Sociology

It is often argued that since the late twentieth century, the class structure of British society has become fragmented. One indication of this is the trend of ’embourgeoisement’, or becoming middle class. There has been an occupational transition in the structure of society, away from traditional manual labouring (primary and secondary sector) jobs towards those in the service industries (tertiary sector), which are based on information, technology and managerialism. This has created a massive growth of intermediate occupations and social strata, sometimes known as a ‘middle mass society’. Wage levels have improved, job security is greater and people have more disposable income than ever before, which makes it easier to consume the material goods and lifestyle practices associated with a middle class identity. 800-803

In order to identify the elemental forms of all religions, Durkheim studied the totemism of some ‘primitive’ tribal societies, whose members were divided into clans. Each clan worshipped a particular totem, or symbolic figurehead, such as an animal. Durkheim argued that such ‘sacred’ objects were not inherently so, but rather moral sentiments and values were projected onto them. These ‘collective representations’ effectively allowed the society to worship itself, as worshipping a totem reinforced the people’s commitment to the values it represented. 410-411

After the slave trade had ended in the nineteenth century, there continued to be great ethnic and racial divisions between countries. Within the capitalist world economy, 30 million ‘indentured’ workers were exported from India to British colonies, for example to work on the sugar plantations in the Caribbean. They were not slaves as they were paid a wage, but this wage was very low and they were forced to work under poor conditions. 631

The term secularization refers to a decline in the significance of religious beliefs and practices at a societal level, and it is often identified as a feature of contemporary Western societies. Secularization involves two processes: the of religion from public institutions, as it becomes more a matter of individual faith, and the of social life, as spiritual concerns become less important and more pragmatic, material, or intellectual ideas dominate the culture. 413

After a period of increasing equality of incomes in the 1960s and 1970s, the pattern in the 1980s was one of increasing inequality and relative poverty. This was in part due to high rates of unemployment, which made more people dependent on welfare benefits. Meanwhile, the level of benefits was reduced by the Conservative government, and so pensions and unemployment benefits were no longer enough to keep people out of poverty. 745-749

Sociologists often talk about the ‘life course’ rather than a rigid, universal ‘life cycle’ of stages that everyone will pass through. The stages of the life course generally include childhood, youth, adolescence, adulthood, middle age and old age. As people are living longer, it is argued that a ‘third age’ has emerged between middle age and old age, in which people have retired from work but remain active and independent. 459-463

When slavery was abolished in the 1860s, former slaves began to migrate from the southern to the northern states of the USA and to the industrial cities of Britain. Policy makers concerned with race relations optimistically argued that black and white groups would coexist harmoniously, as ethnic minorities would be ‘assimilated’ or acculturated into the dominant culture by abandoning their own cultural origins, and thus racial prejudice would disappear. 208

The experiences of migrants to a country tells us a great deal about race relations in that country. The idea of an ‘ethnic melting pot’ suggests that societies with a relatively open structure will accept people from various ethnic backgrounds, but that they will gradually accommodate to the values and lifestyle of the dominant culture. This was Warner’s view of the North American city in the twentieth century, but he found that it did not apply to the former black slaves: they continued to face prejudice and discrimination from white people, and racial segregation persisted in many southern states. 203-205

In the 1960s, a trend of ‘decarceration’ began, in response to criticisms of the punitive, restrictive nature of the care that was provided in what Goffman called ‘total institutions’ – prisons, hospitals, boarding schools and so on. Decarceration involved replacing inpatient/residential care with ‘care in the community’, as inmates were released from total institutions 566-567

The culture of the upper class is rooted in a traditional hierarchy of aristocratic landowners, and later capitalist entrepreneurs, who head different amounts of property, wealth and status. In the nineteenth century, the upper class was divided into the peerage and the gentry, and there was a rigid hierarchy within each, ranging from the Royal Family, through the hereditary peers (Marquisses, barons and so on), esquires and gentlemen. Social precedence was controlled by Acts of Parliament, and the table on page 798 shows how this informed the order of ceremony at formal state occasions. 796-800