15/10/15

“All men is created equal”, a quotation by Thomas Jefferson, a principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776. He acknowledged that every single person that live in a society has right to have a right. A society itself theoretically is a group of people that live in the same geographical area and have a social structure. This social structure categorises a society to several divisions; a social class. This division of society itself is contrary to the quotation of equality. Why class exist in a society? Why do we need to have a class if we are meant to be equal? To what extent a society need to develop to become really equal?

The social class generally stratified a group of people based on the same social, economic, educational status, and so on. It means in every countries and nation there is a social class if it is not clearly defined, there will be least the differences between the authority and the laymen. In America, there are three types of classes which are upper classes, middle classes, and lower classes. In Britain, the latest social study in 2013 by BBC team of Great British Class divides Britain’s society into seven categories, which are elite, established middle class, technical middle class, new affluent workers, traditional working class, emergent service sector, and precariat. The survey inquires about the daily activity of a person's, economic status, the social network, cultural interest, and so on. The theoretical framework of this study was developed using Bourdieu’s theory of social distinction established in 1979.

Bourdieu’s theory explained how class formation structured. Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, capital and field posit how an individual is perceived by a society. Bourdieu’s uses a resource that possess by an individual in an economic metaphor. This help to understand how social class operates between abstract structures and concrete specifics of everyday life. There are four types of capitals; economic capital which based on monetary assets, cultural capital based on knowledge and embodied state, social capital that generate through a social network, and symbolic capital refer to a group of different types of capital that perceived as legitimate by the society. This trading metaphor between habitus, capital and field facilitates to accumulate an individual position and enable them to move around social space with ease.

To conclude, social class is a division of society to several groups. People is grouped based on their habitus and capital that they possessed. Each person will have the different social position in the different field.