"Discuss the view that the social class system in Britain is now fragmented."

It has been argued that the social class system is not as simple or straightforward as it used to be. Many years ago the class divisions were quite simple. The upper class consisted of Royalty; kings and queens, there were a few middle class, followed by the working class; peasants. However, nowadays, the social class system is much more complex. Firstly, the upper class consists of many different groups of people such as Royalty, Capitalists …

…invest, just like the middle class. The underclass are very poor and disadvantaged, they suffer poverty, unemployment, bad housing, ill health and poor educational opportunities. They are often seen as lazy, work-shy scroungers. It has been said that they prefer to live of crime and welfare benefits rather than work. They have been accused of having irresponsible attitudes to parenthood - young women carelessly get pregnant and parents are poor role models for their children.