{"id":124,"date":"2024-03-26T09:12:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T09:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/culturaltheory\/?post_type=content&p=124"},"modified":"2024-04-03T11:10:52","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T11:10:52","slug":"chapter-7-class-and-class-struggle","status":"publish","type":"content","link":"https:\/\/staging.routledgelearning.com\/culturaltheory\/chapter-resources\/chapter-7-class-and-class-struggle\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 7 – Class and class struggle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n\tHome<\/a>\n<\/span>\/<\/span>\n\tChapter Resources<\/a>\n<\/span>\/<\/span>\n\tChapter 7 \u2013 Class and class struggle\n<\/span><\/div>\n\n

Chapter 7 – Class and class struggle<\/h1>\n\n\n

In a book on cultural theory and popular culture why concern ourselves with social class? One answer is to say that class has always been a concern of this book; what has changed is that it now has its own chapter. Another is to say that although it is an \u2018economic\u2019 category, it is always lived culturally and one of the places where we recognize its existence is popular culture. Put simply, popular culture is a key site for the recognition and self-recognition of class. Class is everywhere in popular culture. It can be found quite clearly in dramas such as Downton Abbey (ITV 2010\u201315; film 2019) and in documentaries like Benefits Street (Channel 4 2014). It would be impossible to understand either television programme without including a critical attention to representations of class. We see it explicitly in all sorts of other things: styles of dress, holiday destinations, the books and newspapers we read, the food we eat, the music we like, how we talk to each other, where we live, our dreams and hopes for the future. We also find it implicitly in the judgements that are made about how people dress and speak, where they take their holidays, the books and newspapers they read, the music they like, where they live, and how they imagine the future. In other words, class is there in the assumptions made about what is a good or bad lifestyle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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Before you read <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Warm-up<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Watch a short video introducing habitus \u2013 an important notion in understanding social classes [link<\/a>]. Who was this notion coined by?  What does it mean in relation to the class system and society? What important aspects of social organization does it imply?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Preliminary questions<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 7 outlines the problem of class struggle, showing how the concept of class has developed in cultural theory as well as how it has evolved in the practice of contemporary societies. The idea of class it speaks of relates to various (but overlapping) understandings of the concept as proposed by Karl Marx, Raymond Williams, Richard Hoggart, E.P. Thomson and Pierre Bourdieu. It does not, however, focus on individual theories; rather, it provides an overall insight into the problem of class that these theories propose. It specifically relates to class struggle, explaining its connection to popular culture and how the popular has been the site for social distinction, especially, in relation to cultural production and representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chapter traces the changes in conceptualizing social stratification that has followed the change in political-economic organization of societies. It traces that change in class vocabulary (slavery, feudalism, capitalism) and the change of systems (industrialism, neo-liberalism), proving that, although it may seem out of date, the problem of class distinction is still a vital part of our modern experience. And important thing the chapter does is explain why class in central for British cultural studies (or popular studies in general). Not only is the concept of class central to understanding cultural process, but also an element of theoretical heritage that has included class in its debate on the cultural practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this in mind, look at the questions below and rethink what the chapter has to offer. Some of them will refer to specific concepts the understanding of which is fundamental for the understanding the problem of class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Why is popular culture a site of class struggle?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • In what way does the problem of class connect with cultural studies?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • What is homogeneity?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • What the concepts of \u2018base\u2019 and \u2018superstructure\u2019 mean and relate to?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • How can we think of class distinction in terms of a daily experience?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Do you or your family experience class struggle? If yes, in what way?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Has the perception and practice of class changed (from the Early Modern period to contemporary times)?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • How terms such as low culture, classical music or kitsch inform about class struggle?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Does class difference shows only through material goods?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Can you think of any seemingly symbolic forms of social stratification that cause class division?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    After you read: Important ideas <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The concept of class<\/em> plays a key role in cultural studies and is indispensable for understanding the cultural condition of modern life. For the last decade, however, it has seen a gradual exclusion from the cultural debate and has been considered too obsolete for theorizing postmodern, de-industrialized, neo-liberal and increasingly global societies. Anita Biressi and Heather Nunn describe this problem in their Class and Contemporary British Culture<\/em>, showing how debased and rejected, the theoretical validity of class division has looped back, returning class<\/em> to the vocabulary of the cultural debate. By answering the questions in quizzes 7.1 and 7.2, see how this idea has developed in cultural studies and what issues it has brought out. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Quiz 7.1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Which, in your view, is correct? (Choose between true<\/em> or false<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n