Is Britain a Class-Ridden Society Essay

Social classes can be defined by a group of persons sharing a similar social position and certain economic, political, and cultural characteristics. A class-ridden society is a term used by sociologists to describe a society which is ruled by social classes. As for the British society, it is considered as a division in three main classes : the upper class, the middle class and the lower or working class. Therefore, in the past few decades, the economy has changed and so has Britain. Then, can we consider Britain as a class-ridden society? Historically, in Britain, everything was depending on the class we were into. According to our language, our accent, the education we received from our family, our interests, etc, we were placed in a particular social class. Then, things like relationships, jobs, occupations varied from the class we were into. This phenomenon has existed in every country but it was more or less the same as in Britain. The novelist George Orwell said that this country was â€Å"the most class-ridden country under the sun†. Indeed, unlike France, Britain was still governed by the aristocracy in the 19th. The wealthy ones were the elite and didn’t leave much place for other classes. Although the aristocratic power had declined in the 19th and 20th centuries, the distinction between social classes is still in everyone’s mind. Even if the social classes and especially the differences between them have existed for a long time now, new classes have emerged time after time. For instance, with the Industrial Revolution, the term â€Å"working class† has appeared as well as the term â€Å"middle-class†. Nowadays, things have changed. With the economic globalization, the immigration and the development of multiculturalism we have learned how to live with each other, whatever the background, the education and the social status. So the real question would be : has Britain evolved or has it remained the same class-ridden society? To conclude, that question cannot be answered because Britain being a class-ridden society is in the British culture though there has been an evolution in everyone’s mind about that concept.