Same formula, different figures: change and persistence in class inequalities

Abstract

Many contemporary social theorists have argued that the social changes of the last few decades have shattered the hold of class over life histories, identities and politics and put in its place reflexive choice and individualism. This paper presents a summary of a recently completed research project in the UK designed to put these claims to the test. Starting out from a “phenomeno-Bourdieusian” model of class and deploying life history interviews it reveals not the decline of class in advanced capitalism, but its reinvention. New practices and pathways have emerged, but they represent only the shifting substance of class — the underlying structure of relational difference that defines class and produces different outcomes remains as patent as ever.