Class, Status and Power

Abstract

Discussions of the distribution of power in modern British society have tended to centre on such notions as the ‘ruling class’ and the ‘political elite’.¹ Britain has been depicted as a society in which political power is concentrated in the hands of a dominant social class; a class which has carried into the present the traditional outlook and values of the landed class. In this chapter it will be shown that there is, indeed, a large element of truth in this view. The dominant status group — the establishment — accommodated itself to the creation of a business class, and continued to be a key mechanism in the articulation of the economy with the political system. The establishment has successfully monopolised the major positions within the state and the social institutions allied with the state, and it has exercised a pervasive influence over those outside its own ranks. The structuration of the business class as a whole has, to a considerable extent, been determined by the hegemony within it of the establishment families. As a result, the business class exhibits a high degree of integration and social cohesion, and it continues to be heavily influenced by the values of the establishment. But the establishment has come under increasing pressure as the various changes in the economy which were discussed in the previous chapter made themselves felt.