'Identity in contemporary society Essay\r'

'How does clear influence identity operator in contemporary guild?The soma structure involves or so degree of do our identities. Income and paid work argon grand sources of mortal and incarnate identity. Social variety is a way of manikinifying the stinting and brotherly familys of a society, which involve some degree of inequality. For practice syndicateifying some people as poor, working class or midpoint class. We may adopt or contest these representations.\r\nPeople line their economical position through ideas ab expose the incomes and opportunities of others, therefrom identities ar influenced by income, whether we imagine peoples incomes to be in the middle or if we see it as among the rich and poor.\r\nThere are two primary(prenominal) traditions inside the concept of social class and its number on identity. These traditions are in the works of Karl Marx (1818-1883) and gook weber (1864-1920). While they differ in the mind of class and society, they share views on classes structured out of economic relationships.\r\nThe Marxist theory of class shows that the class a person belongs to is a fundamental part of their identity. For Marx, society generated two main classes, a capital-owning class and a property slight class. They c onlyed these the ruling class and the working class or the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. physique is rooted in the economic organization of output signal i.e. those groups who own factories, farms, coal mines or raw materials. These groups grammatical construction after their own interests, live in sympathetic surroundings and send their children to similar schools. Marx believed that class awareness is particularly important to our understanding of identity. This is an awareness of a shared class interest and the existence of classes with oppose interests. Class consciousness would emerge through solidarity and collective action. For Marx, the key factor is mysterious ownership of economic re sources.\r\nMax Webers theory saw class as important when forming an identity. Weber saw class as a group of singulars who put up certain interests in common; this is known as market position, for example having similar opportunities for earning income through work or trade. Weber recognised that status is also important within social groups. Status is the assorted amounts of prestige, honour or social standing that is attached to different social groups. So where we live, manner of speech, our schooling and leisure habits mold our social class. This would project maybe status could receive as much influence on identity as class. Webers theories would suggest that although, like Marx, agreed that different classes exist, Status was the key factor in decision making our identities and which group we belong to.\r\nClass is becoming to a greater extent diverse with wider reference points within the structures. Some sociologists contribute gone as far as to feel out class is de ad; (Pakulski and Waters, 1996), although a survey in 1996 showed that two thirds of those interviewed felt that there is one police for the rich and one for the poor (Adonis and Pollard, 1998, p.11)Sociologists and political scientists have argued that there has been a shift from collective to individual identities and also a shift from occupation to use patterns. It was argued that advantageously paid working class were adopting middle class values, therefore eroding class identity.\r\nA study at Vauxhalls Luton car plant (Goldthorpe et al., 1969), on car workers attitudes and class identity showed signs of a fragmenting project identity and a new one developing.\r\nThis would suggest that work based identities are becoming less important. The change in employment structures as well as job stability has maybe caused this shift.\r\n instrument Saunders put forward that consumption and lifestyle are now more than important in cause identities than occupation-based class. He ar gued that there was a growing division between those who could satisfy their consumption needs, through housing, cars and private health care and those who relied on public exaltation and state provided housing and health care. Saunders was criticized for being in put upual to prove that consumption influences peoples identities.\r\nTo conclude, social class green goddess provide us with a sense of be and how we can relate to the world around us. Who we are and what we do and have, change over time and economic structures such as inequality have an effect on our ideas of who we are and can be. However, although societies exist and portion within class structures it does not mean that all members of that society identify with a class. It seems as class is becoming more diverse, it is becoming less important within identity as individuality becomes more valued and encouraged.\r\nREFERENCE\r\nAdonis, A. and Pollard, S. (1998) A Class Act, Harmondsworth, Penguin.\r\nGoldthorpe, J., L ockwood, D., Bechhoffer, F. and Platt, J. (1969) The blind drunk Worker: Industrial Attitudes and Behaviour, Cambridge, Cambridge University PressPakulski, J. and Waters, M. (1996) The Death of Class, London, Sage.\r\n'