Thinking with Bevereley Skeggs - Stockholms universitet

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impartial that can be used to decide people’s class affiliationI want to analyse class as a part of a system of classification.As Skeggs (2000, 2004, 2007) calls attention to, class is asystem of classification in which people are positioned as wellas ascribed various characteristics and patterns of behaviour.This means that class is not only a system of classification, butalso simultaneously a scale of judgement in which occupations,life choices and so on are graded. This furthermore means thatpeople with different occupations and aspirations, et cetera,are ranked in a social class hierarchy.Using Skeggs’ vocabulary (2004) one could say that people areclassed. One of Skeggs’ main points (2000, 2004, 2007), to whichI adhere, is that class therefore is performative. Being a systemof classification and a scale of judgement, class does somethingwith the reality it seeks to capture and describe. As a system ofclassification it, for example, is aimed at making assumptionsabout social status. It is furthermore aimed at ranking based onthese assumptions – irrespective of how the classification systemis designed. So, besides classifying occupations, life choices andfuture plans it also ascribes different values to these and therebygrades them.Class as a system of classification and as a scale of judgement isexplicitly used in the public area, for example in statistics. But itis also used implicitly in people’s interaction. It is a classificationsystem and a scale of judgement all citizens are exposed to.Some categories are more exposed than others though. Because,as Skeggs (2000, 2004, 2007) points out, existing systems ofclassification and scales of judgement stem from positions thathave gained dominance. This means they seem natural eventhough they represent certain perspectives and interests. This inturn means that individuals and groups that do not have access todominant positions have to handle systems of classifications andscales of judgement deriving from these positions. Class should,according to Skeggs (2000, 2004, 2007), therefore be analysedas a social relation.86
Returning then to the often-posed questions on what the youngpeople want to be, how they are getting on and have succeeded,these can be seen as linked to ideas of class as an objective fact.They are aiming at defining social positions and estimating anyclimbing up the social ladder. In other words, these questionsare instruments for determining and measuring class. They aremanifestations of class as a system of classification and as a scaleof judgement. They thereby form a ‘classing address’. So, theseseemingly innocent questions – posed out of curiosity about thecurrent social positions of the young people – contain elementsof positioning. And as mentioned, many of the young people– male as well as female – during the interviews also answeredthese classing questions even though I did not pose them.Place as space for class inscriptionA category that is often exposed to classing questions is peopleliving in so-called socially deprived areas. This was prominentwhen I studied schools in such an area for my thesis. The futureof the pupils and the matter of how they would succeed werein constant focus (Runfors 2003). This is also evident in myongoing project and manifested in the repeated questions on howthe ex-pupils nowadays are getting on.The future of these kids seemed to draw extra attention due tothe teachers’ assumptions that they were under- or working-classchildren – an assumption based on their residence in a stigmatizedurban area. Place in today’s Sweden is actually an often-usedcriterion for deciding people’s social starting points and definingtheir class affiliation. And living in places regarded as sociallydeprivedtherefore does not only prompt classing questions, butalso means that you are at risk of being classed as belonging tolower social strata (Runfors 2007; cf., e.g. Andersson 2003).When Abraham tells me about his time at StockholmUniversity he talks a lot about feeling socially odd, uncertainand uncomfortable. When I ask him why he feels this way he87
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Thinking with Beverley Skeggseditor
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792129394965758395104InnehållIntro
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anybody Professor Beverley Skeggs g
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2007). Drawing on Hearn (2007), emo
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of masculinity, car design and tech
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Skoda as I am, my company car, and
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Dag: … an occasion when speeding
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driving. When driving a car, emotio
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Renewing Class Theory?Exploitation,
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To do this, Skeggs critically appro
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Culture and ExploitationThe central
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Perhaps the increased differentiati
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A Focus on Victims of Crimein Socia
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on social rights, public responsibi
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is embracing the core values of neo
Page 35 and 36: is replaced with moralism. This app
Page 37 and 38: Estrada, P. (2001), ‘Juvinile Vio
Page 39 and 40: The Production of BodiesThaïs Mach
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Page 45 and 46: show the time and effort put into t
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Page 55 and 56: her abilities’. Her doctors had h
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Page 66 and 67: Despite this new and growing intere
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Page 70 and 71: In Palestine and SwedenAfter the Se
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Page 75 and 76: Thoughts on Being a RespectableHomo
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Page 93 and 94: ReferencesAndersson, Åsa (2003), I
Page 95 and 96: A Feminist SustainableDevelopment:
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Page 101 and 102: With the help of politics of emotio
Page 103 and 104: Wise, A. & Velayutham, S. (2006),
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Thinking with Bevereley Skeggs - Stockholms universitet

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