6. ‘Your station in life’

Abstract

Social identity is to do with membership in groups that are horizontally and vertically structured, internally and in relation to each other. Taken together these groupings constitute a society. ‘ “Your station in life”: social identities in our time’ explains how with the growth of the service sector, class divisions started to become less distinct and were supplemented by ethnic divisions. Consequently, the general understanding of social class is changing and, as economic inequality rises, the issue of social stratification and identity remains topical. Group identities are relational, resulting from the inclusion of peers and the exclusion of others. Reducing individuals to a single identity as members of a group amounts to discrimination and stigmatization.