Class Conflict - 1431 Words

Introduction: This essay aims to examine the extent to which class conflict affects education and life opportunities. The following paragraphs seek to illustrate how factors such as class position and parental attitudes affect education and life opportunities among different social classes and the conflict that lies between them. In order to understand the content of this essay it is first necessary to understand all of the possible variables involved. Throughout this essay I will examine the definitions of class, conflict, education and opportunity. The main body of the essay seeks to highlight the reason as to why people are members of certain classes and the effects this has on their chances for education and life opportunities, using†¦show more content†¦Dating back to Victorian times, lower, middle and upper classes existed. The lower classes would have been made up of the landless labourers. Middle classes would have included the tradesmen i.e. people with a professional skill/qual ification such as a blacksmith. Finally the upper classes would have consisted of the large farmers and business owners. The upper classes would traditionally employed people from the lower classes to run their farms or businesses. Although we have moved on since Victorian times, this social divide hasn’t changed much. There still remains today a prominent divide between the lower middle and upper class people. This can be seen now within the third level education in present days. Due to the economic crisis we are currently experiencing, less and less people are able to afford the luxury of a third level education. Sadly this is hitting the lower and working classes the hardest. Due to government cutbacks grants are being chopped leaving the less fortunate members of our society starved for further education. How does the conflict between different social classes effect education and life opportunities? As mentioned in the introduction class position and parental attitudes play a vital role in the effect that class conflict has on education and life opportunities. It has been proven that class position has a huge effect on parental attitudes in getting involved with their children’sShow MoreRelatedClass Conflict And Class Conflicts1522 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Class warfare, also referred to as class conflict or class struggle, is a form of social tension caused by conflicting and competing socioeconomic interests between people of different classes† (Zinn, 19). According to Karl Marx and several scholars, this struggle provides the lever for radical social change and development. 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