Class and Status

Class is a status hierarchy in which individuals and groups of people are classified on the basis of esteem and prestige acquired mainly through economic success and accumulation of wealth. Social class may also refer to any particular level in such a hierarchy. There are three common classes – upper class, middle class and lower class.

From the clip I can see that the family are a middle or working class family, I can see this from the very start as the husband and wife are arguing and the husband is using bad language, this shows that he might not be upper class as they are seen to speak proper English and maybe have a posh accent. The husband of the family is shouting about money and that it is the children’s fault that they haven’t got a lot of it, which again shows their class and status as they don’t seem to have a lot of money. Another way you can see that they don’t seem to have a lot of money is that the  house seems relatively small and also the chairs in which the children are sitting on are quite old, showing that they cannot afford new ones. Also the colour scheme of the house is quite plain and boring, there is a lot of green and browns used showing a quite cheap and boring colour scheme.

The husband in the family is working class, and from the clip you can see that he works hard for his money and is angry at the children as he thinks it is their fault that they don’t have much money. You can also see that he doesn’t where smart clothes, ‘work clothes’. He also doesn’t socialise much with his family, you can see that he is never in the same room as his daughter, showing that he doesn’t have a good relationship with her.

The lover is the opposite of the husband, he wears smart clothes and he also has a family car. In the morning he is the only person on the street that looks like he is rushing around, while everyone else seems quite calm. This is because he has a better paid job as it looks like he works in an office of some kind. While everyone else seems to be working class, and have lower paid jobs.

The wife in the clip seems to be the one in the family that does everything; she is the one that tells the kids what to do, as the husband doesn’t seem to be that bothered with the children, especially the daughter.