Traditionally Britain has always been recognized as a 'class society', characterised by widespread awareness of social class membership, class inequality and the influence of class inequalities in employment prospects. However it has been argued that with "growing affluence, levels of education, social mobility and post - industrial economic development, class identities are losing their salience." (4) Saying this there is still substantial amounts of evidence to suggest that class inequalities are still very much inherent in British society especially with regards to social mobility.

One of the first factors in explaining class inequalities in Britain would have to be the differences in wealth and income. Carl Marx's theory on income and wealth in western societies can be used to help explain this.

Marx believed that maturing of capitalism would bring about an increasing gap between the wealth of the minority and the poverty of the mass of the population. According the Marx the wages of the working class would never rise far above survival level, while wealth would pile up in the hands of those owning capital. Marx also believed that those in the low

levels of society would suffer, "accumulation of misery, agony o labour, slavery, ignorance, brutality, moral degradation...." (Marx 1970. p 645).

Marketable Wealth 1976 1981 1986 1991 1993

Those who believe that the impact of class on life chances is in decline must follow the natural progression to the further claim that class is also of reduced importance in the determination of the response of individuals to their social situation, particularly through political partisanship. Class, it is suggested, is dissolving as the basis of political partisanship, and this is most evident in the declining support of working class for the parties of the left. Goldthorpe and Marshall cite the Conservative election wins of 1979 and 1983 as evidence of this, yet argue that this class change is due not to a disappearance of the working class, "instead a change in the shape of class structure, most importantly the growth of the services sector and decline in manufacturing" (3).

Again it is suggested that class maintains its role as a useful analytical tool. It is in my opinion therefore that the concept of class is still a valid concept. However it is a clouded concept with tremendous difficulties of definition in the context of the UK. We have to consider if social call really matters anymore? Goldthorpe and Marshall define their vision of class as a modern analytical tool and work within that framework. It is in this way that the concept of class will maintain its validity. Sociology is a dynamic subject, and although theories may have their roots in the nineteenth century, their relevance to British Society can be enhanced through definition and revision.

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Approximate Word count = 1315
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)