| What is social class? | a way of classifying people according to occupation, income, social status and so on |
| How do socialists view social class? | Socialists view class as the most important social division for understanding politics. They think that the way capitalist society has been divided means that people develop common bonds with people in their own class. |
| What is the first interpretation of social class? | history and the development of human society in terms of the class system has suggested that people act with others in their class for the interests of that class which causes division in society. |
| What is an example of the first interpretation of social class? | For example, working-class people formed trade unions to try and get higher wages. |
| What is the second interpretation of social class? | socialists have focused upon the nature of the working classes and suggested that these are the people that change society. Socialists understand capitalist society in terms of class but do not support a class system or the existence of a ‘working class’ as these labels are divisions in society and therefore divide people causing conflict and competition. |
| What do revolutionary socialists believe about class? | They believe that these two classes will always come into conflict as they want two opposite outcomes (more profit and higher wages). Eventually, this conflict will result in a revolution in which the proletariat overthrow the bourgeoisie, leading to the establishment of a classless communist society. |
| What do social democrats believe about class? | They have talked more about the differences in opportunity and wealth between the middle classes and the working classes and have stressed the need to reduce the differences and the wealth gap between the two groups for the good of society. |
| What is a problem socialism has faced? | Socialists have faced a huge problem since the 1970s. The decline in the traditional working-class professions has led to less people feeling as if they are working class. |
| What has this lack of identification led to? | This lack of identification with socialism has resulted in socialist parties having to appeal to the middle classes for electoral support, in many cases moving away from the core principles of socialism. |
| What is an example fo this move away from core socialism? | The creation of ‘New Labour’ in the 1990s in the UK is an example of this. |
