... in early 1990s, where people on state benefit were interviewed, revealed that despite of their low income, they did not see themselves as poor and were reluctant to be labelled as such. They preferred to classify themselves as 'ordinary working class'. The idea of being labelled as 'poor' creates a stigma, which we do not want to be associated with, as it is thought by our society as demeaning, undignified and shameful, (Woodward, 2004, p.85, 86) However, many sociologist claims that the influences of social class on identity structure have deteriorated and some even suggest that class no longer exists. (Pakulski and Waters, 1996) These claims were based due to the dramatic rise of unemployment in 1970-80s, where social and economic structure within large manufacturing industries and organisations dominated by man, fragmented, such as mining, trade unions and political and social clubs, which resulted not only with work-base identification within community ...

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