Fiche de révision : British Society and Social Class

📋 Plan du Cours

1. Race Relations and Urban Riots
2. The Scarman Report
3. Historical British Social Classes
4. Working-Class Legacy and Economic Change
5. The Seven Classes of Modern Britain
6. Social Mobility and Class Persistence

📅 Repères chronologiques

1. 1900The Labour Party was founded.
2. 1924The first Labour government took office under Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald.
3. 1945–1951Clement Attlee’s Labour government established the welfare state.

📖 1. Race Relations and Urban Riots

★ À maîtriser

• The Race Relations Acts of 1968 made it illegal to refuse housing, employment or public services on grounds of colour, race, ethnic origin or national origin.

📌 The Immigration Act 1971 restricted the right of abode mainly to people with close ties to Britain, required permission for Commonwealth immigration and introduced time-limited residence and immigration control.

• The Race Relations Act 1976 made racial hatred unlawful.

Compléments

• In 1968, Conservative MP Enoch Powell declared immigration a great danger to Britain, called for “re-emigration” and described an inclusive society as delusional; the speech was an openly xenophobic political speech.

• The listed riots occurred in :

  • Brixton in 1981
  • Birmingham in 1984
  • Tottenham in 1985
  • Brixton in 1995
  • Bradford in 2001
  • London in 2011

💡 Astuce mémo

Racial tension and police violence → urban riots

📖 2. The Scarman Report

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Lord Scarman : Lord Scarman was an English judge and barrister who served as a Law Lord until retiring in 1986.

★ À maîtriser

• The Scarman report was commissioned to investigate the causes of the 1981 Brixton riots, improve the situation of ethnic minorities and prevent further riots.

• The report describes ethnic groups in inner cities facing high unemployment, inadequate housing and racial prejudice, while many feel like second-class citizens because of their skin colour.

📌 Scarman argued that the Asian community appeared to fare better than the Black community, which needed greater attention and support.

• Scarman advocated job opportunities and training in inner cities, more effective schooling, better housing and police reform to build community trust.

📌 Positive discrimination is unlawful, whereas positive action is lawful preferential treatment intended to encourage minorities.

Compléments

• The Brixton riots followed protests after 13 young people of colour died in a house fire and the incident was ignored by the media and politicians.

• Scarman attributed the Black community’s circumstances to historical accidents, including slavery, racism and discrimination, police violence and the lack of recognition of its contribution to rebuilding the country.

• Scarman criticised the authorities for doing little to help minorities between 1981 and 1985, calling those years “years of lost opportunities”.

• British society is multicultural, and a proposed next step is redefining national identity to foster belonging among both majority and minority groups.

📖 3. Historical British Social Classes

★ À maîtriser

• The six historical classes were :

  • the upper class
  • the upper middle class
  • the lower middle class
  • the skilled working class
  • the unskilled working class
  • paupers

• In 1912, the proletariat represented 80% of working people.

📌 At the beginning of the twentieth century, Britain was both the richest and most powerful country and a society marked by stark domestic inequalities.

Compléments

• The upper class owned land and property, held titles and could belong to royalty.

• The upper middle class included shopkeepers and teachers who could own smaller properties than the upper class.

• The lower middle class included newer occupations such as administrative workers and public employees.

• The skilled working class included craftsmen and cooks, while the unskilled working class included peasants and manufacturing workers.

📖 4. Working-Class Legacy and Economic Change

★ À maîtriser

• The Trade Union Act 1871 established the right to strike.

• From the 1960s, the tertiary sector became larger than the secondary sector, alongside deindustrialisation and privatisation of public sectors.

• The secondary sector employed 80% of the UK workforce in 1912 and 14% in 2025; it includes manufacturing and construction.

Compléments

• The welfare state involved :
  • government provision of public services
  • social security
  • quality healthcare
  • gradual taxation

💡 Astuce mémo

A shrinking secondary sector gives way to a larger tertiary sector

📖 5. The Seven Classes of Modern Britain

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• The seven classes and their shares are :
  • elite: 6%
  • established middle class: 25%
  • technical middle class: 6%
  • new affluent workers: 15%
  • traditional working class: 14%
  • emergent service workers: 19%
  • precariat: 15%

Compléments

• The elite includes :

  • aristocrats
  • doctors
  • financiers
  • judges
  • CEOs

• The established middle class includes :

  • police officers
  • teachers
  • managers
  • engineers

• Technical middle-class occupations include scientific and technical professions such as programming.

• New affluent workers include :

  • electricians
  • plumbers
  • retail assistants
  • clerks

• Traditional working-class occupations include :

  • factory workers
  • lorry drivers
  • farmers
  • skilled craft workers

• Emergent service workers include restaurant staff, nursing staff, customer-service staff, delivery staff and musicians, while the precariat includes cleaners, drivers, care workers and cashiers.

📖 6. Social Mobility and Class Persistence

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Social mobility : Social mobility is movement from one social class to another, including upward movement to a higher class through effort and better opportunities.
• Third Way : The Third Way is a centrist political position that combines economically liberal and social-democratic policies to reconcile centre-right and centre-left politics.
• Professional job : A professional job requires education, specialised knowledge and advanced skills, usually including a degree; examples include lawyer, doctor, teacher, accountant, programmer and artist.
• Non-professional job : A non-professional job does not require advanced education or specialised training and may involve manual labour or specific skills, as in plumbing, cashiering, waiting, assisting or operating.

★ À maîtriser

• In 1997, Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair proposed a classless society with equal opportunities regardless of social background and no dominant social group.

• Dr Atkinson found that parents’ social background, including income and help with homework, strongly affects social prospects, and that middle-class people have greater geographical and occupational mobility than working-class people.

• Although only 7% of the population attended fee-paying schools, their former pupils made up the majority of people in higher managerial and professional occupations.

• Professional occupations are socially exclusive, making it harder for working-class people to enter them and reinforcing social reproduction.

• Social mobility in Britain remains difficult because family income, geography, ethnicity and inheritance affect opportunities, despite the greater fluidity of social classes in the twenty-first century.

Compléments

• Changing jobs, new occupations and greater flexibility blurred class boundaries and contributed to a revised classification in 2011.

• People who move from the poorest class to an upper class are called “trans class” or “class defectors”.

💡 Astuce mémo

The classless-society ideal contrasts with persistent social reproduction