience in further and higher education’. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, The Policy Press (pp. 1-68). Bristol, Page 13, Figure 3: Social class and ‘Final’ Destination. Greenbank, P. & Hepworth, S. (2008). Working class students and the career decision-making process. (January) McQuaid, R. W. & Lindsay, C. (2005). The concept of employability. Urban studies, 42(2), 197-219. DOI: 10. 1080/0042098042000316100 TeachFirst, 2013. ‘Our history’ [Online] Available at: http://www. teachfirst. org. uk/ourhistory/ [Accessed 13 march 2013]

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