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Unpacking ‘Class Ambivalence’

Some Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Accessing Class Cultures

Geoff Payne

University of Plymouth and Glasgow Caledonian University

Clare Grew

University of Plymouth

Recent work on class cultures and self-identities, in particular Savage, Bagnall and Longhurst (2001), demonstrates respondents’ reluctance to use class in personal terms even while using it to explain wider social conditions. They call this ‘class ambivalence’, or ‘defensiveness’. A new study demonstrates that this crucially depends on how data are collected and interpreted. It proposes an alternative frame of reference which recognizes that respondents operate with an incoherent model of class relations. If we escape from excessively formal theories of social class, we will find more people using what theymean by class, in a consistent rather than ambivalent way. Inarticulateness about complex concepts like class does not mean a lack of salience.

Key Words: ambivalence • class cultures • identity • ‘naturally occurring’ data • qualitative methods

Sociology, Vol. 39, No. 5, 893-910 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0038038505058371
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