British+social+conditions

= toc The social hierarchy in Brtitain. =

Is the social hierarchy visible today?
Yes very much indeed. Britain has always had strong traditions and social classes which is the ultimate proof of a hierarchy. Hierarchy means that something is arranged after value or status, with some few on the top and several at the bottom, and can be illustrated with a triangle. The class difference is viewable everywhere. In schools, the job market, language and living conditions of course. The easiest way to tell someone’s status is by listening to their talking habits to figure out their sociolect. Sloppy language and snobby language is very easy to detect., the aspect is huge. All of the above is decided by money and how wealthy your family are. To send their kids off to an expensive and well known boarding school is the best way to give them a good future, in UK and especially England everything is decided of what school you went to.

The Ladder of status
All the immigrants that come to the UK every year, has trouble getting properly integrated, and has difficulty of finding a job at first especially if they don’t have any education. Their kids will grow up in poor conditions and on the bottom. Since their parents have no money, their kids might not go to school at all, and from then on they are doomed to stay at the bottom. And that is the vicious circle. The school system is practically a vicious circle. If the parents can’t afford to send their kids off to boarding school, the kids will stay put and never get to climb to a higher step on the “ladder of status”. And status is affected by money. They often end up in a poor regular school, which often are in a terrible state. It all comes down to this; if your parents are rich; you’ll get rich too. The expensive famous schools give you a huge advantage later in life, which regular and infamous schools won’t.

Conclution
media type="youtube" key="1mYY1QGK0jQ" height="385" width="480" align="right" Britain has always been characterized by class division, and the fierce hierarchy, which it still is but it has changed a bit for the better. Conditions has improved and the ruling for is now way more considerate than several years ago, but the hierarchy still stands tall and separates the classes.

Why are there such big differences between the social classes in Britain?
Social classes are still alive in the British society, and the differences between people are huge. People from the upper class can afford to live in luxury yachts and build hotels on fantasy islands, while people from the working class have to have multiple jobs to even get food on their table. The British countries are welfare states, but still, over 12 million people, a fifth of UK’s population is living in poverty. Why are there such big differences between the social classes in Britain, and why is it so hard to get rid of them?

To find the reason why, we have to find out why it’s so hard to get out of poverty in Britain. The truth is, that most of the children that have grown up in poverty, have maintained poor the rest of their lives. This is, among other factors caused by their parents and the family they grow up in.

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You can get many disadvantages as a child if your parents are from the working class. Many working class parents got little interest and support for their children, and may not be able to buy them day-to-day necessities. These are necessities like heating, healthy food, or a house big enough that children of the opposite sex don’t have to share rooms. With no good paradigms and little engagement from their parents, many children don’t get motivated to break out of the class system they are born in.

Bad neighborhoods
If you live in a small and overcrowded house, you probably also live in a bad neighborhood. Children that are brought up in a bad environment are at much higher risk of being involved with crime, get “the wrong friends” or become part of a gang. With bad influence from your friends, you are more likely not to take school as serious as you should or even drop out.

School
Doing well at school is the best opportunity for children to work their way up in the class system. Anyway, only 14% of young people with lower backgrounds go to universities, compared to 75% from more advantaged homes. This can be caused by bad learning environment and few teachers at the schools in the poorest areas. Going to school with few teachers can be hard, and many working class-parents don’t have education and possibilities to help their children with homework or assignments. Some families even got problems paying for school supplies, like books or calculators, so paying to send their child to a better and independent school is for most people not an option.

Jobs
Bad school opportunities and a high number of dropouts lead to bad or no education for many young people with working class-parents. Most people without education don’t have many job-options, and have to be content with jobs in trade or industry. These jobs are often bad-paid, and you would have to work long hours to get enough money to survive. Jobs in trade and industry are also often very physical and demanding, and it can easily happen work-accidents.

Health care
The proportion of people with long-term illnesses has the highest rates in the poor areas of Britain. This is not surprising, as these areas also have the lowest numbers of doctors, dentists and other health professionals living and working there. As a result of this, many people won’t get the help and care they need, or have to wait a long time for it. This can cause high health costs and big loans.

A vicious circle
With bad schools, health care and little interest from their parents, most people that have grown up in the working class stay there. This becomes a vicious circle, because then their kids have to go through what they went through all over again, and so on. This pattern can be very hard to break out of because of all the disadvantages you get by growing up with a poor family in a poor area. All these factors are very important explanations to why it’s so hard for people in the working class to climb the social ladder.

The ones on the top
The ones on the top of the ladder on the other hand, got few problems in their everyday lives. Kids from upper class-families got lots of support and help from their parents to do well in life. Most upper class parents are more than willing to pay thons of money for their children to go to independent schools, and only the best ones are good enough. With four times the density of teachers, and one-third the rate of unqualified young people than in poorer areas, isn’t it surprising that most top lawyers, doctors and conservative politicians have attended private schools from rich areas.

Good education leads to well-paid jobs and good opportunities for a healthy and nice life in a good environment. Like in the working class, people that have been brought up in a rich family are most likely to stay just as rich or get even richer than their parents.

The battle against the system[[image:wiki.png width="446" height="299" align="right"]]
It’s very hard for one person alone to break out of the class system. The best hope for Britain to get rid of their old class system would be if the government did something about it. In today’s Britain, people with the greatest need for good health care, education, jobs and housing continue to have the worst access to opportunities and services, and the rich people continue to have the best. It’s pretty ironic, how so many people in Britain live in poverty, when the countries in Britain are considered some of the fifth richest countries in the world.

With the government doing little about the big differences between people, and the battle against the class system is too big for one person to deal with alone, the class system maintains in the British society. When you are brought up in a poor family, you automatically get worse schools, health care and housing than richer people, and are most likely to maintain poor. In this way the differences between people just increase with time. The social classes are in a way rooted in the identity of most British people, and who knows; maybe British people have accepted and are satisfied with the class system? At least the ones on the top…

Sources:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-big-question-has-the-divide-between-britains-social-classes-really-narrowed-989660.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_structure_of_Britain

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/ukpoverty/poverty_in_the_uk.html

http://www.jrf.org.uk/media-centre/uks-rich-and-poor-still-live-different-worlds-despite-welfare-state

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