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Subject: Stratification and Diversification

Title : Class Structure in Western Societies

I - How many classes are there?

It is usual to draw a distinction between the working class and the middle class. From a Marxist perspective both belong to the proletariat as a whole. Usually, the working classes are regarded as undertaking manual jobs, and the middle-classes as undertaking non-manual jobs. The working classes are further sub-divided into unskilled, semiskilled and skilled manual workers.

The middle classes are sub-divided into routine nonmanual labour, such as clerical and secretarial work, intermediate non-manual labour, such as teachers and nurses, and professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, accountants and senior managers. Owing to deindustrialisation, there has been a general shift in the proportion of those working in manual jobs to those working in non-manual jobs.

There are also gender differences to consider – women are less likely to have manual jobs than men, but they are more likely to have jobs belonging to the lower grades of the nonmanual spectrum – that is, have routine non-manual jobs, or occupy the lower grades of intermediate non-manual labour, such as nursing.
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