BLOG 2 INEQUALITIES & POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT

DEBATE TIME WHY ARE SOCIO-ECONOMIC INEQUALITIES HAPPENING??? WE NEED HELP AS A NATION ASAP!!!

“The success of democracy depends, in the end, on the reliability of the judgments we citizens make, and hence upon our capacity and determination to weigh arguments and evidence rationally.” (Irving Copi)

The foundation of our democracy and political arena are all based around the equal representation of individuals who live in the society around us (Geboers et al., 2012; Hoskins & Janmaat, 2015). We can establish this inequality and threat cause a divide in politics due to the disadvantaged individuals not voting due to the problems and unfairness they are suffering on a daily basis in their lives. Besides, not voting causes the disadvantaged to alienate themselves from society which therefore means that their political views and points aren’t being reflected within parliament due to them being disproportionally represented. BUT WHY AREN’T DISADVANTAGED INDIVIDUALS VOTING WHEN THEY ARE SUFFERING FROM INEQUALITY DAILY AND NEED HELP???

WATCHING THIS TEDTALK MAY GIVE YOU AN INSIGHT!!!

I personally believe that social class plays a major role to why indiviudals from disadvantaged backgrounds are not voting. Social class has been embedded into society and individuals from a very young age. Therefore, we would suggest that their is a generational inheritance privilege as some households are passing down the ways to be socially involved in politics in their nation. Those are more socially aware of politics and democracy are from upper class families (Ferguson, 2019). This table below portrays that the Conservatives outperformed Labour across all social grades. From above we can acknowledge that despite disadvantaged individuals not being taught politics within their household or wihtin the education system their is a clear distincition that class is not a major indicator to why inequality occurs. Finally, social class is one influence to why disadvantaged individuals don’t vote however, in contemporary society agents of socialisation are playing a major component to why conservatives are outshining any other party.

How Britain Voted in the 2019 General Election

From the table above you are probably confused and do not understand what A,AB, and C mean. Therefore the bullet points below will explain further allowing you to understand the full concept of social class.

  • Social Class A- Senior Professional
  • Social Class B- Lower Professional
  • Social Class C1- Skilled
  • Social Class C2- Semi-skilled
  • Social Class D/E- Low skilled/ Unemployed

Despite social class being used for statistics in general elections we can understand from the graph that it has assimulated with other factors and components to show a different aspects of class through other ways. For example, today’s social classfication has been redefined and had to reflect changes in employment and earnings. The most up to date measure of social class is now the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification.

Photo by Yasin Yusuf on Unsplash

Besides social class we can ackowledge that the household plays a major role in influencing the class of an individual. Parents born with or without privileges tend to pass on their societal position to their heritage or generation. Middle class households tend to promote a home environment where the indivuals can participate in open discussions and can reflect on their information they have been given, allowing them to build a conclusion (Hoskins et al., 2017). These skills are required in society to allow you to think politcally and get more involved in societal issues and problems which therefore infers that middle class families embed politics and democracy into their socialisation at home. However, this type of environment may not be present for lower class families due to single parent, lack of socialisation, poverty and pressure from peers. All of these attributes therefore mean that these indiviudals will not be as politically involved and aren’t going to share similar mindset to middle class households.

THIS IS WHY WE NEED CITIZENSHIP TO BE TAUGHT THROUGH THE EDUCATION SYSTEM!

The answer to solve disdavantaged individuals lives is to teach them the provision of citizenship education in school which will allow them expand their political arena and change their social class. According to Hoskins et al., 2017  & Janmaat, 2015 they believe that citizenship being taught in the education sector is the biggest solution to solving inequality. Education is one of the most important socialisation in people’s lives as it forms your identity and develops your skills. In September 2002, citizenship was made compulsory for students aged 11-16 in an attempt to develop a ‘good citizen’.  Research showed us that citizenship actively contributes to society through being socially and politically engaged (Geboers et al., 2012). Citizenship has the potential to equalize the field for inequality between different classes by teaching them skills outside of their household allowing equal access (Hoskins et al., 2017). This type of research is difficult to understand because not all schools teach citizenship therefore, it means to monitor those from lower socio-economic background are actaully being included (Ofsted, 2010).

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