An Analysis On Contemporary British Class

As the most important form of inequality, class stratification has always been one of the most distinguished features of British society. Class is also a focal point in sociology, economics, and politics studies. However, the post-industrial development brings new development to class. Consumerism, frequent social mobility, economic restructuring, mass media and culture, scientific advance, social welfare……This is changing Britons'life, and at the same time, blurring people's concept of class. Therefore, questions such as whether class exists and has effect as before, how influential class is, and whether class theories apply to recent situation claim exploration.This paper looks into two questions: whether social inequality is structured along the line of class in contemporary Britain; how class solidifies the inequality in turn. The body of this paper is mainly composed of two parts. Part one examines the distribution of resources—wealth and prestige—one by one to investigate patterns of contemporary British class. Part two investigates impact of class on that distribution: how do life chances for different classes maintain or intensify inequalities. This investigation proves the invalidity of classless theory, verifies conflict theories on class, and provides a fresh perspective on British class research.