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Evaluate How Working Class Identities Are Created And Reinforced In The Uk

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Evaluate How Working Class Identities Are Created And Reinforced In The Uk
Explain and briefly evaluate how working class identities are created and reinforced in the contemporary UK
The working class are a group who traditionally follow common interests such as sense of community and being employed in the industrial industry doing manual work such as mining. It is considered to be the lowest group in our society’s hierarchy. Their identities can be created and reinforced through the process of socialisation.
One way the working class identities can be considered to be negatively created and reinforced through the education system as for example, some working class pupils will the formal curriculum. Wills (1977) found that the working class ‘lads’ were not interested in school or qualifications because they had their minds set on factory jobs. However, this did not mean they truanted from school. The lads actually enjoyed going to school because they could have a laugh at the expense of teachers and conforming students. This shows that Education does little to reinforce the identities of the work class as traditionally working class men went into manual work which required little qualifications. …show more content…
The Glasgow university media group found that the working class were often portrayed on TV news as ‘trouble’ – either involved in ‘strikes’ or involved in jostling or fighting with the police, for example the London riots in 2011. From a Neo-Marxists perspective this is no surprise because the media are simply acting against anti-capitalist groups in order to maintain ruling class ideological control. Also Skeggs (2004) felt that TV representations of the working class show them being low in value in comparison to the middle classes – for example shows such as Jeremy Kylie and Wife swap. This shows that the mass media can have a negative impact on creating and reinforcing identities of the working class in the contemporary
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