Social Class And Coping Strategies

Social Class
Introduction
This report provides information obtained through research, regarding Social Class. This report will pay particular attention to the Historical Background, Contextual Factors, and Coping Strategies offering some explanation, findings and recommendations. The report will comment on the prospects of social class and make recommendations that would improve Social class as a problem for individuals as well as organizations. These observations do have limitations as social class is a very broad problem and cannot be thoroughly be covered in this report.
Definition of terms
Scientific Definition: According to Karl Marx, what distinguishes one type of society from another is its mode of production (i.e., the nature of
its technology and division of labour), and each mode of production engenders a distinctive class system in which one class controls and directs the process of production while another class is, or other classes are, the direct producers and providers of services to the dominant class. (Britannica, 2014)
Theoretical Definition: Social class, also called class, a group of people within a society who possess the same socioeconomic status. (Britannica, 2014) Group Definition: This is a status hierarchy that society uses to divide and categorise individuals and groups based on: wealth and status, esteem and prestige, literacy level and networks, influence and power etc.
Social class may also refer to any single level in the hierarchy which consist of a group of people of similar status, generally sharing comparable levels of influence and wealth.
Common social classes informally acknowledged in various societies are: Upper class, Middle class, Working class, and the Lower class.

Historical background
The term class came first came into wide use in the early 19th century, replacing such terms as rank and order as descriptions of the major hierarchical groupings in society. This usage reflected changes in the structure of western European societies after the industrial and political revolutions of the late 18th century. Feudal distinctions of rank were declining in importance, and the new social groups that were developing which were the commercial and industrial capitalists and the urban working class in the new factories which were defined mainly in economic terms, either by ownership of capital or by dependence on wages. Although the term class has been applied to social groups in a wide range of societies, including ancient city states, early empires, and caste or feudal societies, it is most usefully confined to the social divisions in modern societies, particularly industrialized ones.
Historically social class and behaviour was sometimes laid down in law e.g. permitted mode of dress in some times and places were strictly regulated, with very expensive and impressive looking dressing only for the high ranks of the society and aristocracy; sumptuary laws (people born in the highest social class who have special titles) stipulated the dress and jewellery appropriate for a person’s social rank and station.

6 Contextual Factors
3 internal factors
EDUCATION AND SKILLS- This is an important factor in determining a person’s social class.
People lower in the hierarchy of social class like working class people achieve lower attainment in education than people higher in hierarchy. There is however a similar range of ability in every social class which means that difference in educational achievement are not due to class difference in intelligence but due to other factors like lack of finances, low aspirations, low expectations, lack of gratification etc. all of which are more apparent in the working class.
FAMILY WEALTH AND BACKGROUND- Wealthier family with a good background tend to be in upper class and live a luxurious life as they can buy expensive things easily hence tend to be more successful in life.
POWER- This is the main factor as it is the position of individuals in the market that determines the class position therefore the more power one has, the more one tends to be in higher classes. Regardless of Education and skills or family
background.

3 External factors
COLONISATION- This is the main reason which led to division of individuals to different classes mainly according to their wealth and power.
CULTURE- This discourages people not to move to higher class as they believe in a certain religion hence cannot perform certain tasks to promote themselves e.g. by not drinking alcohol, an individual may be restricted to be in upper class as in his/her religion drinking is prohibited.
RACE- This is one of the factors which led to different social classes as if only an individual belongs to a particular race then he/she can possess power and be classified in the upper class.

Coping Strategies
ORGANISATIONS STRATEGIES
Putting fair work environments for all employees and students.
Create policies that protect against discrimination based on social class. For example; the European Union has formulated laws to combat any social discrimination on target countries in terms of trade.
Taking punitive action against any instances of discriminations based on social class.
Outsourcing of employing from different nations in order to improve efficiency and allow exposure to people from diverse backgrounds.
Educational institutions should continue to embrace exchange programmers which bring people from backgrounds and therefore minimizing social class.

INDIVIDUAL STRATEGIES
Purposing to treat everyone fairly despite differences in financial backgrounds.
Defending and speaking up on discrimination against social class when one witnesses or hears of such occurrences.
Educating others on the need for fairness and justice towards all people regardless of their social class.
Self-drive in learning other cultures and touring the world to bring to light why a particular culture works.
Individuals to take it up upon themselves of learn different languages in order to relate at the same level even on the basis of nationality and race.
Findings
We found out that there are 7 social classes which are as follows:
Precariat: This is the most deprived class of all with low level of economic, cultural and social capital.
The everyday lives of members of this class are precarious.
Traditional working class: This class scores low on all forms of the three capitals although they are not the poorest group. The average age of this class is older than the others.
Emergent service workers: This new class has low economic capital but has high levels of emerging cultural capital and high social capital. This group is young and often found in urban areas.
Technical middle class: This is a new, small class with high economic capital but seem less culturally engaged. They have relatively few social contacts and so are less socially engaged.
New affluent workers: This class has medium levels of economic capital and higher levels of cultural and social capital. They are a young and active group.
Established middle class: Members of this class have high levels of all three capitals although not as high as the elite.
Elite: This is the most privileged class in who has high levels of all three capitals. Their high amount of economic capital sets them apart from everyone
else.

Conclusion
Change begins with you and me. The society needs to stop judging or stereotyping people based on their personality and hence their class and stop discriminating people based on their social class. Although it may be difficult to get a universal definition for social class but there are reasons to continue researching this concept. Social class has a large impact on how children are raised, how they are schooled, and even whom they are friends with. For this reasons, it is important that social class is taken into account when studying child development, as long as the limitations are understood. (Argyle, 1994.)

Recommendations
REFERENCES
Social class. (2014, Jan 30). Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/
Deane, P. (1979). The first industrial revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge university press.
Argyle, Michael. The psychology of social class. London: Routledge, 1994.