Social Class in the 21st Century

Description

Why does social class matter more than ever in Britain today? How has the meaning of class changed? What does this mean for social mobility and inequality? A fresh take on social class from the experts behind the BBC's 'Great British Class Survey'. Why does social class matter more than ever in Britain today? How has the meaning of class changed? What does this mean for social mobility and inequality? In this book Mike Savage and the team of sociologists responsible for the Great British Class Survey look beyond the labels to explore how and why our society is changing and what this means for the people who find themselves in the margins as well as in the centre. Their new conceptualization of class is based on the distribution of three kinds of capital - economic (inequalities in income and wealth), social (the different kinds of people we know) and cultural (the ways in which our leisure and cultural preferences are exclusive) - and provides incontrovertible evidence that class is as powerful and relevant today as it's ever been. %%%A fresh take on social class from the experts behind the BBC's 'Great British Class Survey'. Social class has re-emerged as a topic of enormous scholarly and public attention. In this book, Mike Savage and the team of sociologists responsible for the Great British Class Survey report their definitive findings and propose a new way of thinking about social class in Britain today. The book presents the ideas and facts behind their new conceptualization of class- a new British class system composed of seven classes that reflect the unequal distribution of three kinds of capital- economic (inequalities in income and wealth); social (the different kinds of people we know) and cultural (the ways in which our leisure and cultural preferences are exclusive). This book looks beyond labels to explore how and why our society is changing and what this means for the people who find themselves in the margins as well as in the centre.

Mike Savage is Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics. He has written this book in collaboration with the team of sociology experts behind the Gret British Class Survey- Niall Cunningham, Fiona Devine, Sam Friedman, Daniel Laurison, Lisa Mckenzie, Andrew Miles, Helene Snee and Paul Wakeling.

This endlessly fascinating study... is indispensable if you want to understand modern Britain -- Rod Liddle * Sunday Times * A fascinating read, going deep into the interplay between wealth, culture and society, and making the strong case that traditional class divisions don't really help us to understand these forces any more . . . anybody in the UK discussing class henceforth will need to get this down of the shelf -- Hugo Rifkind * Times * Convincing and fascinating . . . this book marshals impressive evidence to show how inequality is increasing. -- Robert Colvile * Telegraph * There's something for everybody here . . . it will start many conversations * Evening Standard *