Class Consciousness in England

Hello.

It's me, Emma. And in this second blog post, I will focus on class consciousness in England. 

Living in Britain has made me realize how a lot of them are very aware of their social status. Probably more than many in most countries. Oxford is an expensive school to go to, and most students have a hard time making enough money to get all the supplements necessary for the following time. So social classes is definitely an current topic, and it has even been brought up in different classes. The fact that I've become a part of this society where classes matter a great deal, is really interesting to me, and therefor, I will write more about it..

But first, I have to explain what class consciousness is. Class consciousness refers to ones awareness of one's own economic or social place in society, or the fact that you feel a connection with those who belong to the same class as oneself. 

I recently read a paper written by Jack Grove for the Times Higher Education, and he stated that a huge amount of British academics are being sidelined because they have an accent. Therefor, many of them change their entire way of speaking because they are tired of being mocked by their colleges. The reason why other academics discriminate their fellow workers with a wider accent is because there is a great social difference in the work place, and according to Michelle Addison (student at Newcastle), the desire by universities to be "elite", forced the academics with accents to speak in a more civilized or push way, just because talking with an accent makes it seem like you are a part of a lower class.

Not too long ago, a huge survey was done in Britain, and it reveals that there are seven social classes in the UK today (which comes as a shock to some because there only used to be three - upper-, middle- and working-class). Over 160 000 people participated in this survey, and they say it is the largest study of classes in the United Kingdom ever. These classes are from Precariat at the bottom, and all the way up to Elite. The reason why they decided to go through with this, was because survey gave a good sense of classes in the 21st Century Britain. In the survey, there are three different capitals they use to find out which class you belong to - economical, cultural and social. 

Take the test for yourself, and find out which class you belong to online at BBC!

Sources:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/04/british-academics-try-hide-regional-accents-study-finds

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22007058