This episode of LSE iQ asks, ‘How does class define us?’ It examines how we wear and reveal our social class in English society today. Do accents really matter? Is it enough to imitate one supposed ‘social betters’ to achieve social mobility? What cost is there to the individual who changes their social status?

Sue Windebank talks to an LSE Law student who reveals how she has overcome the challenges of being an asylum seeker and a care leaver to study law at the School. Professor Sam Friedman, a sociologist of class and inequality, discusses the arbitrariness of what is considered ‘high culture’. And economic historian Professor Neil Cummins reveals how class will probably determine who you marry.

Contributors

Professor Neil Cummins
Professor Sam Friedman
Sabrina Daniel

Research

Assortative Mating and the Industrial Revolution: England, 1754-2021, CEPR Discussion Paper by Gregory Clark and Neil Cummins.

(Not) bringing your whole self to work: The gendered experience of upward mobility in the UK Civil Service by Sam Friedman.

The Class Ceiling, Why it Pays to be Privileged by Sam Friedman and Daniel Laurison.

From Aristocratic to Ordinary: Shifting Modes of Elite Distinction, American Sociological Review by Sam Friedman and Aaron Reeves.