Identity and Social Class Issue

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A social class influences identity and values of every person. At the structural level, a social class encompasses not only productive relations but also the sphere of circulation and market positions; and at the levels of consciousness and action, it encompasses ethnicity, religion, status, etc., and the spheres of consumption and distribution as well as work and politics (Eitzen & Johnston, 2007). Thesis A social class position determines the social identity of a person and influenced his/her values, traditions, education opportunities, and life expectations.

A social class provides the child with a sense of identity, a set of values, and the motivational base for his later actions, while the school provides him with the knowledge and skills necessary to accomplish the goals he seeks. To see the contributions of these two agencies as purely additive, however, would be an oversimplification, because family and school interact. The values and motives the child acquires within the social class provide a basis for his identity. The degree to which he wants and sees the importance of what the school has to offer depends largely on what he has learned in the family (Eitzen & Johnston, 2007). The child’s response to the class and identity is thus very clearly influenced by his experience in the family (Pigeon, 2001).

The social context in which a child is reared is a potent influence on the kinds of experience he will have, he becomes increasingly able to select from within that context those experiences which he finds rewarding. Outcomes thus influence contexts and expectations as well as the reverse. Critics question the degree to which identity is associated with the position in the stratification system. There is a strong tendency for the child to adopt the view of his class (middle or working-class) that is dominant in the larger society. It is apparent that most working-class children do not like this position, and evidence of low self-esteem and even a hostile rejection of self is widely reported (Eitzen & Johnston, 2007). Because such a view of the low-class location and oneself as a low-class person is developed very early, it is not learned from the society at large. It is the result of his experience in his family and his immediate (usually wholly working-class) neighborhood.

The view of the role of social class in socialization suggests that there is an interplay between the formative experiences of the child, what others expect of him, and what he becomes. The latter not only is an outcome but is an active element in the process from the beginning. What the child becomes is not a simple function of what people expect him to be (Birdsall and Graham, 2000). Although expectations are important influences on the self-other experiences of the child, and although those expectations are influenced by his social class position, his behavior at one point in time will also influence what is expected of him at a future point. For instance, lower-class parents tend to respond differently from middle-class parents to their children’s misbehavior (Woodward 2004). People behave differently toward people according to their social class level and expect different kinds of behavior from them, according to class. Thus, teachers, counselors, peers – even parents – are likely to respond to a child not simply as a child, but as a child in a specific social position. Teachers may expect that lower-class students will do poorly and thus fail to take any corrective action if they do (Birdsall and Graham, 200). A social class seems to be an important variable throughout the socialization process. As just suggested, people in different positions in the social structure may behave differently when placed in the same situation and have a different identity (Woodward, 2004). Based on social class values, the behavior of people varies according to their social characteristics which determine their identity.

In sum, the identity is based on and influenced by class differences associated with this dominant fact of the self-image. In working-class children, the sense of inadequacy, together with the awareness of being disadvantaged, seem to lead to a withdrawn and often fearful reaction to other people. Some have pointed out that the black person’s position in society generates anger in him but also requires that he repress such feelings, and this repression lowers his “potential for affectivity”. This is consistent with the finding that working-class children are often more passive, withdrawn, and fearful than upper-class children and that when they are aggressive it is likely to be in a covert manner.

Bibliography

Birdsall, N., Graham, C. 2000, New Markets, New Opportunities?Economic and Social Mobility in a Changing World. Brookings Institutuion.
Eitzen,D.S., Johnston, J.E. 2007, Inequality: Social Class and Its Consequences. Paradigm Publishers.
Pigeon. M.A. 2001, Class War in America: How Economic and Political Conservatives Are Exploiting Low-And Middle-Income Americans. Journal of Economic Issues, vol. 35, p. 2.
Woodward, K. 2004, Questioning Identity: gender, class, ethnicity. Routledge

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