S/S/25. 'The concept of class has lost its usefulness for analysing social and political life in contemporary Western societies.' Has it?

There are a number of arguments disregarding the relevance of the use of the concept of class. These have taken the form that the inequalities associated with class are declining, that class is no longer a focus of the sense of who a person is, and that class has ceased to be the basis on which political allegiances and political behaviour is formed. This essay will analyse these arguments, and propose that despite the changes in class formations, class does provide a useful way of analysing the divisions in society. However, the dynamics of stratification and inequality have changed, and must be analysed taking this into account, including other dimensions, such as those associated with gender and ethnicity in relation to inequalities in society.