Unit G322: Section A

TV Drama and Representation

Social Class - Overview

Registrar Marxist Class White/Blue

General’s
General s Scale Structure Collar
Upper Class Ruling Class N/A
Upper Middle Class Bourgeois White Collar
Lower Middle Class Petit-Bourgeois White Collar
Upper Working Class Proletariat Blue Collar
Lower Working Class Lumpen-Proletariat Blue Collar
The Poor Peasants N/A

Media Class Classifications

Class Type Media

Classification
Upper Middle Class (3% of population) A
Middle Class (13% of population) B
Lower Middle (22% of population) C1
Skilled Working Class (32% of population) C2
Working Class – excluding skilled (22% of population) D
Lower Class E

The Upper And Upper-

Upper-Middle Classes
The ‘Upper Class’ consists of the few thousand wealthiest and most culturally privileged
businessmen and property owners in the country. We also consider the very top of the upper
middle class in this section because they often work closely with the upper classes and are
highly privileged themselves.

By ‘upper-middle’ class we mean people like managing directors of large companies rather
than middle level management; chiefs of staff rather than high-ranking officers; top rather than
middle level government employees, etc.

The Middle-
Middle-Class’
The ‘middle-class’ is a huge group. There is, however, a big difference between the ‘upper’
and ‘lower’ middle-class.

The Upper-
Upper-Middle Class (Bourgeois)
The ‘upper-middle’ class is composed of professional, managerial and administrative
occupational groups and higher technicians. The very highest levels of the upper-middle
classes are very close to the upper classes but the majority of the upper-middle class do not
achieve any national power or prominence but locally many have significant influence or
status. They often participate in voluntary organisations, become magistrates or stand for
local government. Comparatively speaking, they are well off. Typically, they might earn one
and a half to two and a half times as much as the average national wage, and enjoy
substantially more than average fringe benefits. They earn much more than their lower
middle class counterparts. The average wage of a doctor, for example, is well over twice that
of a schoolteacher.

The Lower-
Lower-Middle Class (Petit-
(Petit-Bourgeois),
The lower-middle class, or white-collar workers as they are also known, represent one of the
largest of the social classes. Office workers, shopkeepers and sales people make up the

1
 Unit G322: Section A
TV Drama and Representation
majority of the lower-middle classes. At the top of the lower-middle class are the so-called
‘semi-professionals’ of teaching and nursing. The ‘typical’ white-collar figure is the clerical
worker, although Marxists would argue that they are wage earners and are therefore part of
the working class.

The Working-
Working-Class (Proletariat)
The working-class represents the other large social class. The working classes are those
citizens who work in the so-called ‘blue-collar’ sector that traditionally referred to the low paid
heavy industries, such as coal, steel etc, and the manufacturing industries. Today, however,
with the decline of the heavy and industrial industries, these low paid jobs largely consist of
the service and un-skilled clerical sectors.

The Upper Working-

Working-Class
The upper-working class include those with higher status jobs, which are better paid or highly
skilled such as factory foremen or technicians.

The gap between the working class and the middle-class has, in recent times, began to
disappear. The upper working classes have gone through a period of ‘embourgeoisement’ as
they become more like the middle-classes. With the decline of heavy industry, and the
introduction of legislation such as the minimum wage the working classes have, in some
cases, become relatively better paid to the extent that even working class people now expect
to have a certain standard of living, particularly in terms of the furnishing of their homes, as
well as regular foreign holidays.

The Lower Working Class

The lower working classes refer to those workers with low prestige, low-paid, unskilled jobs,
such as cleaners, shop assistants etc. These jobs are often part time and are filled mainly by
teenagers, who are too young to receive the full minimum wage payments, and women who
tend not to be paid as much as men and are, therefore, cheaper to employ.

The Underclass (Lumpen-

(Lumpen-Proletariat)
Proletariat)
The underclasses are those citizens who are outside of the employment structure such as old
age pensioners, the unemployed, students and the homeless. These people tend to be poor
and rely on state benefits, such as unemployment benefit, state pension, student loans etc.,
for their survival.

2
 Unit G322: Section A
TV Drama and Representation

Lower Working Class/Underclass Council Estates

Factory workers

Shop workers

Minimum wage jobs

Unemployed

Students

OAPs

Middle Class Suburbs

Lower Middle Class▲ Upper Middle Class▲

Lower middle class jobs: teachers, police officers, office workers, nurses etc.

Upper middle class jobs: doctors, lawyers, company bosses, people who own the
business etc. Surgeons, really rich company owners, city workers, stock brokers etc.

Some upper-middle class people can be richer than upper class people.

Upper Class/Super Rich Houses

People who are so rich they don’t need to work.

Only people who have titles – royalty (don’t necessarily have to be rich).