ABSTRACT
A brief introduction to the sociological work on social class precedes a consideration of the ways in which differences between the social classes affect the socialization of children. The ownership of wealth plays an important part in determining social class, since an unequal distribution of wealth leads to the unequal incomes that make it possible to give children a more advantageous start in life. When assigning an individual to a social class, stress has come to be put on what he has achieved rather than the position to which he was ascribed by birth into his family. Naturally his family will influence what he achieves, but the vital difference between the social class system and such other modes of stratification as the Hindu caste system is that relatively greater movement is possible between the strata. The chapter considers the effect of different social class patterns of learning on the personality of children and on their chances of success in school.
