All,
John Major's vision of a 'classless society'? Strange, I always thought his
predecessor had abolished class and there was no such thing as society!
C.L.Tupling
Research Assistant
01228 817508
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Maginn [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2002 9:59 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Poverty and the welfare state: Dispelling the myths
>
> Dear all,
>
> Further to Paul Ashton's posting yesterday re David Smith's artice in the
> Sunday Times:
>
> I thought David Smith's piece was a nice little contribution to the debate
>
> on poverty, but felt that he could've/should've gone into a bit more
> detail
> and been more assertive about the definition and lack of poverty and the
> (non)-existence of 'the underclass'.
>
> I take it that Prof. Paul Spicker/Catalyst in disputing the existence of
> 'the undeclass' also no longer believe,implicitly and/or explicitly, in
> the
> existence of the 'working class', 'the middle class' and 'the upper
> class'?
> If so, then John Major's vision of a 'classless society' would seem to
> have
> materialised. But, I bet I'm very much mistaken that Spicker/Catalyst hold
>
> such a view.
>
> If we accept that the working, middle and upper classes still exist then
> we
> must also accept that there are different levels/layers within and between
>
> these broad classes. Hence, those that fall outside (i.e. below) the
> definition of the working class, for whatever reasons/measures are
> 'rightly'
> defined as the "under-class". This is not in any way to demean their
> worth
> or deny that they can move up from this position to working class and
> beyond, but, the term underclass (like lumpenproletariet) is a useful (and
>
> 'accurate') term to describe those at/below the margins of the classical
> class structure that we so believe in in the UK.
>
> Finally, I am aware that Pete Saunders (ex-Prof of Sociology at Uni of
> Sussex and now at CIS in Australia) is in the process of writing a new
> book
> on poverty in Australia challenging 'traditional'/'leftist' conventions
> about what does and does not constitute poverty and how it should be
> measured. This should add further fuel to this fascinating debate.
>
> Just some more food for thought.
>
>
> Paul
>
>
>
>
> <html>
> <DIV><HTML>
> <DIV>Paul J. Maginn </DIV>
> <P>Research Fellow </P>
> <P>South Bank University</P>
> <P>Faculty of Built Environment</P>
> <P>Room 808 </P>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <P>London </P>SW8 2JZ
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> <DIV></DIV>
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>
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