Social class can be difficult to define because different measures can point in different directions. A person’s occupation may suggest one class position, while their income, wealth, education, cultural capital, social networks or self-identity may suggest another. For AQA A-level Sociology on Stratification or Cambridge OCR A level Sociology – Understanding Social Inequalities, this links directly to debates about the problems of defining and measuring social class. Some sociologists use occupation-based schemes, while others argue that class should also include wealth, lifestyle, status, power, social capital and people’s own sense of class identity. This activity asks students to make careful class judgements rather than assuming that one measure gives the full answer.
You can watch the following videos to help with your definitions:
In this activity, students examine fictional individuals and decide how their social class might be defined using different class metrics commonly covered in AQA A-level Sociology. Students classify each person using occupation, income and wealth, education and cultural capital, self-identity, and an overall class judgement. The activity encourages students to recognise contradictory class signals, evaluate the limits of single measures, and explain why class may be best understood as multidimensional.
Class Metrics Profiler
Can you define someone’s social class using different measures of class?
Task: Read each fictional profile and classify the person’s social class using different metrics: occupation, income and wealth, education and cultural capital, self-identity, and an overall class judgement.
The key skill is evaluation. A person may look working class using one measure, middle class using another, and mixed or upwardly mobile when all the evidence is considered together.
The class metrics map
Occupation
Look at job type, skill level, authority, security and employment conditions.
Income and wealth
Separate earnings from assets, inheritance, savings, property and financial security.
Education and culture
Consider qualifications, confidence, cultural capital, tastes and social networks.
Self-identity
Ask how the person defines themselves and whether this matches structural measures.
Overall judgement
Use the evidence to decide whether their class position is clear, mixed or changing.
Open class metric guide before you begin
Exam practice after the activity
Choose one profile and turn it into an evaluative paragraph:
- Point: One problem with defining social class is that different measures can produce different results.
- Application: This can be seen in the case of…
- Analysis: Using occupation suggests…, while using wealth / education / identity suggests…
- Evaluation: This means sociologists may need to use a multidimensional approach because…
- Judgement: Overall, the most convincing class definition is…
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