Social Class In British Society

The sociological imagination allows us to analysis the nature of class and inequality within British society using the participants as samples of different classes within the social hierarchy. Through 28 up we see that participants’ life trajectories are determined by their social class and the education they have received. However the participants do not alway see that their life course has been determined by the the opportunities and constraints they have had based on their social social standing. Rather they see it as their own actions and choices that have led them to particular outcomes.

In 28 up we can see the clear lack of equal distribution of resources between different social classes in British society. This is exemplified through …show more content…
It is clear that by the age of seven depending on a child’s social class and the education they receive that their life trajectory has more or less already been determined for them by social structures’ put in place by society. We can see how the participants are socialised through their education and how their different school systems begins to shape their aspirations and expectations of where there lives are going to take them. As well as where they feel they belong, as different schools allow different social connections and opportunities. As Paul a working class brick layer who started his education in a children 's home says, “I think it was pretty obvious that I wasn 't going to be a doctor.” However, in comparison, when three boys from upper class privileged backgrounds who went to exclusive private schools from a very young age, John, Andrew and Charles were asked about their future education at age seven they could all outline their full future academic career. “When I …show more content…
For example John who has clearly had a very privileged up bringing insists that it was his hard work that has allowed him to have a high ranking social standing as a successful barrister. “All this talk about opportunities it’s something I did slightly object to in the program … it implied we just sailed through … it didn 't show the sleepless nights, the pouring over our books … all the sweat and toil that got us to university, it was presented as just part of some indestructible birth right.” John very much disagrees with the assumption that the upper class inherit their privilege and doesn 't fully acknowledge that it was the opportunities he had because of his social class that led him to lead the life he does. Participants from lower social classes who experience struggles with education and family also tend to blame themselves and their own actions in determining their life trajectory, instead of seeing the social circumstances that shaped the pathways and options they had open for them. For example Paul downplays his structural constraints saying, “I didn 't work hard enough I was just very lazy at school, you know if you’re lazy and you don 't work at school you suffer for it.” However as we the viewers, who are able to compare the life trajectories of all