The Service Class Essay Research Paper The — страница 2

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argues that they have not been proletarianised, he sees them as constituting part of an intermediate class, in-between the service class and the working class. The upper class can be defined according to both Weberian and Marxist approaches in accordance with the ownership of productive capital, and also distinctive culture and status hierarchy.So where does the service class fit in? The middle class is sometimes referred to as the service ?class(Social Class in Britain and America, Fiona Devine, 1997) however there are many different sectors within the middle classes and it is not possible to find a distinct economic, social and political similarities, divisions have to be made. Distinctions are? made between the old entrepreneurial middle class and the new ?salaried? middle

class, or between managers and professionals (Devine, Social class in America and Britain, 1997).Karl Renner stated that high level bureaucrats constituted a service class as they served their employers by controlling and regulating the processes of production.Goldthorpe (1982) predicted that the service class would be a conservative force, occupying privileged employment positions with favourable intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. He argued that they would seek to use the superior resources that they posses in order to preserve their positions of relative social power and advantage for themselves and their children (Fiona Devine, Social Class in America and Britain, 1997).Lash and Urry (1987) argued that the service class is tightly connected with the rise of the welfare state,

hence these people would be concerned with the welfare services as well as other political activities on the left of the political spectrum. (feminist groups, environmental groups etc.) (Devine, Social class in America and Britain, 1997).Ehrenreich and Ehrenreich (1979) noted the growth of the professional managerial class (PMC), they stated that the PMCs main function is one of social control, so they are in opposition? to capitalists with regards to issues such as ownership and control, and their interests are also in opposition to the working class, they become an independent ?reservoir of radicalism? and through owning knowledge they own social power- power to manipulate as in the case of Harold Shipman, his profession meant he was given trust and power, or power to command?

extortionate fees, as with the top managers of this class. (Devine tells that Kristol (1972) and Moynihan (1979) see this class as a frustrated group is search of power and status in its own interests) Kristol (1972) and Moynihan?s (1979) view is backed up by the article included form the Guardian.? Here it says that Michael Jackson?s (Channel 4 chief executive) pay rose by £42 000 in 2000, making it more than £500 000 overall, however it also states that he gets significantly less than other bosses in the commercial sector. So what is it that enables these service class managers to command such fees? Knowledge. This section of the class, along with top lawyers or consultants has the power to command excessive fees because they are in a position to manipulate, due to the

separation of ownership from control. Within Bureaucratic corporations the top managers are separated from their workers, having little contact, and so they have no social ties with either the working class or the capitalist class, they are ?a frustrated group in search of power and status.? ?BibliographySociology ? Anthony Giddens- Oxford – 1993Introductory Sociology ? Bilton, Bonnett, Jones, Stanworth, Sheard and Webster (Foreward by Anthony Giddens)- London- 1989Social Class in America and Britain ? Fiona Devine ? Edinburgh ? 1997Oxford Dictionary of Sociology ? Gordon Marshall ? Oxford ? 1998On The Service Class, its Formation and Future ? John Goldthorpe