Define Class Identity and related terms including Economic Class and Social Class
Describe how Class Identity affects our quality of life
Explain how Economic Class is about power
Explain the connection between Class Identity and politics
Explain how Class Identity is important in the study of comparative politics
Introduction
Class identity can relate both to economic and social class. Class identity is defined as how a person or group of persons think of themselves in relation to others in society based on their economic and social position. While defining and measuring economic status is quite similar across cultures, the same cannot be said for social status. Different societies have different social values and, therefore, assign social class positions in different ways. Class identity is important and often has significant impacts on people’s daily lives. Class identity can impact our happiness, our sense of security, our daily interactions and even our experience with the justice system. While the factors surrounding incarceration are complicated, there is evidence that people from lower economic classes are arrested, charged and imprisoned at higher rates. According to O’Neil Hayes (2020), “Adults in poverty are three times more likely to be arrested than those who aren’t, and people earning less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level are 15 times more likely to be charged with a felony.” Hayes’ research also indicates that “The likelihood that a boy from a family in the bottom 10 percent of the income distribution will end up in prison in his thirties is 20 times greater than that of a boy from a family in the top 10 percent.”
Economic class also is about power.
Classes can be divided according to how much relative power and control members of a class have over their lives. On this basis, we might distinguish between the owning class (or bourgeoisie), the middle class, and the traditional working class. The owning class not only have power and control over their own lives, their economic position gives them power and control over others’ lives as well.
Class identity, and its connection to power, also manifests itself in politics. One of the theories of power is called the Elite Theory, a theory put forward in a book called The Power Elite by sociologist C. Wright Mills in 1956 which asserts that political power is held by the Elites. Elites are the upper socio-economic class, or the “ruling class, among those business, government, and military leaders whose decisions and actions have significant consequences” (Mills, 1956). Elite theory says that elites not only have power, but that they use that power for their own self-interests - for the interests of elites. One of the components of being elite is to have social capital. Having social capital means that elites are not just economically comfortable, they also have contacts, a network to call upon for help finding a new job, new clients, new customers - for themselves and their family. At its conception, Mill’s book, The Elite Theory was focused on the nexus of power in the United States. Today, however, it is discussed in international terms. It also has expanded to include not just elite individuals, but elite organizations, such as major oil companies, global military contractors, (Horowitz, 1981).
Class Identity: Economic Class v. Social Class
As mentioned above, it is fairly straightforward to define and describe economic classes in a society. Economic class is based on measurable characteristics: money and material resources.
The photo above shows a sleek yacht. This is one indicator of wealth because of the high cost of the yacht. Therefore, we presume that the owner of the yacht is from the upper economic class. Homes, cars and jewelry are other commonly observed indicators of economic class. The ability to measure economic class can be seen with tools such as NPR’s income calculator, where you can find out if you are 'middle class'.
There are other markers of economic class, however, that are not always as easy to interpret. Fashion and grooming styles are examples. In the past, perhaps, these were more fixed. In contemporary society they are more fluid. Consider this 1794 image of the wife of a wealthy Spanish diplomat.
It is quite easy to know that this is an image of a wealthy person with high status. Yet, such markers of wealth are not always visible today. This picture, of Elon Musk, offers no clues that he is one of the wealthiest persons on Earth.
When we combine both economic [income, wealth] factors with social factors, such as level of education and occupation, we have what is called socioeconomic class. This intersection occurs because a person’s social factors often influence one’s economic class. However, as noted by the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching, “An individual's socioeconomic status does not always align with their social class identification. In the U.S., for example, those who identify as middle class vary on every indicator of socioeconomic status (e.g., level of education)”. Components of social class vary significantly across cultures. In some societies, for example, it is considered more prestigious to be a religious leader than a medical doctor. One profession that is measured is that of a teacher. Different countries place different levels of respect for teachers. According to a 2018 Varkey Foundation report, “In Malaysia and China, teachers are compared to doctors – seen as the highest status profession in our sample, but [in most countries] it is most common for teachers to be compared with social workers having a mid-range status”.
Class Identity and Politics
Class identity, both economic and social class identity, is a major component of politics. Class identity often influences political affiliations and attitudes. Politicians appeal to class identity as a means of gaining support for their policies. Class identity often drives political and social movements.
One example of the relationship between class identity and political movements is Marxism. Marxism, which is discussed more in Chapter 8, is an approach to political economy that is based on the idea of class conflict - between the owner and worker classes. Marxism focuses on the exploitation of workers by owners and seeks to mobilize the working class to demand that the power dynamic change. Marxists seek to change the economic class structure and, as a consequence, the political structure. Marx saw such class struggle as inevitable due to exploitation and that revolution would also be inevitable. By overthrowing the capitalist class, this revolution would usher in a socialist system (Sociology Boundless, n.d.). But, before such an uprising could happen, the working class had to see itself as working class and recognize that - as a class - they are being exploited by the capitalist class. Marx viewed class in objective terms, whereby “a person’s social class is determined by his or her position within the system of property relations that constitutes a given economic society” (Little, n.d.). Therefore, it is not just about being in a certain class that has political significance, it is also one’s identity as belonging to a particular class that is politically important.
Class identity is not only at the core of certain social/political movements, it is often a key focus of political campaigns seeking to win votes or support - for specific candidates and political parties. A recent example of this in the United States is the intense interest in the working class during the presidential election campaign of 2015-16. The working class is defined as those engaged in manual-labor occupations or industrial work. Often, members of the working class are without a four-year college degree. Unionized working class Americans had been fairly solidly united behind the Democratic Party since the era of FDR in the 1930s. Over the course of the past 30 years, however, the Democratic Party has lost support from working class voters. Donald Trump did not win so much over working class voters as working class voters were disappointed by the Democratic Party candidate and many stayed home rather than vote. Working class voters are incredibly important to American politics. Although Donald Trump’s policies did not particularly benefit them, he did speak to their issues and gave voice to their frustrations (Zweig, 2017).
Members of the working class tend to be more religious, more outwardly patriotic and more culturally conservative than college graduates” (Leonhardt, 2021). This mix of different identity characteristics - including class - helps us understand the relationship to politics. A September, 2021 survey found widely differing views across class lines. In particular, a clear majority of working class respondents voiced serious concern about foreign influence in America. The more educated [and presumably wealthier] respondents had the opposite view (Public Religion Research Institute, 2021).
Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\): Responses to the American Way of Life. (Author’s creation. Statistics based on the 2021 Public Religion Research Institute).
In this graph, we can see a correlation between class and political views. This relationship is fluid and can be influenced by various factors, including national and global events, economic conditions, the media, and opinion leaders. In the case described above, many working class Americans feel threatened by global trade and have seen their economic security reduced. Whereas, wealthier Americans tend to see globalism in either a neutral or positive light. Politicians both foment and react to these class-linked views. As a recent journal article reminds us “Bernie Sanders characterized his run for the Presidency” as one focused on the working class and such class-based appeals “also figure prominently in debates concerning the success of right-wing populist politicians such as Marine Le Pen in France, Luigi Di Maio in Italy, and Donald Trump in the US” (Robertson, n.d.).
Turning our attention to the role of class in Israeli identity politics, we see something a bit different. Rather than identity politics being a way to bring attention to groups who feel “left behind” in some way, in Israel there is a class-based identity politics movement evident in the more economically and secure middle class. As Kaplan explains:
Whereas theories of identity politics tend to focus on the socially disenfranchised, we look at how the higher-ranked may use others’ essentialisation of culture and identities for their own advantages. We explain the secular middle class’s turn to Judaism as an attempt to reestablish or reclaim the social power they feel entitled to, under changing cultural, social and material conditions. [Kaplan, et al, 2017]
Kaplan’s analysis also highlights the intersection of class, culture and politics:
Inasmuch as Israel is an advanced-capitalist and a Jewish state, our middle-class participants have re-adjusted to the changing terms of belonging to the Israeli collectivity. In doing so, they may very well advance the ‘Judaisation’ of Israeli culture, yet not merely as an explicit political process, but also as a class distinction practice. [Kaplan, et al, 2017]
This example from Israel reminds us that even groups who generally are seen as having well-established economic, social and political power can feel their identity is threatened and, in this case, seek to redefine important aspects of that culture to help maintain their place in the hierarchy.
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