Politics, in my opinion is very important in society. Whether it’s boring or not, major decisions are made via voting and other political actions like protests. However, some inequalities come into play when having an interest in the government. Social class is very significant when it comes to political engagement. Lower social class backgrounds are stereotyped to disengage in political matters. In my opinion this stems from the education system. In my blog I will prove how social class affects political engagement and explain how this can potentially lead to inequalities in the education system.

In contemporary society, social grading is the most predominant factor in contrast to social class in surveys and other forms of numeric data obtained. Social grading is dependent on the breadwinner’s work occupation as well as how much they earn. The occupation of the breadwinner is generalised for the whole household and they are placed in a certain category. Figure 1 shows the different categories of social grades.

Figure 1. Social grading in society (Ipsos MORI 2009)

The highest social grades are evident as social grades AB. The highest occupations within society, in total, form 27% of the population and these consist of the managerial and professional jobs. However, the lowest social grades DE are combined and form 23% of the population. These occupations are formed of manual workers as well as unemployed individuals who are reliant on benefits.

Figure 2. Graph showing percentage of every social grade’s turnout in 2015 and 2017 election (Ipsos MORI 2015 and 2017)

Figure 2 shows the contrast of 2015 and 2017 elections via each social grade. Comparing the highest social grades and the lowest social grades, there is a clear distinction. The evidence indicates that those in grades AB had a higher turnout in comparison to DE. This is very predictable that grades AB are more likely to go and vote.

It is an interesting finding but what does it mean? How does socioeconomic inequalities link to political engagement? It indicates that individuals in lower socioeconomic classes do not politically engage as much as the higher classes. There are many reasons for this and one is timing as well as concern in politics. (Verba et al 1995) As people of lower socioeconomic status are not as financially stable as Bourgeoisie’s, their main concern is working and financially supporting their family rather than being a strong politics follower, which makes sense. Similarly, there is a lack of interest due to not following politics or having time to go out and vote. Finances are a must whereas in their defense politics is not.

Personally, I believe that education is what really affects the turnout on lower socioeconomic classes from not participating. Living in the United Kingdom, and going to school here, I can honestly say that I have not really had political education as a subject or that was consistent, taking into consideration I went to a humanities school. The only political engagement was me forming a debates club and once a month we would have a large school debate. However, it wasn’t studied as an essential or valued as much as facilitating subjects which is quite unusual for a democratic country. This shows a small link to political engagement and education according to (Schusmann and Soule 2005). As political education does not really have funding, it is left untaught and individuals learn to grow with the mentality of politics not being as significant in their lives. This potentially leads to individuals not voting and politically engage when they are older. Similarly, socioeconomic status is linked to education; the higher your socioeconomic background, the better quality of education you receive. There is a ‘postcode lottery’ of education due to material and relative deprivation. The Bourgeoisie’s are most likely to receive and provide political education and this enables a cycle of higher socioeconomic classes having a better quality of education. “Negro students and teachers are largely and unequally segregated from their white counterparts, and that the average minority pupil achieves less…than the average white pupil”. (Coleman et al. 1966).

Figure 3. Showing political participation later in life; those who went college and those who did not (Kam and Palmer, 2008)

“In short, selection processes that affect educational attainment determine participation in the short-term, eight years following high school. Further, these selection processes continue to influence participation up to 17 years thereafter.” This study was the third wave of the Political Socialisation Study and shows that 2.94 of college attendees participated in politics later in life, however 1.83 of non-attendees participated. This shows the effect of education and how individuals participate more with education; in this case further.

In conclusion, education is a major factor with socioeconomic classes and political engagement. Those of which are in a lower social grade, are less likely to endure politics compared to those who identify with a higher social class.

Bibliography

• Coleman, J. et al. (1966) Equality of Educational Opportunityavailable online at https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED012275 (accessed March 2019)
• IPSOS Mori (2009) Social Grade: A Classification Toolavailable  at: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/publication/6800-03/MediaCT_thoughtpiece_Social_Grade_July09_V3_WEB.pdf (Accessed March 2019)
• IPSOS Mori (2015) How Britain Voted in 2015available at: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/how-britain-voted-2015 (Accessed March 2019)
• IPSOS Mori (2017) How Britain Voted in 2017 available at: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/how-britain-voted-2017-election(Accessed March 2019)
• Kam, C. and Palmer, C. (2008). Reconsidering the Effects of Education on Political Participation. The Journal of Politics, 70(3), pp.612-631. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1017/s0022381608080651?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents (Accessed March 2019)
• Schusmann, A. and Soule, S. (2005) Process and Protest: Accounting for Individual Protest Participation in Social Forces, 84 (2), pp 1083-1108
• Verba, S., Schlozman, K. and Brady, H. (2002). Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. 4th ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.