AIC themes- social class

Lower class

Proletariat

Upper class

Bourgeoise

The bourgeoise were often

Aristocrats, landowners and industrialists

The proletariats

Were looked down upon as lazy and inferior (like Eva Smith)

What class does Gerald represent

Bourgeoise/ upper

The Croft family is socially ____ to the Birling family

Superior

Who is middle class?

The Birling family

The upper class could easily exploit the

Lower class

An example of the upper classes exploiting the lower classes is Eric and Gerald exploiting

Eva Smith

How does Mr B see social class?

As a hierarchy where the affluent deserve their success and the poor deserve their struggles- which is why he fired Eva Smith when she asked for a payrise at the Millwards

The Birlings are old money or new money?

New money

The whole play is built around the criticism of

Inequality and privelege

How did Priestly view the Edwardian bourgeoise?

As out of touch and hypocritical- who enjoyed milking their wealth out of the exploitation of the lower class

Why was equality so important to Priestly?

He experienced both World Wars where it didn’t matter what class you were, you all worked to gether

A quote from sheila in Act 1 in response to her father’s blatant dismissive attitude

“But these girls aren’t cheap labour, they’re people”

Analyse “but these girls aren’t cheap labour, they’re peop

• juxtaposes her fathers “if you dont come down sharp on these people theyd soon be asking for the earth”

• It is a structured shift from Mr Birlings dismissive attitudes to symbolise moral growth

• The antithesis between ‘labour’ and ‘people’ shows a shift from seeing workers as a class to seeing them as individual humans

• The dashes represent a pause/ moment of realisation where sheila rejects her family values of privilege and recognises the dehumanisation- symbolising a slight collapse in the social barriers

• SHEILAS ANAGNORSIS