Social Structural Limitations in Michael Apted's 42 Up

“…Because daddy goes to the White Club”: Social Structural limitations in Michael Apted’s 42 Up. In the documentary 42 Up by Michael Apted, he shows 14 children at the age of seven, and every seven years Apted will come back and document their life and it is to give a glimpse of England in the year 2000. In my paper I would like to argue the way social structures has affected the way the children live their lives and how difficult it is to break out of their classes. The participants of the documentary are either trapped in the top, middle, or working class. If their lives aren’t structured, their lives would fall out of place. It comes from the Jesuit Maxim which states, “give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man”. Whatever those 14 children were like at seven, they are the same way at 42, social classes, structure, and all. Firstly, I am going to argue the way the upper class seems to disregard the existence of classes rather than the middle and working classes and the way it affected their pursuit of “happiness”. Secondly, I will argue the inexistent change of career choices that took place from the time the children were seven till they were 42, and lastly I will be arguing that these social structures affected the later generations in a negative way. I believe the ever since the children were born, they were born in a distinct social class, and these classes have wide gaps between them. In 1964, when they were seven, the class structure was pretty distinct, and when the children grew older, they all had a thought of where
Tehrani 2 they were and what kind of career they wanted. Over time, as the gaps of the social classes changed, the participants of the documentary thought the gaps either existed or didn’t. I believe that this distinct gap in social class has affected the children in a negative way because it makes it impossible for them to break out of their classes, especially for the working class. Andrew, for example,

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