OUGD505 - Product, Range & Distribution - The Great British Class Survey

On 2 April 2013, analysis of the results of the Great British Class Survey were published online. The survey, which researched the social structure classes of the United Kingdom, was developed in collaboration with academic experts. The results released were based on a survey of 160,000 residents of Britain, the majority of who lived in England and described themselves as 'white.'

Class as a multi-dimensional construct is defined and measured according to the amount/kind of economic, cultural, and social capital reported. Economic capital being income and assets, cultural capital being the amount and type of cultural interests and activities reportedly engaged with, and social capital being the quantity and social status of friends and family, as well as personal and business contacts.

With the 3-class analysis apparently out of date, the survey culminated in the introduction of a new 7 strata system, accordingly providing a more accurate representation of classes of society in 21st century Britain.

The Seven Social Classes of 21st Century Britain

1. Elite - This is the wealthiest and most privileged group in the UK. They went to private school and elite universities and enjoy high cultural activities such as listening to classical music and going to the opera.
2. Established Middle Class - This is the most gregarious and the second wealthiest of all the class groups. They work in traditional professions and socialise with a wide variety of people, and take part in a wide variety of cultural activities.
3. Technical Middle Class - This is a small, distinctive and prosperous new class group. They prefer emerging culture, such as social media, and mix mainly among themselves. They work in science and tech and come from middle-class backgrounds.
4. New Affluent Workers - These people are economically secure, without being well-off. This class group is sociable, has lots of cultural interests and sits in the middle of all the groups in terms of wealth. They're likely to come from working class backgrounds.
5. Traditional Working Class - This group has the oldest average age, and they're likely to own their own home. They mix among themselves and don't enjoy emerging culture. Jobs in this group include lorry drivers, cleaners and electricians.
6. Emergent Service Workers - These young people have high social and cultural capital - so they know people from all different walks of life, and enjoy a wide range of cultural activities - but are not financially secure.
7. Precariat - The poorest and most deprived social group. They tend to mix socially with people like them and don't have a broad range of cultural interests. More than 80% rent their home.

Further Findings 

• Further findings from the survey detail that the elite are more obsessed with class than anyone else, with around 6% of the population being in this tier. That said, 22% of the people who took the survey turned out to be in this social group. 
• 25% of the population are estimated to be in the established middle class, however 45% of the survey respondents got this result. 
• This in comparison to the precariat -who make up 15% of our society but less than 1% of them took the quiz as it is presumed that they found the survey 'intimidating.'

Elites are concentrated around London and the South of England, as shown on the map below.

The darkest areas, which correspond to concentration of elites, are mainly in London and the South of England. However, not all people in the South are classed as elite. Towns like Swindon, Slough and Crawley have relatively low proportions of elites, but have clusters of wealth not too far away. 

Further North, and in to Wales and Ireland, the clusters become pink, meaning that less people there are classed as elite. 

The elite are more likely to have gone to university than most - but so are emergent service workers.

The young and cultured, but financially insecure, emergent service workers are very likely to have gone to university - with a higher proportion of graduates in their class than any of the others (except those at the very top of society). Most graduates are in the established middle class, however surprisingly enough, some of the most financially insecure people in the country have a university degree. The graph does also show that it is possible to be in the elite group without a degree and while getting a good degree can affect which class people are likely to end up in, not going to university does not mean a person has no prospect of moving up. 

It also appears that people in high-salary jobs, whose parents were also in high-salary jobs, get paid more - with people in the same job getting paid more or less depending on their parents' professions. People whose parents were in high-salary jobs seem to get paid more in the top industries than those whose parents were not in high-salary jobs.