Social Class
Chapter 5 Summary

Our focus is primarily on three factors that encourage this fragmentation:

• restructuring of the economy;
• polarisation of the labour market;
• globalisation of production.

The background to changes in social class composition is established through a consideration of global changes in the economy and the restructuring of labour markets. The impact of these changes suggests a segmentation of the labour market, complicated by the gendering of occupations. The effect of this on the potential for social mobility and, thereby, the social identity of occupational classes is then explored. The chapter ends by offering a variety of views on the importance of these developments for the idea of social class itself. The notion that identity is influenced more by consumption than production in a postmodern world is established, as occupational fragmentation means that social identity is much less likely to be perceived in terms of the work one does. Identity is, accordingly, more individuated and tied to what the individual consumes and what lifestyle s/he has. However, the continued vitality of class analysis in the contemporary world is argued for and the challenge of feminist critiques of traditional class analysis responded to.