Social Class Preferences - Coursework Example

Television and Cultural Change Introduction The es that people belonged to was a fundamental aspect that led to a lot of discrimination, as well as good networking between individuals. People believed to belong to the same social group had the same characteristics like the wealth they had and the ways that they behaved. Capitalism came up when the people in working class decided to produce and sell items for a profit. This profit would enable them to become wealthier and seen as more powerful by the society. Many believe that there is a link between the class, social taste and capitalism. This is because when one belongs to a certain social class he will depict the social taste and have a wealth that defines that social group. One can dispute this claim by looking at the UK TV programme, ‘Crossroads’. With time, the definition of social classes has become dilute, as people no longer act in ways that show their social belonging. This paper seeks to explore the history of social class, taste and capitalism. At the end, be able to establish whether there is a link between the different phenomena. Capitalism In the twelfth century, most people lived in, the villages, as opposed to the few who lived in the towns. The town dwellers consisted of skilled labourers who the nobles paid for their upkeep for the various jobs they did. A great pandemic reduced the population significantly and led to few skilled labourers in towns. The nobles wooed people from the villages to come work in the towns by giving the skilled labourers a wage for the work done. With time, skilled labourers in the towns became rich, were able to leave the skilled labour, and became traders. This led to the development of trade to the extent that different nations traded with each other. Merchants came up, and they started investing their money to buy goods and sell them in a different place. This was how capitalism started and developed. Capitalism is a financial system where individuals or corporations solely do investment and make profits. In this economy, the private sector has the right to produce, dispense and exchange wealth without any interference. In capitalism, the government does not control or interfere with the making or distribution of the wealth of individuals (Holland, 1997). The system that controls the economy is the market prices of the goods as well as the profits incurred. Unlike the working class, the people that belong to the capitalism class do not get wages and money for their abilities. Instead, the capitalism class gets money and profits from what they produce and sell to people. The need to make profits is the reason why capitalism involves the production of goods or services. This means that capitalism does not aim at satisfying the needs of people. Just like the UK T.V programme, ‘Crossroads’, the rich get wealthier because of taxation and selling their goods. The money made by an individual passes through to his children and grandchildren. The poor become worse because they cannot trade anything and become wealthier. The rich do not care the pain the human beings feel and that of the people they leave behind. Therefore, through capitalism people intend to get more money than they used in an investment. Class Class is a term used to describe the economic status of people in a society. The term came to use in the nineteenth century and replaced the ancient hierarchy. The usage of the phrase reflects the notable changes that took place in the industrial and Political revolution. Industrial and commercial traders occupied the upper class. The urban dwellers that worked in the factories became the working class. The distinction between the two is the ownership of capital in one case and the dependence of wages in the other. The powerful people in the upper class had ensured that the division of people into classes lasted. This is because the people in the upper class enrolled into private schools and universities that ensured that they remained rich (Beck, 1992). The UK T.V programme, ‘What Not to Wear’, shows this clearly how the rich wear differently from people in the lower class. The T.V series features how the rich wear different clothes and carry themselves differently; therefore, defining the people in the different classes. The rich are able to do this because they can afford the clothes and lifestyle. At the same time, the people in the working class barely had a good education. Therefore, they only secured a job that catered for needs without making them wealthy. The middle class would not afford the education and, therefore, had no education that could give them a good job. The money they received moved from hand to the mouth ensuring that they never grew economically (Palmer, 2008). With the power that came with wealth, the upper class controlled the political systems. This ensured that the working class and the middle class remained in their respective social classes. This did not please the people in the working and middle class. Some of them thus planned atrocities that could get them to the upper class even by breaking the laws. The working class despised the upper class for the political rules they made and worked hard to protect their interests. Those who were skilled labourers started trade and this made them wealthier. Those who owned farms and industries employed the working class on their farms and gave them wages (1992). This ensured that they had enough to survive. Society extremely exploited the underclass ensuring that they remained poor and maintained their status. Cultural taste Cultural taste is the preference of a group to a particular cultural product. The group can consist of people of the same class, ethnic group, or race. It is usually a discriminatory phenomenon based on the judging people according to their aesthetics. Expression of cultural taste happens in the different conversations that people hold (Bauman, 1998). People can also judge the taste of a person according to habits and the goods that he possesses. People use cultural taste to identify selected people to a group (Decerteau, 1984). When people display their taste, they are able to form lasting networks with people like them. Displaying taste also gives people a chance to identify those that do not fit in the group and exclude them. The UK T.V programme ‘Crossroads’ features on the screens in UK and shows the different lifestyles of two sisters. One sister hails from a rich family; the other from a poor family. The poor because they cannot afford the things that come with wealth have a different lifestyle. The rich because of their gluttonous lifestyle live overwhelmingly. This shows that the lifestyles of the poor and the people in the upper class are different based on what they can or cannot afford. This does not mean that they are different because of the inner beauty or sophistication of the rich. In the 18th century, the meaning of aesthetics changed from the view that beauty is a natural phenomenon. The meaning of aesthetics changed to the ability of a person to feel and think reasonably (Rojek, 2001). Therefore, because of the new meaning it became the basis of the economic and political life of the society. This brought many controversies especially in the artistic world (Kellner, 2010). For example, the standard of measuring whether a music composition was beautiful became a problem. Some believed that a composition was only good if it followed all the rules of music. Other people believed that what made music beautiful was the passion and expression of the artist. The society changed the meaning of taste, and it thus became a cultivated rather than a natural disposition. Link between cultural taste, class and capitalism Bourdieu believes that one can easily distinguish between the different classes. This is because of the capability or constraint of an individual to behave in a certain way. This means that a person in the lower class cannot be able to have the same economic status as those in the upper class. Therefore, he cannot purchase the items purchased by those in the upper class (Holmes & Deborah, 2003). Bourdieu noted that this is not the only modality that people can distinguish individuals in different social classes. He believes that people learn some of the social knowledge and behaviour in school or from an upper class family (Featherstone, 1991). Therefore, because the people in the middle and lower class are handicapped when it comes to education, they can never learn the behaviour. Consequently, they cannot deliberately copy and pretend to be in the upper class. Bourdieu believes that there is a link between cultural taste, capitalism and class. He believes a relationship exists between culture and wealth that people and the class they belong (Goddens, 1991). This relationship is so strong that one can identify that individuals in different socioeconomic groups have different cultural tastes (Philips, 2005). Bourdieu believes that the ways an individual expresses his taste on the things that he does daily tell his class level (Powell & Prasad, 2010). This can be looking at the goods he purchases, whether they are valuable or cheap. One can also look at his manners whether they portray sophistication or vulgarity. Thus, Bourdieu believes this is the best way of finding out his status because the way he expresses himself represents his normal lifestyle in a social class. I tend to disagree with Bourdieu because his method cannot accurately show the social class of a person. This is because a person can deliberately act and express himself in the upper class do to make people believe that he is from that group (Chaney, 2001). An example is the UK program, ‘Capitalism, the love story’, where actors in the upper social class became obese like the people in the lower class. This thus creates a conflict because the use of vulgar words in a characteristic of people in the lower class. This means that people can learn and even act according to the behaviour and taste of people in the upper class (Brunsdon, 2003). Again, through fashion individuals can overcome the division of people according to classes. This is because the people in the upper class are the initiators of new trends in the market. The people in the middle class have a chance to be like them and in many instances imitate the trends that they wear. Therefore, it becomes very difficult to distinguish a person in the upper and middle class (Heller, 2007). Moreover, through mass media it has been quite easier for people in the other classes to have the same taste as those in the upper class. In the modern world, the traditional culture of people does not influence their behaviour and taste significantly (Bell, 2005). This is because products produced in the modern world are similar for all people in all the different classes. This makes people purchase goods based on what they desire and not what their social class prefers. Conclusion From the paper, the economic and political development in Europe influenced the development of social divisions. Classes came up, and those that belong to the highest ensured that they maintained their interests. They went to the extent of making changes in the political system, so that other classes never improved. Capitalism also came up where people started producing and selling items to make profits. The interests of other individuals were not a priority for the capitalists. They made great profits that led to development of trade, which reduced the division of people according to their social status. There is a relationship between cultural taste and the social status of a person because people in different classes behave and desire different things. It is clear that there is no connection between the three phenomena. This is because people can easily adapt the behaviour of a social class so that they can redefine their status. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bauman, Z. 1988, Freedom. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Publishers.  Beck, U. 1992, Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage Bell, D. and Hollows, J. 2005, Ordinary Lifestyles. Milton Keynes: Open UP Brunsdon, C. 2003, ‘Lifestyle Britain: The 8 – 9 Slot on British Television’. International Journal of Cultural Studies. 6, 1.  _____. 1992, Intimations of Postmodernity. London: Routledge.  Chaney, D. 2001, ‘From Ways of Life to Lifestyle: Rethinking Culture as Ideology and Sensibility’. 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Rojek, C. 2001, Celebrity. London: Reaktion. Read More