The Goldthorpe Class Scheme

The Goldthorpe Class Scheme

What is the Goldthorpe Class Scheme?

How does it relate to society and sociology?

• The Goldthorpe Class schema places individuals and families into social classes

The class positions of the schema are likely to influence an individual's economic security

Conclusion

Strengths of the Schema

• It is used widely throughout the world

How can it relate to nursing?

Marxist's would be interested in the schema because it differentiates between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie

In summary, Goldthorpe's Class Schema is too broad for today's society

Weaknesses of the Schema

• Goldthorpe's later work is far more detailed and comprehensive

• The Schema is based on eleven classes grouped into three clusters

1. Could help nurses to understand how different children’s backgrounds could be

Functionalists would be interested because they believe everyone in society has a function and this schema highlights how each occupation makes up society

• 11/7 classes is unrealistic, it is a less convincing class structure

Nurses should not allow the schema to affect the care they give as they should not let prejudices cloud their judgement

• The class scheme is more defines and adequate for class structure

• Over the years the categories have been refined, however there is no study on the schema's validity

2. In relation to childhood, it could help to understand how they have been brought up

• Various adjustments are unclear

In society, individuals could be labelled in relation to their position

• Uninterested in hierarchical positions

3. Allows nurses to understand the children's behaviours

• Further studies are needed for social mobility

The occupations in society are now different in determining social class compared to when Goldthorpe created the schema

However...

• Different occupations hold the same position in hierarchy although have a different economic status

References

Nurses shouldn’t allow this scheme to change the way they treat patients of their families.

Bergman, M. M. and Joye, D. 2005. Comparing Social Stratification Schema: CAMSIS, CSP-CH, Goldthorpe, ISCO-88, Trelman and Wright. Cambridge: SSRG Publications.

Nurses wouldn't be able to allow their personal prejudices to make an assumption.

• Not adequate to distinguish women's class positions

Breen, R. and Rottman, D.B. 2013, Class Stratification: Comparative Perspective [online]. New York: Routledge.

Giddens, A. and Griffiths, S., 2006. Sociology [online]. Fifth edition. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Goldthorpe, J. and Mcknight, A., 2004. The Economic Basis of Social Class [online]. London: Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion.

Savage, M., Devine, F., Cunningham N., Taylor, M., Li, Y., Hjellbrekke, J., Roux, B., Friedman, S. and Miles, A., 2013. A New Model of Social Class? Findings from the BBC’s Great British Class Survey Experiment. SAGE Journals [online], 47 (2219-950).