Class Descriptors or Class Relations? Thoughts Towards a Critique of Savage et al.

Abstract

The work of Savage et al. in relation to the Great British Class Survey is acknowledged as an important contribution to a reinvigorated sociological research agenda on class, with a major public impact, but it is argued that the analysis, although bold and responsive to current social transformations, is flawed. Three weaknesses are identified: the approach to class is gradational, not relational; the markers of cultural capital used in the model are highly selective, therefore skewing the empirical findings, and lead to a negative view of working-class culture; and the model of latent classes resulting from the analysis is not coherent, with groupings that might be better distinguished as class fractions. Finally, an alternative deductively based class schema is proposed, which tries to accommodate contemporary change.