There is a common misconception fostered by many Britons that with the growing diversity and the growing influence of globalization in the country Great Britain has become a classless society. This myth is further reinforced by the proclamations made by different political dignitaries like former British Prime Minister John Major who expressed the desire to create a 'classless society of opportunity' after he came into power back in 1990s (Lewis, 2013). Not only John Major, another Prime Minister of Great Britain Tony Blair also proclaimed in his speech in 1999 that "the class war is over" (Marsden, 1999). But in reality even after more than a decade later, the class war is far from over. A recent survey popular as ‘the Great British Class Survey’ conducted by Mike Savage from the London School of Economics and Fiona Devine from the University of Manchester in 2013 came up with the finding that there exists 7 classes in British society as of today.
The survey which was completed by 160,000 participants showed that the seven existing classes include elite, established middle class, technical middle class, new affluent workers, emergent service workers, traditional working class and precariat (BBC #1, 2013). Judged on the basis of three capitals - economic capital, social capital and cultural capital, the survey revealed that elite is the most privileged class in the country with all the three capitals in its possession while precariat is the most deprived class lying at the bottom rung of the society. Established middle class is the section which though has the three capitals in its possession is not as high as the Elite in social status while technical middle class is an emerging group of people with high economic capital but less cultural and social capital. New Affluent Workers have high level of social and cultural capital but moderate level of economic capital while emergent service workers are young people with low level of economical capital but high level of emerging cultural and social capital (BBC #1, 2013). Thus the results of the Great British Class Survey show how class system is still rooted in the social fabric of Great Britain.
That class is still prominent in the culture of Great Britain shows in the trend of attaching ‘elitism’ with private schools. Every single sphere of British society is dominated by people who have completed their education in private schools and belong to affluent middle class sections (Hope, 2013). In the UK, the school system is divided into two types - State School and Private School. State school is where education is administered free of charge whereas education is a paid affair in private schools. Private school education is pretty expensive, the average annual fee hovering between £10,000 and £13,000 (Moor, 2013). Average cost of studying in private boarding school is about £18,828 annually which could be afforded by only 6% people in the UK. Since education in private schools is expensive, only students belonging to upper middle class or wealthy families study in private schools. Though only about 7% children in the UK go to private schools, yet about 45% of them get admission in the prestigious universities of the UK. Some of the illustrious public personalities including Winston Churchill, Lord Byron, current Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg all have studied in elite private schools of Britain such as Harrow, St. Paul's and Eton (Oxbridge Essays, 2011). According to author and columnist George Monbiot, “British private schools create a class culture of a kind unknown in the rest of Europe" (Monbiot, 2008). Private schools being considered as elite, students studying in these schools are often labeled as 'toffs' and believed to be snob and arrogant.
Even though Margaret Thatcher and some other politicians have proclaimed time and again that Britain is a classless society, it is actually not true. Class consciousness is something deeply rooted in the psyche of Britons. There are almost 10 million men and women working for a yearly wage of £15,000 or less (Hutton, 2010). Almost all of these 10 million people have come from a background with parents having worked under similar circumstances. Furthermore, there are class conscious people hailing from upper and middle class families making sure that their children also maintain the same social status in the society. Moving across the class is still not easy. It is observed that often a talented boy born and raised in a poor family may not achieve as much as someone hailing from a rich background. Many children raised in poor social structure are often labelled as less deserving than their rich counterparts with similar talents (Hutton, 2010). Children born and raised in poor families may have had to overcome a lot of challenging situations to be in a position to compete with their rich counterparts but due to class consciousness so integrated in the social system, their struggles are often overlooked and completely ignored. The worst part of the whole class consciousness is that rich people believe that they deserve their position despite very little efforts made by them to acquire that position. Rich people also believe that poor people are poor because they don't work hard. This mindset continues with class consciousness being passed on from one generation to the next. Great Britain cannot be purged of class till the time this class consciousness remains entrenched in the society.
In conclusion, class which has been an integral part of British culture is very much prominent even to this day in Great Britain despite proclamations made by different political leaders like John Major and Tony Blair that the English society has become classless with the growing diversity and globalization making an impact on social landscape of the country. The myth of 'classless society' becomes apparent in the results revealed by the Great British Class Survey which conducted on 160,000 participants in Great Britain shows that there are at least 7 types of class existing in the country. The prevalence of class culture shows in the trend of attaching elitism with private school education. Private school education is an expensive affair which could be afforded by only a small percentage of people in the UK. Despite only 7% children in the UK going to private schools, 45% of them get admission in prestigious universities of the UK. It has been observed that a good chunk of illustrious public personalities including Lord Byron, Winston Churchill, David Cameron and many other notable politicians have completed their education in private schools only. Furthermore, the deep-rooted class consciousness in the minds of Britons is another factor to have the class system prevailing in Great Britain. Till the time Great Britain remains under the influence of class dominated social fabric, elimination of class from the society is not entirely possible.
Work Cited
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