Marshall et al. have claimed that class is the major social structural influence on social consciousness and ideological conflict in modern Britain. In this paper I re-analyse data from the Essex class study and demonstrate that the class consciousness index devised by Marshall et al. is not an adequate measure of a unitary concept of class consciousness and that their claims about the pre-eminence of class as a structuring influence on identities and attitudes are not supported by the data. My analysis shows that education, income and several other factors influence levels of `class consciousness'. I go on to show that the class consciousness index in-appropriately aggregates diverse types of attitudes and identities, of which only `class identification' has a substantial association with social class. Moreover, class differences in attitudes towards redistribution disappear completely when they involve costs as well as benefits for working class respondents, thus indicating that classes do not differ in their commitment to egalitarianism. In the discussion several responses to the problems encountered in measuring class consciousness in contemporary Britain are examined.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Aldrich, J. and Nelson, F. 1984. Linear, Probability, Logit and Probit Models. Beverley Hills: Sage.
2.
Asher, H. 1983. Causal Modelling. (Second Edition). Beverley Hills: Sage.
3.
Berry, W. and Lewis-beck, M. (eds.) New Tools for Social Scientists. Berverley Hills: Sage.
4.
Blaxter, M. 1989. (ed.) Health and Lifestyles. London: Tavistock.
5.
Bollen, K. and Barb, K.1981. `Pearson's r and Coarsely Categorised Measures'. American Sociological Review46:232-239.
6.
Budge, I. and Farlie, D. 1983. Explaining and Predicting Elections: Issue Effects and Party Strategies in Twenty-Three Democracies. London: George, Allen and Unwin.
7.
Bulmer, M. (ed.) 1975. Working Class Images of Society. London: RKP.
8.
Butler, D. and Stokes, D. 1974. Political Change in Britain. (Second Edition). London: Heinemann.
9.
Carmines, E. and Zeller, R. 1979. Reliability and Validity Assessment. Beverley Hills: Sage.
10.
Converse, P. 1964. `The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics' in Apter, D. (ed.) Ideology and Discontent. Glencoe: Free Press.
11.
Crewe, I.1986. `On the Death and Resurrection of Class Voting: Some Comments on How Britain Votes'. Political Studies34:620-638.
12.
Cronbach, L.1951. `Coefficient Alpha and the Internal Structure of Tests'. Psychometrica16:297-334.
13.
Dunleavy, P. and Husbands, C. 1985. British Democracy at the Crossroads. London: Allen and Unwin.
14.
Emmison, M. and Western, M.1990. `Social Class and Social Identity: A Comment on Marshall et al.'Sociology24:241-253.
15.
Evans, G., Heath, A and Payne, C.1991. `Modelling the Class/Party Relationship 1964-87'. Electoral Studies10:99-117.
16.
Form, W. and Hanson, C.1985. `The Consistency of Stratal Ideologies of Economic Justice'. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility4:239-269.
17.
Franklin, M. 1985. The Decline of Class Voting in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
18.
Gallie, D. 1983. Social Inequality and Class Radicalism in France and Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
19.
Giddens, A. 1973. The Class Structure of the Advanced Societies. New York: Barnes and Noble.
20.
Gillespie, M.1977. `Log-linear Techniques and the Regression Analysis of Dummy Dependent Variables'. Sociological Methods and Research6:103-122.
21.
Golding, P. and Middleton, S. 1982. Images of Welfare. Oxford: Martin Robinson.
22.
Goldthorpe, J., Lockwood, D., Bechhofer, F. and Platt, J. 1968. The Affluent Worker: Political Attitudes and Behaviour. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
23.
Goldthorpe, J. 1987. Social Mobility and Class Structure in Modern Britain (Second Edition). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
24.
Gorz, A. 1982. Farewell to the Working Class. London: Pluto Press.
25.
Granberg, D. and Holmberg, S. 1988. The Political System Matters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
26.
Gurin, P., Miller, A. and Gurin, G.1980. `Stratum Identification and Consciousness'. Social Psychology Quarterly43:30-47.
27.
Halsey, A.H., Heath, A. and Ridge, J. 1980. Origins and Destinations. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
28.
Heath, A. and Clifford, P.1990. `Class Inequalities in Education in the Twentieth Century'. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A153:1-16.
29.
Heath, A., Evans, G., Lalljee, M., Martin, J. and Witherspoon, S. 1991. `The Measurement of Core Beliefs and Values' Joint Unit for the Study of Social Tredns, Working Paper no. 2; Social & Community Planning Research & Nuffield College.
30.
Heath, A., Jowell, R. and Curtice, J. 1985. How Britain Votes. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
31.
Heath, A., Jowell, R.Curtice, J. and Evans, G.1990. `The Rise of the New Political Agenda?'European Sociological Review6:31-49.
32.
Heath, A., Jowell, R., Curtice, J., Evans, G., Field, J. and Witherspoon, S. 1991. Understanding Political Change: The British Voter 1964-1987. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
33.
Heath, A and Evans, G. 1988. `Working Class Conservatives and Middle Class Socialists' in Jowell, R., Witherspoon, S. and Brook, L. (eds.) British Social Attitudes: The 5th Report. Aldershot: Gower.
34.
Hiller, P.1975. `The Nature and Social Location of Everyday Conceptions of Class'. Sociology9:1-28.
35.
Himmelstein, J. and McRae, J.1988. `Social Issues and Socio-economic Status'. Public Opinion Quarterly52:492-512.
36.
Himmelweit, H., Humphreys, P. and Jaeger, M. 1985. How Voters Decide (revised edition). Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
37.
Hodge, R. and Treiman, D.1968. `Class Identification in the United States'. American Journal of Sociology73:535-547.
38.
International Journal of Urban and Regional Studies. 1990. (debate) `Is the Emperor Naked? Some Questions on the Adequacy of Sociological Theory in Urban and Regional Research'. 15:1078-1029.
39.
Jackman, M. and Jackman, R. 1983. Class Awareness in the United States. Berkeley: University of California Press.
40.
Kluegal, J. and Smith, E.1981. `Beliefs about Stratification'. Annual Review of Sociology7:29-56.
41.
Kluegal, J. and Smith, E. 1986. Beliefs about Equality. New York: Aldine De Gruyter.
42.
Kluegal, J., Singleton, R. and Starnes, C.1977. `Subjective Class Identification: A Multiple Indicator Approach'. American Sociological Review42:599-611.
43.
Knoke, D., Raffalovich, L. and Erskine, W.1985. `Class, Status and Economic Policy Preferences'. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility6:141-158.
44.
Knutson, O.1988. `The Impact of Structural and Ideological Party Cleavages in Western European Democracies: A Comparative Empirical Analysis'. British Journal of Political Science18:323-352.
45.
Lipset, S.M. 1960. Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics (Second Edition) Garden City: Doubleday.
46.
Lopreato, J. and Hazelrigg, L. 1972. Class, Conflict and Mobility. San Francisco: Chandler.
47.
Mann, J.M. 1973. Consciousness and Action among the Western Working Class. London.
48.
Marshall, G. 1988 `Some Remarks on the Study of Working Class Consciousness' in Rose, D. (ed.) Social Stratification and Economic Change. London: Hutchinson.
49.
Marshall, G. and Rose, D.1990. `Out-Classed By Our Critics?'Sociology24:255-267.
50.
Marshall, G., Newby, H., Rose, D. and Vogler, C. 1988. Social Class in Modern Britain. London: Hutchinson.
51.
Marshall, G., Rose, D., Newby, H. and Vogler, C.1987. `Distributional Struggle and Moral Order in a Market Society'. Sociology21:55-73.
52.
Pahl, R.1989. `Is the Emperor Naked? Some Questions on the Adequacy of Sociological Theory in Urban and Regional Research'. International Journal of Urban and Regional Studies13:709-720.
53.
Parkin, F. 1972. Class Inequality and Political Order. London.
54.
Piazza, T.1980. `The Analysis of Attitude Items'. American Journal of Sociology86: 584-603.
55.
Pulzer, P. 1968. Political Representation and Elections in Britain. London: Allen and Unwin.
56.
Reid, I. 1989. Social Class Differences in Britain (Third Edition). Glasgow: Fontana.
57.
Robertson, D. 1984. Class and the British Electorate. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
58.
Saunders, P. 1979. Urban Politics: A Sociological Approach. London: Hutchinson.
59.
Schuman, H. and Presser, S. 1981. Questions and Answers in Attitude Surveys: Experiments on Question Form, Working and Context. New York: Academic Press.
60.
Vanneman, R. and Cannon, L. 1987. The American Perception of Class. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
61.
Vanneman, R. and Pampel, F.1977. `The American Perception of Class and Status'. American Sociological Review42:422-437.
62.
Wilkinson, R. (ed.) 1986. Class and Health. London: Tavistock.
