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Class categories and the subjective dimension of class: the case of D enmark[Note 8. The research in this article is conducted in relation ...]
Author(s) -
Harrits Gitte Sommer,
Pedersen Helene Helboe
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the british journal of sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.826
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1468-4446
pISSN - 0007-1315
DOI - 10.1111/1468-4446.12282
Subject(s) - social class , class (philosophy) , sociology , life chances , style (visual arts) , position (finance) , social psychology , danish , perception , dimension (graph theory) , social group , social position , class formation , politics , social relation , epistemology , social science , psychology , political science , law , mathematics , philosophy , linguistics , economics , history , archaeology , finance , pure mathematics
Class relations have been proven to affect various aspects of social life, even in modern individualized societies. However, following claims on individualization and the so‐called ‘death of class’ thesis, studying the subjective dimension of class – that is, the way individuals perceive of class relations and their own position within them – has gone out of style. We argue that even in equalized societies, subjective class perceptions may still influence attitudes and behaviour as they evolve to fit modern class relations. To explore the existence as well as structure and content of perceived social classes, this article investigates how people describe society and social groups in focus group discussions. We find that groups in different positions in terms of education and economy all tend to apply hierarchical class categories to describe Danish society, which is normally seen as one of the most equal societies and political systems in the world. In addition, we find that economic resources serve as a baseline for the hierarchical ordering, often supplemented with notions of education, lifestyle and/or occupational profile. Even though people are somewhat uncomfortable with the notion of class, their descriptions of Danish society and classes are surprisingly similar within and across groups. We conclude that not only do class relations matter; people are also highly aware of the existing classes and able to position themselves and others according to their notion of classes.