Social Class 1

Social Class 1

IGCSE Sociology

Learning Objectives:

• Define social mobility

• Explain the relationship between social class and social mobility

• Explain how social class is measured​

IGCSE Sociology

Open Ended

Answer the question:

What comes to mind when you hear the word social class? Why do you think you have such an idea?

Measuring Social Class

No agreement on how it is measured but the following can be taken into account when defining it...

• Wealth

• Income

• Housing

• Occupation

• Level of education/qualification

• Status

• Lifestyle​

The movement between classes.

​

The movement of individuals or groups from one class to another.​

Social Mobility

moving up the class ladder

​

Example: from working class to the middle class​

​​Upward

moving down the class ladder

​

Example: middle class to the working class​

​​Downward

Movement of a whole class. For example: all working class will move up and replace the middle class ​

​​Block

movement of an individual or family form one class to another

​​Individual

​Types of Social Mobility

Take place between generation; for example, the child of working-class parents who is successful in education and enters a middle-class profession is mobile in this way

Intergenerational Mobility

​

Take place within one generation; for example, a man may start his working life in a working-class job but move up to become manager.

Intragenerational mobility

​

Open Ended

Is social mobility important?

What kind of society have more social mobility for individuals?

Social Mobility Factors

• Getting education an qualification to improve your chances of bring upwardly mobile

• Getting promotion and career advancement

• Marrying someone of a different class

• Changes in wealth, for example becoming wealth through inheritance or winning a lottery

Open Ended

Closing Questions:

What can influence social mobility?

How can you improve your social mobility in the future?