scholarly journals Inequalities in Old Age

1983 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rex Taylor ◽  
Graeme Ford
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Random Sample ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Social Health ◽  
Personal Resources ◽  
Age Cohorts ◽  
Elderly Males

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the distribution of personal resources - financial, social, health and psychological - between age cohorts, sex groups and social classes in a random sample of community elderly. As expected, the young elderly, males and those from middle-class backgrounds have a disproportionate share of three out of four of these resources, but for social support the balance of advantage is reversed. When age, sex and class are combined to yield eight subgroups, younger working-class males consistently rank high on all resources and older working-class females consistently rank low. Older middle-class females rank low on all resources other than on close friends.

scholarly journals Middle Class Rebellion through the Main Characters in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 214
Author(s):  
Ali Muhammad ◽  
Andhika Pratiwi ◽  
Ria Herwandar
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Chuck Palahniuk ◽  
Fight Club

<p><em>Abstract - </em><strong>This research entitled “Middle Class Rebellion through the Main Characters in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club” analyses the portrayal of the Middle Classes which is depicted through the main characters. These characters are undertaking a Rebellion towards the system of Capitalism that is depicted in the novel Fight Club. The theory used in this research is the theory of the intrinsic element of Characterization by M.H. Abrams and the theory Capitalism by Karl Marx which includes the theory of Alienation and the Struggle of Social Classes. This research focuses on the portrayal of how Middle Classes undertake their Rebellion which is depicted through the main characters in the novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. This research has found that the two main characters are a depiction of the Middle Class and the Working Class. They rebel against Capitalism by doing small acts of vandalism which escalates into blackmail. The findings are that the real characteristics of modern society of the middle class can be seen  such as consumerism, restless life towards insomnia and workers who identify themselves as not workers.</strong></p><p><strong><em>Keywords - </em></strong><em>Middle Class, Rebellion, Social Class, Marxism, Capitalism</em></p>

More than one way to grow up: An interview with Annette Lareau

2019 ◽  
Vol 100 (7) ◽  
pp. 31-36
Author(s):  
Rafael Heller
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Natural Growth ◽  
Parenting Strategies ◽  
Concerted Cultivation ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Upper Middle Class ◽  
Middle Class Families

Kappan editor Rafael Heller interviews Annette Lareau about her research into different experiences of childhood and family life. In her observations of families of different social classes, she learned that upper-middle-class families approach parenting as an act of “concerted cultivation” requiring ongoing attention, making them more likely to become active participants in their children’s education. Working-class and poor parents, in contrast, focus on “natural growth” and are more likely to defer to teachers’ expertise. Lareau contends that both parenting strategies have advantages and disadvantages.

scholarly journals “Resource Portfolio” and Total Capital of Different Social Classes in the Modern Society of Latvia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Komarova ◽  
Iveta Mietule ◽  
Iluta Arbidāne ◽  
Vladas Tumalavičius
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Representative Sample ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Total Capital

The aim of this study is to investigate &ldquo;resource portfolios&rdquo; and total capital, as well as the degree of those resources capitalization, which representatives of different social classes in the modern Latvia have at their disposal. The amount and structure of &ldquo;resource portfolio&rdquo; and total capital of different social classes studied using the resource-asset-capital approach. The article presents results of the sociological survey of social stratification in modern Latvia on the example of its one region &ndash; Latgale (2019, n = 798, representative sample of the adult population), identifying social classes based on two objective (income and education) and one subjective (self-identification of respondents) criteria. Based on the example of the lower working class and the middle class, the authors proved that representatives of these polar social classes have a total capital of different amount, which is determined by two main reasons: 1) the lower working class has statistically significantly smaller &ldquo;resource portfolio&rdquo; than the middle class; 2) the lower working class is not so successful as the middle class in activating the resources at their disposal, turning them into their capital. These statistically significant two-level differences have to be considered when pursuing social policies on reducing differences between social classes.

scholarly journals Mental and social health in the German old age population largely unaltered during COVID-19 lockdown: results of a representative survey

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Röhr ◽  
Ulrich Reininghaus ◽  
Steffi Riedel-Heller
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Social Health ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Life Situation ◽  
Increased Risk

Background: Older individuals are at increased risk of a severe and lethal course of COVID-19. They have typically been advised to practice particularly restrictive social distancing (‘cocooning’), which has sparked much debate on mental and social health consequences in older individuals. We aim to provide evidence. Methods: A computer-assisted standardized telephone interview was conducted in a randomly selected and representative sample of the German old age population (n = 1,005; age ≥65 years) during lockdown in April 2020. Assessments included sociodemographic factors, aspects of the personal life situation during lockdown, attitudes towards COVID-19, and standardized screening measures on depression, anxiety, somatization, posttraumatic stress, perceived stress, loneliness and social support. Sampling-weighted descriptive statistics and multiple multivariable regression analyses were conducted. Results: Participants were M = 75.5 (SD = 7.1) years old; 56.3% were women. At data collection, COVID-19 lockdown had been in force for M = 28.0 (SD = 4.8) days. Overall, older individuals were worried about COVID-19, but supportive of the lockdown. Mean scores and prevalence estimates of measured mental and social health variables were comparable to figures reported before the pandemic, except slightly higher perceived stress and higher perceived social support. There were only few significant associations of aspects of the personal life situation during lockdown and attitudes towards COVID-19 with mental and social health variables, while resilience explained a large amount of variance. Conclusions: In the short-term, the mental and social health of the German old age population was largely unaltered during COVID-19 lockdown, suggesting resilience against the challenging pandemic situation. Our results refute common ageist stereotypes of “the weak and vulnerable elderly” that were present during the pandemic. Long-term observations are needed to provide robust evidence.

Le povertŕ delle classi medie e dei "ceti popolari"

2009 ◽  
pp. 25-52
Author(s):  
Remo Siza
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Dynamic Approach ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Low Income Families ◽  
Socially Isolated ◽  
Social Area

- Several studies carried out using a dynamic approach show that poverty, although at different degrees of intensity and duration, is no longer an issue concerning only a defined portion of the population living in typically disadvantaged circumstances (e.g. in deprived areas), but is increasingly affecting other social classes that would normally benefit from adequate living conditions, including the growing poorer middle class and those with insecure or low paid jobs. We are not just referring to socially isolated groups of people, but to an intermediate heterogeneous social area, a dissimilar aggregate of individuals experiencing different trajectories of social mobility: members of the impoverished middle class, low income families reduced to poverty by different life events, people with unstable jobs and inadequate family and social support. Although with a different background, they have in common a more lasting precarious condition and a higher risk of poverty compared to other members of the middle class who can rely on better incomes and stronger social support and to the wealthier social classes. These social groups share, at least for a short period of their life, very difficult living conditions potentially affecting several aspects of their existence and limited resources to rely upon to sustain their life projects.

Middle-Class Victorian Street Arabs: Modern Re-creations of the Baker Street Irregulars

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic Cheetham
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Children's Literature ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Street Children ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sherlock Holmes ◽  
Upward Shift

In three of Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories there are brief appearances of the Baker Street Irregulars, a group of ‘street Arabs’ who help Holmes with his investigations. These children have been re-imagined in modern children's literature in at least twenty-seven texts in a variety of media and with writers from both Britain and the United States. All these modern stories show a marked upward shift in the class of the Irregulars away from the lower working class of Conan-Doyle's originals. The shift occurs through attributing middle-class origins to the leaders of the Irregulars, through raising the class of the Irregulars in general, and through giving the children life environments more comfortable, safe, and financially secure than would have been possible for late-Victorian street children. Because of the variety in texts and writers, it is argued that this shift is not a result of the conscious political or ideological positions of individual writers, but rather reflects common unconscious narrative choices. The class-shift is examined in relation to the various pressures of conventions in children's literature, concepts of audience, and common concepts of class in society.

The public's view of public health in mid-Victorian Britain

Urban History ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Sigsworth ◽  
Michael Worboys
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Health Reform ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
The Public ◽  
Victorian Britain ◽  
Physical Conditions ◽  
Public Health Reform

What did the public think about public health reform in mid-Victorian Britain? Historians have had a lot to say about the sanitary mentality and actions of the middle class, yet have been strangely silent about the ideas and behaviour of the working class, who were the great majority of the public and the group whose health was mainly in question. Perhaps there is nothing to say. The working class were commonly referred to as ‘the Great Unwashed’, purportedly ignorant and indifferent on matters of personal hygiene, environmental sanitation and hence health. Indeed, the writings of reformers imply that the working class simply did not have a sanitary mentality. However, the views of sanitary campaigners should not be taken at face value. Often propaganda and always one class's perception of another, in the context of the social apartheid in Britain's cities in the mid-nineteenth century, sanitary campaigners' views probably reveal more about middle-class anxieties than the actual social and physical conditions of the poor. None the less many historians still use such material to portray working-class life, but few have gone on to ask how public health reform was seen and experienced ‘from below’. Historians of public health have tended to portray the urban working class as passive victims who were rescued by enlightened middle-class reformers. This seems to be borne out at the political level where, unlike with other popular movements of the 1840s and after, there is little evidence of working-class participation in, or support for, the public health movement.

scholarly journals Deflecting Privilege: Class Identity and the Intergenerational Self

Sociology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003803852098222
Author(s):  
Sam Friedman ◽  
Dave O’Brien ◽  
Ian McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Upward Mobility ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Class Identity ◽  
Origin Stories ◽  
Class Privilege ◽  
Privileged Class

Why do people from privileged class backgrounds often misidentify their origins as working class? We address this question by drawing on 175 interviews with those working in professional and managerial occupations, 36 of whom are from middle-class backgrounds but identify as working class or long-range upwardly mobile. Our findings indicate that this misidentification is rooted in a self-understanding built on particular ‘origin stories’ which act to downplay interviewees’ own, fairly privileged, upbringings and instead forge affinities to working-class extended family histories. Yet while this ‘intergenerational self’ partially reflects the lived experience of multigenerational upward mobility, it also acts – we argue – as a means of deflecting and obscuring class privilege. By positioning themselves as ascending from humble origins, we show how these interviewees are able to tell an upward story of career success ‘against the odds’ that simultaneously casts their progression as unusually meritocratically legitimate while erasing the structural privileges that have shaped key moments in their trajectory.

scholarly journals ‘A Cockroach Preserved in Amber’: The Significance of Class in Critics' Representations of Heavy Metal Music and its Fans

2014 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 719-741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy R. Brown ◽  
Christine Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Contemporary Music ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Metal Music ◽  
Heavy Metal Music ◽  
The Uk

In this paper we engage with new cultural theories of class that have identified media representations of ‘excessive’ white heterosexual working-class femininity as a ‘constitutive limit’ of incorporation into dominant (middle-class) modes of neoliberal subjectivity and Bourdieu's thesis that classification is a form of symbolic violence that constitutes both the classifier and the classified. However, what we explore are the implications of such arguments for those modes of white heterosexual working-class masculinity that continue to reproduce themselves in forms of overtly masculinist popular culture. We do so through a critical examination of the symbolic representation of the genre of heavy metal music within contemporary music journalism. Employing a version of critical discourse analysis, we offer an analysis of representative reviews, derived from a qualitative sample of the UK music magazine, New Musical Express (1999–2008). This weekly title, historically associated with the ideals of the ‘counter culture’, now offers leadership of musical tastes in an increasingly segmented, niche-oriented marketplace. Deploying a refined model of the inscription process outlined by Skeggs, our analysis demonstrates how contemporary music criticism symbolically attaches negative attributes and forms of personhood to the working-class male bodies identified with heavy metal culture and its audience, allowing dominant middle-class modes of cultural authority to be inscribed within matters of musical taste and distinction.

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