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Sociology, Social Closure Essay (Higher)

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Sociology, Social Closure Essay (Higher)
Analyse the extent to which social closure exists in UK society. Use two contrasting theories and relevant studies in your answer.

INTRO
Social stratification is the way in which society is stratified or "made up of layers" of social groups in a hierarchical way. Class stratification is a form of social stratification, which tends to split separate classes, whose members have contrasting access to resources and power. In Britain, society is structured in terms of inequality. Different classes tend to contain the same kinds of people with the same "hidden barriers" stopping them from being able to climb the social ladder. Social closure is when people simply cannot escape the social class they belong to. They have no way of being socially mobile within society. Class can be measured in a subjective way as opposed to an objective approach. The Registrar General Scale of Classification is used to organise society into different classes. Social closure, however, is when a person has the inability to climb or fall from their place in society. And with capitalism, it is essential in order for this ideology to work within today's society. There is a definite divide between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and therefore, social closure, most definitely exists in today's society.

THEORY ONE
There are a number of different sociological perspectives that attempt to explain class stratification. One theory of which is Marxism. Karl Marx believed that there was a definite conflict between the classes, and that the system of stratification derives from different social groups and their relations to the means of production. From Marx's perspective, a class group is when all it's members share the same relations to the means of production. Marxism also believes that there are only 2 classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, showing social closure. The bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat who have to sell their labour to the ruling class. Marx believed that the

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