This assignment will explore theoretical frameworks and how they can be used to analyze social class which is my chosen social identity category. It will also explore how social class intersects with other social identities. I chose this topic because I believe that social class plays an important role in your identity. I will use Marx and Willis' (1997) framework to critically evaluate social class in education. I will also draw on my personal experiences. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay A social class is structured by all people who share the same market class positions in terms of common economic interests. Social class involves a whole host of personal factors including lifestyle, culture, wealth, attitudes, accent and breeding. Marx showed the importance of working class aspects of gender, nation, ability, physique and religion. Marx's theory of social classes outlined three main aspects which consisted of subjective factors, objective factors and finally reproduction of class relations. "Marx states that classes are based on economic conditions independent of their own will and are forced by these conditions into the most virulent contradictions." Marx believed that it was human nature to transform human life, and that transformation creates the changes we call history. His theory emphasized the human being as a learning animal that changes our environment rather than adapts to it. Therefore, we need to change ourselves to change it and develop new skills. For Marx, the human capacity for self-determination is the starting point as a quality that belongs to humanity as a whole. A Marxist strongly associated with the rise of capitalism within society, he wished this would bring about change in the future. The two classes that Marxist outlined as vital were the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, he hoped for a change in these classes. In the manifesto of the communist party, Marx states that "society as a whole is increasingly divided into two great enemy camps, into two great directly opposed classes: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat". The bourgeoisie is made up of the middle class which owns most of the means of production and employment. They are known to exploit the working class. In contrast, the proletariat is made up of employees who work to earn their wages, identified as the alienated social class. Willis 1997 outlined how working-class students obtained working-class jobs. This may be because working-class parents place less value on education, so their children are less likely to be motivated and encouraged to work. However, Willis highlighted that the theoretical approach of working-class students allows us to think about how identities are constructed, but also what its limits are: in short, what the theory allows us to understand and what it leaves out. Within 1970s Marxist theory of education it was often imagined as an agency for the reproduction of capitalist social and economic relations. Education is closely linked to the economic system of society in two different ways. On the one hand, effective participation in education generally depends on the availability of economic resources to have full access to the opportunities that the education system has to offer. However, on the other hand, since schools and universities are the main selection institutions for the labor market,they arbitrate life chances within the economy. Ball (2004) highlighted how social class is an important issue within education as there is unequal access to resources within education. This is due to social inequality which is still a big problem in today's society. Collins et al (2000) highlighted how "children from different backgrounds perform differently at school because, in fact, they do not receive the same education". Elements of Marx's social class theory outlined how there was a struggle between classes that caused conflict. In recent years there has been a rapid increase in the gap between large sectors of the population who have differentiated access to resources, money, qualifications, health and life opportunities. This is all due to the category you fall into within the social class. People judge each other as superior or inferior in relation to their social class. In the field of education, problems related to social class have been addressed mainly in relation to the context of compulsory education. It has been argued that working-class children are more likely to experience markedly lower attendance rates and are less likely to continue with compulsory education. Bates and Risebrough (1993) highlighted how young people from different social classes do not attend similar types of educational institutions and do not achieve similar levels of qualifications and results. Marx emphasized that non-economic issues were vital, combined with economic ones, to achieve life opportunities and form patterns of social stratification. The Marxist theory of social class clearly shows how your identity is constructed through what you achieve in life. Alienation is a much discussed aspect throughout Marx's work. Alienation can be defined as the experience in which human needs remain unsatisfied. Marx's views on alienation focused on the relationship between the workforce and the employer. Hegel wanted to overcome alienations in thought as a problem of insufficiency of consciousness. Marx wanted to ground the theory of alienation in material practices, as labor becomes a product and political economy sees the worker as a work animal rather than a human being. Marx pointed out how work produces fabulous goods for the rich while for the poor it is nothing but misery. Marxist class theory also includes class power within class struggle. The classes are therefore completely delineated on the aspect of class struggle. They do not precede the class struggle and therefore "cannot be defined separately from each other, but only through social relations of antagonism, which put one class in conflict with the other". According to Marxist, the mode of production was the main aspect of class social relations that related to class positions and functions. Therefore, the mode of production defines the unique difference of a system of class power and class exploitation. What Marx is outlining here is that your social class identity is also constructed through the means of production. However, there are issues with how Marx's theory can be mapped onto identity, for example, intellectual disability has much lower capitalization within culture and economics. problems. Marx starts from the assumption that “it is possible to be a universal human being in a particular sense, at least in post-capitalist society”, so that when there are no longer economic divisions “we will be left with commonality for all human beings”. beings who transcend barriers of race, religion, nationality', and.