Latest news with #socialclass
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Sarah Vine's new book isn't just the most riveting political memoir for years, says A.N. WILSON: It's also deliciously entertaining proof that the class divide still runs though British society like a poisonous thread
Does social class matter? Does it even still exist? Most of us would say that for most of the time, class is a thing of the past. The hereditary peers will soon no longer sit in the House of Lords. Senior politicians seem to be drawn from all classes and ethnicities. If the Deputy Prime Minister is Angela Rayner, a former teenage mum from a Stockport council estate, then the class system is surely dead and buried.
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- Lifestyle
- South China Morning Post
Harvard speech by Chinese graduate exposes class disillusionment and education gap at home
Controversy surrounding a speech given by a Chinese Harvard graduate reflects the Chinese public's 'disillusionment' with elite education and 'anger at class rigidity', according to a Chinese academic. Advertisement Jiang was the first Chinese woman selected as the student speaker at a Harvard graduation ceremony. 03:40 Absurd, anxious, concerned: Students react to US revoking Chinese student visas Absurd, anxious, concerned: Students react to US revoking Chinese student visas While her success was initially praised by the Chinese media, it soon drew criticism from social media users who questioned whether her 'privileged' family background truly represented the broader Chinese student population. As the controversy escalates, some academics and commentators have begun to examine how it reflects the Chinese public's growing disillusionment with elite education. Yuan Changgeng, an anthropologist at Yunnan University who has long studied changes in social attitudes, said that in recent years 'China's social classes have become increasingly rigid and tensions between them have been on the rise'. Advertisement He added that within the past two years, few of the 'elites' active on Chinese social media had been held up to public scrutiny without having flaws in their experience or morals exposed. 'People are increasingly recognising that competition in education is ultimately a competition of family finances and social capital [connections and resources],' said Yuan, referring to the fact that children from wealthy families in China often have access to more educational resources, both at home and abroad.
