Hierarchies of social location, class and intersectionality: Towards a translocational frame

an article by Floya Anthias (Roehampton University and City University, London, UK) published in International Sociology Volume 28 Number 1 (January 2013)

Abstract

This article evaluates the potential found within two approaches that recognise the complexity of social hierarchy in different ways.

First, it looks at the revival of class analysis within culturally inflected approaches to class. These have incorporated a number of societal relations, broadly referred to as the symbolic, the social and the cultural, into the analysis.

Second, the article assesses attempts to theorize the intersections of gender, ethnicity and class through the intersectionality framework. It considers the potential for developing more integrated analytical frameworks for understanding social hierarchy through cross-referencing these debates. It proposes an intersectional framing which centres on social location and translocation.

Hazel’s comment:
If, maybe that should be a big if, the UK is serious about social inequality then those in a position to try to do something about it need to understand more about social class and how it affects individuals.
“I can’t do that job, I ain’t a toff” or similar words have been heard during advisory interviews from clients who have the innate intelligence but not the social background to fit in with people whose parents stopped them saying ain’t by the time they were five years old.

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