How does sociology help us to understand “Class” as an important social phenomenon?
Everyone should recognize that class is only used as an economic term. Many would argue that class no longer exists within society because it is the twentieth century and that all are treated equally and fair. Though others would argue that inequality exists because it is a fact of life, if a person has a degree and another doesn’t, who would get the job the one with the degree of course. Equality, belonging and human rights would be expected to be shown within society, though this is not always the case in the social aspect of society past and present. Some are considered to be of upper class, working class and middle class. Although there are many negative theories about class, there is also positives. However, the thought of thinking that individuals or groups of people are put in a certain “Class” category due to one’s position, race, gender, sexuality, culture and so on does not seem justified.
It is understood that class is an important social phenomenon because it is a way of understanding social life. “Middle class and upper class depended on professional qualifications” (Van Krieken et al., 2014, p. 207). Where working class were manual labourers also known as bourgeoisie. There is history of negatives surrounding class for example power, one who is of a higher status for example the upper class society of people could use their power to oppose others decision making, prospects of one’s employment opportunities or even decline someone for a job because of one’s race, gender or sexuality.
Unfortunately, there will always be negatives in society, especially in one’s social life. Where there is negatives, there is emotions involved. Weyer (2012, p. 345) suggested that due to being social people, how we think and feel determines our goal socially. If we want to be the best we