What is meant by embourgeoisement?

Embourgeoisement is the claim that better-paid manual workers were becoming middle class in their outlook, spending and way of life as their wages rose.

What did Goldthorpe and Lockwood find in the affluent worker research?

They found that well-paid car workers in Luton had an instrumental attitude to their jobs, working for money rather than satisfaction, but had not taken on middle-class social lives or politics, so the embourgeoisement claim was rejected.

What did Devine find when she returned to study Luton workers?

Devine found that working-class families had not become privatised and middle class: they kept kinship and neighbourhood ties and a working-class identity, while wanting a better standard of living.

What did Murray mean by an underclass?

Murray argued that a group had formed below the working class, marked by dependency on benefits, lone parenthood and detachment from work, and that its own behaviour caused its poverty.

Give one criticism of the idea of an underclass.

Critics argue that it blames the poor for structural causes such as unemployment, insecure contracts and low pay, and that research repeatedly finds poor people share mainstream attitudes to work.

WJEC A-Level Sociology 601-5237-0

Culture and the Social Construction of Culture

Topic overview Culture as a way of life Norms, values and beliefs Roles, status and role conflict Aspects of culture: dress, language, food and music Heritage and cultural tradition in Wales High culture, popular culture and global culture Nature, nurture and the social construction of culture Cultural diversity and sub-cultures

Socialisation and Its Agencies

Topic overview Primary and secondary socialisation Role models, imitation and sanctions Families and primary cultural transmission Peer groups as an agency of socialisation Education as an agency of socialisation Religion as an agency of socialisation The media as an agency of socialisation Work, resocialisation and total institutions Formal and informal social control

Socialisation and Identity

Topic overview Personal and social identity Theories of identity: structural, interactionist and postmodern Gender socialisation and gender identity Masculinity, femininity and change in gender identities Social class and identity Class change, mobility and the underclass Ethnicity and identity Nationality, national identity and Britishness Welsh identity and the Welsh language

Families and HouseholdsAcquiring Culture

Topic overview Defining families and households Family forms and family diversity in England and Wales Ethnic, cultural and religious diversity in family life Marriage, cohabitation and singlehood Divorce and separation Fertility, birth rates and family size Life expectancy, ageing and the beanpole family The domestic division of labour Power, decision-making and domestic violence Childhood and parent–child relationships Functionalist and New Right theories of the family Marxist and feminist theories of the family Postmodernism, the life course and personal life

Youth CulturesAcquiring Culture

Topic overview Youth and the social construction of adolescence The media and the formation of youth culture Economic change, consumption and the youth market Globalisation and youth culture Social class and youth subcultures Gender and youth culture Ethnicity and youth culture National identity, Welshness and youth culture Neo-tribes and the changing nature of youth culture Youth deviance, delinquency and crime Anti-school subcultures and the labelling of youth Functionalist and Marxist theories of youth culture Feminist, interactionist and postmodernist theories of youth culture

Research Methods: Primary and Secondary

Topic overview Questionnaires Structured interviews Unstructured and semi-structured interviews Focus groups Participant observation Non-participant and structured observation The social survey Ethnographic methods Longitudinal studies Existing sociological research as secondary data Official statistics and Welsh Government data Personal and public documents

Sampling, Ethics and Practical Issues

Topic overview Target populations, sampling frames and access Simple random and systematic random sampling Stratified random sampling Quota sampling Snowball and volunteer sampling Purposive and opportunity sampling Informed consent, deception and the right to withdraw Anonymity, confidentiality and privacy Sensitivity, vulnerability and protection from harm Practical constraints: operationalisation, time and cost

Key Concepts and Theories of Research

Topic overview Validity in sociological research Reliability and replication Representativeness and generalisability Objectivity, value freedom and bias Ethics as a criterion for judging research Positivism and the scientific study of society Interpretivism and verstehen Realism and the critical realist approach Choosing an approach: theory and method in practice

EducationUnderstanding Society

Topic overview The role and function of education in society Social class and differential attainment Gender and differential attainment Ethnicity and differential attainment Participation, choice and the marketisation of education Education policy in England and Wales since 1944 Welsh-medium education and the Curriculum for Wales Material factors and educational attainment Cultural capital and cultural deprivation Labelling, streaming and pupil subcultures Functionalist and New Right theories of education Marxist theories of education Feminist, interactionist and postmodernist theories of education

MediaUnderstanding Society

Topic overview The role and function of the media in contemporary society Models of media effects: the hypodermic syringe and cultural effects Active audiences: uses and gratifications and reception theory Moral panics and folk devils New media, globalisation and the digital divide Ownership and control of the media Media professionals, news values and agenda setting Representations of social class and age Representations of gender Representations of ethnicity, nationality and disability Media policy and regulation in Wales and England Pluralist and Marxist theories of the media Functionalist, feminist and postmodernist theories of the media

ReligionUnderstanding Society

Topic overview The role and function of religion in contemporary society Religion in Wales: chapel, nonconformity and the Welsh language Religion as a conservative force and as a force for change Patterns of religious participation by social class and age Gender and religiosity Ethnicity and religiosity in England and Wales Churches, denominations, sects and cults New religious movements and new age movements Fundamentalism and religion in a globalised world Secularisation in England and Wales Religion and social policy in England and Wales Functionalist, Marxist and neo-Marxist theories of religion Weberian, feminist and postmodernist theories of religion

Crime and DeviancePower and Control

Topic overview Defining crime, deviance and social control Crime and deviance as social constructs The media, moral panics and the fear of crime Social class and crime Gender and feminist explanations of crime Ethnicity, policing and the criminal justice system Age and crime Police recorded crime and the dark figure Victim surveys and self-report studies Crime, policing and social policy in Wales Functionalist and subcultural theories of crime Marxist and neo-Marxist theories of crime Interactionism, labelling and postmodernist theories of crime Left realism, right realism and crime control policy

Health and DisabilityPower and Control

Topic overview Defining health, illness and disease The biomedical model and the social model of health The social construction of disability Official statistics and the measurement of health Social class and health inequalities Gender and health Ethnicity and health Age and health Artefact, selection, cultural and material explanations Access to and provision of health care in England and Wales Medicalisation and the role of health professionals Health policy in England and Wales Functionalist, Marxist and interactionist theories of health Feminist and postmodernist views of health and disability

World SociologyPower and Control

Topic overview Defining and measuring development Global inequalities in health and education Employment, poverty and the global division of labour Patterns of inequality in England and Wales Population, demographic change and development Urbanisation and marginalisation Aid, debt and non-governmental organisations Globalisation and development Transnational corporations and world trade Modernisation theory and its critics Marxist, dependency and world systems theories Feminist explanations of development

Applied Methods: Designing Sociological Research

Topic overview Choosing a research topic and framing the aim Hypotheses, operationalisation and indicators Justifying the chosen method Anticipating problems with the chosen method and their impact Selecting and justifying a sample Anticipating problems with the sample and their impact Ethical issues in a research design Practical issues in a research design Presenting collected data

Social Inequality: Evidence and Patterns

Topic overview Measuring social class in Britain The distribution of income and wealth Work and pay: occupational inequality Class inequality: the evidence Gender inequality: the evidence Ethnic inequality: the evidence Age inequality: the evidence Disability and inequality Power and political inequality Poverty and social exclusion Inequality in Wales: the evidence base

Theories and Explanations of Inequality and Stratification

Topic overview Social stratification: the core concepts Functionalist explanations of inequality Marxist explanations of inequality Neo-Marxist explanations of inequality Weberian explanations of inequality Neo-Weberian explanations of inequality Feminist explanations of inequality Postmodernist explanations of inequality New Right explanations of inequality Comparing and evaluating theories of stratification

Socialisation and Identity

Class change, mobility and the underclass

3 things to know
AS Unit 1

Overview

Recall questions on the affluent worker research, proletarianisation, the underclass debate, the precariat, long-range mobility, relative poverty, and how class shapes ambition.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

What is the precariat?

Key term

What is proletarianisation?

Key term

Define social mobility.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What is meant by embourgeoisement?
Model answer
Embourgeoisement is the claim that better-paid manual workers were becoming middle class in their outlook, spending and way of life as their wages rose.
2
What did Goldthorpe and Lockwood find in the affluent worker research?
Model answer
They found that well-paid car workers in Luton had an instrumental attitude to their jobs, working for money rather than satisfaction, but had not taken on middle-class social lives or politics, so the embourgeoisement claim was rejected.
3
What did Devine find when she returned to study Luton workers?
Model answer
Devine found that working-class families had not become privatised and middle class: they kept kinship and neighbourhood ties and a working-class identity, while wanting a better standard of living.
4
What is proletarianisation?
Model answer
Proletarianisation is the argument that routine white-collar work has become deskilled, low-paid and closely supervised, so the people doing it are effectively working class.
5
What did Murray mean by an underclass?
Model answer
Murray argued that a group had formed below the working class, marked by dependency on benefits, lone parenthood and detachment from work, and that its own behaviour caused its poverty.
6
Give one criticism of the idea of an underclass.
Model answer
Critics argue that it blames the poor for structural causes such as unemployment, insecure contracts and low pay, and that research repeatedly finds poor people share mainstream attitudes to work.

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Culture and the Social Construction of Culture

Socialisation and Its Agencies

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