As someone from a working class family that attended a comprehensive school, I have realised rich people dominate electoral/non-electoral politics and the government. Politics never featured in my childhood, but according to my middle class friends politics was everywhere. I therefore think families and schools trigger this domination by providing working class people little political knowledge. This alienates the working class trapping them in a political disengagement cycle that travels across generations.

Firstly, what is social class?

It is a contested concept used interchangeably with socio-economic status. Marx (1891), for example, argued owning the means of production determines social class, but Roberts (2011) argues tastes and habits shape social class. Nevertheless, social class has economic undertones, so I cite Biressi and Nunn (2013) who argue social class is formed through material conditions, early disadvantage or privilege, and life chances.

Now that’s cleared up, let’s address how social grade measures social class:

Figure 1: Social grades (Ipsos MORI, 2009).

This model categorises people by occupation with the ABC1 and C2DE group comprising the middle class and working class respectively. But, what about political engagement? Our involvement with politics, remember?

Figure 2: Electoral turnout (Ipsos MORI, 2019)

Well, in recent elections and the EU referendum, the ABC1 groups turnout was 64-74% over 53-62% for the C2DE groups.

Figure 3: Political Activity (Uberoi and Johnston, 2019)

Further divides permeate non-electoral politics with 41-48% of the C2DE group participating in political activities over 66-83% of the ABC1 group. A miserable picture indeed.

Moreover, most MP’s are middle class graduates with 27% being privately educated (BBC News, 2019).

You get the point, working class people are politically disengaged.

So, what do you think triggers these inequalities?

I think families unequal economic and cultural capital starts everything. Economic capital denotes financial resources, while cultural capital encapsulates the qualifications, knowledge and goods one has (Bourdieu, 1986). Loaded middle class people with myriad books and qualifications can thus teach their children political engagement. For example- By encouraging children to read and increasing their confidence or discussing politics. Campbell (2008) for example argues domestic political discussion impacts engagement. It seems trivial, but middle class children can internalise civic competence. This includes knowledge and values required for active citizenship such as political knowledge and voting intentions (Hoskins et al., 2011).

This creates a habitus– a specific social class worldview (Bourdieu, 1984). This causes middle class children to appreciate politics all before attending school.

Schools then exacerbate everything. Did you have student councils, debates, mock elections, citizenship lessons? What was everyone’s social class?

I never had student councils etc let alone citizenship lessons. Many pupils were working class too. My family gave me little political knowledge, yet I was denied learning opportunities. Ironic really.

Schools thus start social reproduction by providing political learning unequally (Hoskins and Janmaat, 2019). Social reproduction encapsulates how social hierarchies are recreated (Cribb and Gewirtz, 2009). For instance- Hoskins and Janmaat (2019) found middle class students join mock elections more and experience an open classroom climate which privileges discussion. This intensifies engagement inequalities by giving middle class students political engagement pre-requisites such as self-efficacy.

Image: Wolf (2015).

Schools polarising working class children into vocational qualifications then fuels the fire as vocational courses lack debating opportunities which cultivate political engagement (Hoskins and Janmaat, 2016). So, surprise, working class children miss out AGAIN.

It’s not all bad news though as Hoskins and Janmaat (2019) found working class pupils develop voting intentions when taught citizenship. Citizenship education is beneficial, look:

Video: Citizenship #OurVoiceYourChoice (2018)

However, I must burst this bubble – as working class homes undermining political engagement and schools providing inadequate political education – causes social class and age to intersect and create disengaged working class adults (Collins and Bilge, 2016). Mainly because middle class children grow up to vote etc and become politicians, while working class children reject politics as they lack the cultural capital, habitus and education. Who would participate if they don’t understand politics anyway?

Working class people then become alienated and discard middle class politicians who claim to represent them (Holmes and Manning, 2013). Let’s face it rich brainbox MP’s share nothing with the working class.

This all culminates in a vicious cycle where working class people transmit their disengagement across generations. With current family and school arrangements, these children then pass this disengagement further. This guarantees the rich dominate politics. Basically because rich people will always be politically engaged and so participate and enter government most. Are we really a democracy premised on equal participation with this social reproduction then?

This low political knowledge, alienation and the cycle it creates contextualises the graphs depicting low working class political participation and Parliament’s demographics.

I have partly challenged this cycle by voting, but many do not. So, what can we do?

Firstly, teachers could provide working class parents resources about politics to discuss at home. Schools must then provide political education equally. Furthermore, please research politics and vote, protest etc! This can halt the rich dominating politics by making our voices louder! We can gain political power by participating enough.

Change is possible if we and educational institutions act.

But, the big question, do you desire change?

831 WORDS.

Bibliography:
BBC News (2019) Election 2019: Britain’s most diverse Parliament. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50808536 (Accessed: 4th April 2020).

Biressi, A. and Nunn, H. (2013) Class and Contemporary Culture. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction. London: Routledge.

Bourdieu, P. (1986) The Forms of Capital, in Richardson, J.G (ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. New York: Greenwood. pp 241-258.

Campbell, D.R. (2008) Voice in the classroom: how an open classroom climate fosters political engagement among adolescents. Political Behaviour. 30 (4) pp 437-454.

Citizenship #OurVoiceYourChoice (2018) The Importance of Citizenship Education. 30th April. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59IUqc0JSSQ (Accessed: 6th April 2020).

Collins, H.P and Bilge, S. (2016) Intersectionality. Cambridge: Polity.

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Holmes, M. and Manning, N. (2013) Political dissatisfaction amongst members of the white working class. The Sociological Review. 61 (1) pp. 479-498.

Hoskins et al. (2011) Comparing Civic Competence among European Youth: Composite and Domain-Specific Indicators Using IEA Civic Education Study Data. Comparative Education Review. 55 (1) pp. 82-110.

Hoskins, B. & Janmaat, J. G. (2016) Education trajectories and inequalities of political engagement among adolescents in England. Social Science Research. 56 pp. 73-89.

Hoskins, B, and Janmaat, J.G (2019) Education, Democracy and Inequality: Political Engagement and Citizenship Education in Europe. London: Palgrave MacMillan.

Ipsos MORI (2009) Social Grade, A Classification Tool. Available at: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/publication/6800-03/MediaCT_thoughtpiece_Social_Grade_July09_V3_WEB.pdf (Accessed: 25th March 2020).

Ipsos MORI (2019) How the voters Voted in the 2019 election. Available at: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2019-12/general-election-2019-poll-aggregate-v8.pdf (Accessed: 25th March 2020).

Marx, K. (1891) Wage Labour and Capital. London: The Perfect Library.

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Uberoi E. and Johnston, N. (2019) Political disengagement in the UK: who is disengaged? Available at: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7501/CBP-7501.pdf (Accessed: 26th March 2020).

Wolf, T. (2015) Stonehurst Hills Elementary School. Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/governortomwolf/17938125051 (Accessed: 14th April 2020).