The Making and Negotiation of Class and Identity
With these series of portraits, I aimed to investigate how others perceive pressures from both wider institutional society and a narrower personal society regarding class and identity. As Goffman (1990) states, society establishes the means of categorising peoples and the complement of attributes felt to be ordinary and natural for members of each of these categories. I focus on how topics of milestones link, and possibly combine, with perceptions and opinions of class and self-identity.
Rolleicord, Portra 400
Class has become a more prevalent topic within the United Kingdom, with institutional interest, including that of the BBC through the ‘Great British Class Calculator’ (2013). My interest within this subject is in how others interpret the notions of class and how they construct and negotiate their own self identity. My aim is to investigate what others perceive to be the pressures from both a wider institutional society and a narrower personal society in regard to class and identity. As Goffman (1990) states, society establishes the means of categorising peoples and the complement of attributes felt to be ordinary and natural for members of each of these categories. The questions I asked, Appendix A, focus on how the topics of milestones link, and possibly combine, with perceptions and opinions of class.
In order to investigate these themes, I interviewed and photographed a series of people in the age range of early twenties to late thirties. I used this age group as they have finished compulsory education, either finished or near finishing higher education or have been in careers for a number of years. The group of people I selected originate from a wide geographic area, mainly from the United Kingdom but some international. At present, all reside in the South-East of England. The group live in a mixture of parental, rented and mortgaged property. There is also a varying range of relationship statuses.
I shot with a twin lens reflex camera that produces a square format negative. The aim was to make this process an event, I wanted to break the new tradition of ubiquitous digital ‘phone- ography’. Žižek (2014) defines an event as the effect that seems to exceed its causes, which I apply to the act of photographing. The intention was to indicate to the participants that this in fact was a tangible, indexical process, that I was an active part of and chose the moment to capture, that would result at being displayed. My decision on when to photograph links to my own reflexive judgments of taste and class, with how the participants are interacting with others and the camera, and how they are presenting their self identity.
I recognise that notions of ethnic and cultural identity, the hierarchy of class and the role of gender in class are all topics that are able to be used as a way for identity to be constructed. However, within the limits of this report, these areas will not addressed.
According to Martins Junior (2016), Wacquant (2008) surmises there are three areas of capital; economic, cultural and social. Through the use of these three areas individuals and groups align themselves within a class structure, assigning markers to possessions and achievements which signify status within a class. The purpose of the interview was to explore the participants opinions around these markers and what evidence there was, if any, of any alignment to this theory. As such, I decided to shoot the portraits outside the person’s home. I decided on the home as Marcuse (1955) states, having a place to live is considered a necessity among all people and as referenced by Rose (2003) works by; Titus 1976; Hirsch 1981; Spence 1986; Chalfen 1987; Spence and Holland 1991; Stokes 1992; Halle 1993; Slater 1995; Cronin 1998 and Hirsch 1999, all indicate the importance of the home. During the interview process, when asked about future milestone all participants mentioned the goal of home ownership.
I started this investigation with the initial concept of the bourgeoise and the proletariats by Marx and Engles (2007). The means of production and manufacturing providing the capital and profit. All participants showed an awareness of a class system within the United Kingdom, consisting of the upper, middle and either lower or working classes. However, as the interviews progressed, as did the realisation that there was not a clear definition of what or who could be defined to fit within one particular class of society. The middle classes definition being the unraveling factor. The trouble was, as Kocka (1995) quotes Pilbeam, “the phrase 'middle class' is a morass, a minefield, even a veritable Pandora's box”. This is further supported with reading from Banerjee and Duflo (2007) and Kocka (1995), who all state that there is no consistent definition as to what defines a middle class.
Everyone I interviewed was able to give the three examples of class. When asked to define what type of person belong to each class, no one was able to come up with a consistent definition for all three. Upper class was the only exception, all participants agreed that upper class meant; inherited money, an abundance of money, a detachment from the value of money and possibly linked to the titles and land ownership of historical importance. Perloff (2004) states that we cannot explain why we do not in fact agree on the particulars, even when we do belong to the same social group. The middle and working classes became harder for participants to define. There was a historical perception of what jobs, traits and behaviours were once linked to the working classes. Common phrases and ideas being manual or factory jobs, strong family values, Tom (figure 3) and Pagey (figure 13) both mentioned grafters and many others mentioned low income. Again, a historical perception of the middle classes was able to be defined, with phrases such as; management jobs by Dave (figure 5), middle wealth by Laura and Rob (firgure 11), cars and holidays by Megan (figure 1) and Kate and Nip (figure 10). When probed and asked to think about modern definitions and then challenged to defend their definitions with examples most participants began to question their own opinions.
There was an acknowledgement by many participants that tangible items lead to the outline of a definition, but did not by themselves define a class. Williamson (1995) says that people are made to identify through the consumptions of particular goods. Jhally (1987) say that goods are used to negotiate and classify social life and go so far as to act as the markers of social categories. When the participants realised that their ideas of middle and working classes were based on preconceived assumption, the participants began to question their own judgements. What I found was participants definitions changed and moved away from solely being about money and tangible items and they started to link their with ideas of taste, aspirations and attitude. This links with the aim of the photographs, to place the participants in a situation where they have to present themselves and their homes, after being asked to make judgements on class and come to opinions about individual factors of class, knowing that the photographs would be presented, viewed and judged by others.
Bourdieu (2000) demonstrated that taste is never “natural”; it is always socially produced. What we call good taste is only that which is preferred by the dominant social classes. Whereas Kant (1951) defines taste as “the faculty of judging of the beautiful” and further separates judgment into interested and disinterested forms. This defining process again became troublesome to participants, as they soon realised there definitions of the classes were interchangeable and only applicable to smaller sections, as such participants became less able to articulate justifications to their opinions.
Pete and Megan (figure 1) defined the middle class as being free and that they were able to choose certain consumer decisions. For example; where to live, where and what to eat, if and where they go on holiday. Banerjee and Duflo (2007) attempt to define the middle class in relation to the level of income, and then the link the middle class to the role of consumer; “It seems clear that the middle class goes for what is conventionally known as quality of life”. This picks up a theme from some of the participants, the idea of choice or freedom to choose.
Bourdieu’s (2000) concept of Habitus, which is the collection of social values and opinions drawn together to be the defining features of a group, can be applied. To me, these are all people whom I have either studied with, socialised with, worked with or lived with. As such, there is a thread that joins everyone together and the opinions of themselves, how they seem themselves and how they see others has commonalty. There are shared experiences between the majority of the participants interviewed which in turn leads to shared views and values.
Along side this is work by Gay and Hall (1996) with the idea of identity being that what is no longer fixed. Which is linked to the rise in global interconnections, which in turn disrupts the traditional sense of identities, classes can no longer be defined in hard definitive terms. People are exposed to global ideas and are detached from specific times, places, histories and traditions. People are now able to choose, or as Bourdieu (2000) suggest, create their own and define themselves by their own classifications. The photographs lead the viewer to decide on what classification they place on the subjects and then to reflect on what has lead them to make this judgement.
Bourdieu (2000) argues that a class system is used as a way to for one group to express the view of another. As such, Habitus, is the capacity to produce a classification and also the capacity to differentiate and appreciate these classifications. Those that I interviewed began to express their views as to what defined people, and themselves, within society. Similar to Bourdieu’s idea of Habitus, these classifications began to be aligned along the lines of how people identified themselves and what kinds of people they would be associated with. There was a focus on the ideas of taste and lifestyle choices, but also the themes of economic background and aspiration level were not far from any definition made.
Bibliography
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Candidate Number: 33325226
Module Code: SO71124A
Appendix A - Questions
Age
Occupation
Education Background
Gender
Race / Ethnicity
Sexuality
What would you say are your significant milestones to date?
What is the next one?
Are there significant milestones that are expected of you? What are they?
What is your understanding of a class system in the UK? Can you define?
Do you identify as a class?