Discrepancy in the social status of people and families has been a dominant characteristic of the society throughout the history of the human species. Before and during the advent of the industrial age in the 18th century, the society in Western Europe was stratified into noblemen, merchants, peasants and the snobs (Conley, Lareau 2008, pp 61). In other words, there were the rich and the poor and the gap between them was enormous. The socio-economic and political revolutions that characterized the times led to a significant bridging of the rich and the poor particularly the clamour for equality, political participation and land ownership rights empowered many people to climb up the social ladder (Conley, Lareau 2008, pp 64). But today, social classes continue to exist. The questions are, are these classes natural Can an individual be systematically destined to belong to a particular class The answer is no.
Over a century of activism and a struggle aimed at ensuring that each member of a given society has equal rights and opportunities has given the destiny of each person into his or her own hands (Barrow 2009). In the year 1859, the father of modern genetics Charles Darwin fronted his concept of the Struggle for Existence in his book On the Origin of Species. Many biologists in Western Europe were captivated by his projections especially on the theory of natural selection most of them rushing out of the scientific context to project a direct translation of Darwins hypotheses onto humanity. The Victorian society in particular readily embraced the theory of natural selection and haphazardly translated Darwinian ideals out of their scientific context to justify the privileges they enjoyed over their fellow men (Ramesh 2009).
In the modern Western European era, multicultural interaction, a globalised economy and increased integration of international operations has skewed the traditional perception of classes (Ramesh 2009). It does not mean, however, that the society especially in Great Britain is not as class-ridden as it used to be modern features and characteristics of social stratification have emerged to replace the medieval system. Presently, people are classified according to their occupations and their living standards (Cody, 2002). Doctors, university professors, engineers and players in other specialized professional disciplines are accorded more social status than unskilled and casual labourers. How far an individual ascends in his or her professional discipline corresponds to his level of socio-economic and political affluence.
Today, the society in Great Britain like in many other modern societies can be considered to have three broad classes. The Upper Class is made up of descendants of some of the oldest families who have inherited a lot of property from their lineage (Barrow 2009). Most upper class citizens have been titled aristocrats and bear the greatest persuasive power. The Middle Class forms the largest strata of the society and comprised of professionals, business owners, investors, industrialists and shop owners (Barrow 2009). The lower class also called the working class draws its composition from the agricultural households, factory, mine and construction workers and all other non-specialised professionals.
Social conflicts occur in the modern society because of a clash between the classes, the biggest evidence that social classes are not natural. The structure of society is determined by the relationship between its classes (Salazar 2005, pp. 36). Lower classes strive to raise their standards so that they can reap the benefits of nature just like their more privileged counterparts but bureaucrats at the same time deliberately tilt the scales so that the status quo is maintained. Class is defined solely on property ownership and the corresponding affluence (Conley, Lareau 2008, pp. 72). History takes us back to a time in England when the throne was the sole owner of all land and granted leaseholds according the way it deemed fit. Of course such imperialism has vanished, and statements have been uttered time and again to the effect that the working class has disappeared, the overall living standards are improving and that the gap between the rich and the poor is getting smaller by the day, pointing to the ongoing de-industrialisation of the British economy over the last four decades. The reality of the matter is that classes still largely exist in Britain. Even though globalisation has transferred monumental numbers of casual jobs to Eastern Europe and the Far East, there are still over five million people working in the manufacturing construction industries in the United Kingdom (Morris 2005, pp. 112). Exploitation of these people by a capitalist system is inevitable, so their quality of life continues to deteriorate while the elite of the society continue to thrive.
Independent surveys show that overall standards of living have been rising in Britain, but the country still lags way behind when compared to other industrialised nations when it comes to the connection between education and the opportunities it opens (Morris 2005, pp. 116). The elite are getting more educated while the lower classes continue to wallow in relative ignorance. There is a discrepancy in the quality of life from the onset between a child born in the upper and middle classes and those born in the lower class. Growing up in poverty with constraints in the quality of housing, diet and the lifestyle one lives plus the lack of the capacity by parents in the lower to critically help their sons and daughters relegates members of this class into the poorer neighbourhoods with a low quality social and educational infrastructure (Conley Lareau 2008, pp. 82). The services these children gain do not give them the capacity to compete on an equal footing with their counterparts who have access to all the social amenities and other resources they may need to make a life for themselves. This process is analogous to Darwins theory of natural selection but in the opposite sense.
As must be evident by now, unequal distribution of resources is the cause of the occurrence of classes and a persistent poverty cycle (Salazar 2005, pp. 52). The acquisition of quality housing, a balanced diet and healthy lifestyles education need a long-term adjustment in the structure of society and the economic and political dispensation so that parity can be established leaving the provision of quality education as the only readily available and effective strategy of freeing citizens in the lower classes from the quagmire they have been stuck in for so long.
Poor neighbourhoods should be allocated more public resources to invest in education and health facilities so that the deprivation they have been subjected to can be compensated to some degree and their dependency on welfare minimised. The amount of resources allocated presently is insufficient, plus the approach the system uses for restoring parity is not viable. Overtaxing the super wealthy who are still making more money cannot end the inequalities in society and unless exploitation and inequality are systematically culled from the socio-economic dispensation, classes are still going to exist in the society against the natural order of things the way they are supposed to be.
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