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12 Mark Mini Essays CHANGEDS for Socialisation, Culture and Identity
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Using Sources A and B and your wider sociological knowledge, explain the concept of social classidentities.
Class identity can be defined as the sense of identity and interest that comes from the type of work
which individuals do, as well as sharing similar values and interests. This is derived from social class,
which is a group who share similar economic and social situation, often defined according to the
occupation of the individual. Social class can either be achieved through hard work, also known as an
achieved status, or is given to an individual from birth, known as ascribed status. There are four main
social classes; upper, middle, working and underclass.
Source A shows what appears to be members of the upper class having a sophisticated meet up. This
is evident by the clothes which they are wearing; fancy headwear, suits, and dresses. One of them is
also reading a book, which may be considered an upper class activity as they have a high level of
education and are more able to access traditional literature. Another example of class identity in
relation to the upper class would be the idea of high culture. These are classical and sophisticated
activities enjoyed exclusively by the upper class, as they believe they are superior to the masses. This
results in what Macintosh and Mooney call ‘social closure’, where the upper classes detach
themselves from society and take part in activities such as polo, hunting and opera. Furthermore,
the upper class are able to build upon their three capitals to increase their life chances. Bourdieu
recognised these as cultural; knowledge and education an individual has; economic, which are
resources such as assets; and social, which is based on networks of people they know. In capitalist
societies, these classes are described by Marx as the bourgeoisie, who are in control of the
infrastructure and superstructure of society, meaning they determine the lives of everybody else,
benefitting only the wealthy.
Source B shows what appears to be members of the working or underclass having a very different
kind of meet up compared to those in Source A. They look much less respectable as they are dressed
in more common, everyday clothing, and one woman is even sitting on the ground, making it clear
that none of them care about their appearance. In contrast to the individual in Source A reading a
book, the people in this source are drinking cans of beer. This activity can be regarded as popular
culture, which are the activities associated with the masses of society. It is considered inferior to
high culture because it is accessible to everyone and isn’t sophisticated. Another example of the
underclass is Murray, who defines the underclass as incompetent dependents on the state who are
lazy and are to blame for the rise in crime. This class is greatly excluded from society as they are
victim blamed, through the labelling theory recognised by Becker, leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy
where they end up committing crimes as this is what’s expected of them.
, Using Sources A and B and your wider sociological knowledge, explain the concept of hybrid
identities.
A hybrid is the merging of two or more things. Hybrid identity refers to the merging of identities.
This means that someone’s sense of who they are is a mix of two or more influences. This can be
seen most clearly within ethnicity, nationality and identity.
Source A is an advertisement for a film in which the female character rebels against her Sikh family’s
traditions to become a footballer. This links to the concept of hybrid identities because she has
merged her traditional culture with her British culture, keeping both of them as part of her identity.
Another example of hybrid identities is someone who is British and Asian, commonly referred to as
‘Brasian’. This was looked at my Modood who found that second generation Asians often felt more
British than their parents but adopted and embraced both parts of their identity strongly. This is
done through cultural code switching, looked at by Brah. Young British Asians are now able to
negotiate their own identity and adopt their behaviour based on the circumstances that they find
themselves in. For example, in the home they may fit into their parents’ cultural expectations, but in
school they blend into mainstream culture with ease.
Source B shows the fictional character of Ali G, who is well-known for his delusions of being black
with Jamaican ancestry, despite being white. This links to the idea of the concept of hybrid identities
because he has mixed British culture with Jamaican culture due to the slang-based language which
he uses. Similarly, Nayak coined the term White Wannabes to describe white males who act, dress
and speak in a way which is influences by black, hip-hop culture. In some cases, such identities can
be described as cultural appropriation as the elements of one culture is used by another in a
negative way, especially when it is carried out by ‘superior’ cultures. Another example of hybrid
identities similar to this is the ‘Black Atlantic’ as discussed by Gilroy. He described this as an identity
which wasn’t specifically rooted in the UK or Caribbean, but instead, in the UK black people had
adopted the culture of black Americans, mixing them and creating an entirely new one.
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