ABSTRACT
This chapter examines life changes in the structure of European social classes that are important for the European social model (ESM). Sociological class theory has been undermined by changes in the occupational structure, by the fragmentation of political allegiances and by the shifting basis of trade unions. The chapter focuses on structural change: the growth of white-collar jobs ensured an inexorable trade union decline. The class model put forward by Goldthorpe comprised three classes: a service class, an intermediate class and a working class, the latter including all manual occupations. For the new service class the lifestyle involves frequent changes of residence and often migration between countries. Its life is no longer lived within national boundaries and its consumption and member's personal identity become cosmopolitan or European rather than national. As we shall now see, cosmopolitanism is very uneven and in many ways it is a feature of the British service class.
