Introduction
The Coronation of King Charles, a piece of news directly affecting the UK, has made international headlines and captured a multinational audience’s attention. The death of Queen Elizabeth II followed the need for Charles to ascend to the throne and become the new monarch. The Guardian has published an article covering the ethical and moral relation between the event and the current socio-economic situation in the UK and the world. The journalist mentions the correlational absence between monarchy and the Western agenda to reach social justice. This aligns with the textbook notions of stratification system, caste, social class, working class, slavery, economic gap, colonization, false consciousness, upper class, and prestige.
Summary
The Guardian has published an article titled “God Save Us All: Britain Is About to Get the King It Deserves” by Stephen Marche. The author introduces the event as an absurd celebration of King Charles participating in an expensive tradition rooted in economic inequalities and the existence of a stratification system. The text contains information on Queen Elizabeth’s life and death, the monarchy that affects previous colonies of the British Empire that are still under the rule of monarchs, and the UK’s recent past (Marche, 2023). The coronation is presented as a charade in which the royal family spends the taxpayers’ funds generated mainly by the working class, which is the class consisting of unskilled workers on low wages.
The author argues that such political systems based on classism are not needed in the modern world and that they perpetuate inequality and injustice. The evidence is the economic downfall experienced by the UK in the last years and the inefficiency of steering away from progress while holding onto tradition and nationalism in the case of Brexit (Marche, 2023). Needless to say, the coronation, while an international event, has generated a variety of negative attitudes.
Relevance and Concepts
Stratification
The article directly correlates with the topics and themes covered in the current semester. The news itself, which is the first coronation in the last 70 years, is not the aspect that is relevant, but its news coverage is. As highlighted prior, the author has mentioned that a monarchy is not the political system to be supported in 2023, as most of the current efforts are towards dismantling notions rooted in classism, sexism, inequality, slavery, and racism (Marche, 2023). Newman (2018, p. 332) emphasizes the notion of a stratification system, which implies that different demographics have different opportunities and chances in life by definition.
Monarchs are inherently entitled to privileges solely because they are part of families with inherited power and money. Simultaneously, no other families of individuals have access to the same privileges. This creates a caste system, which is the ranking of different socioeconomic groups. As a result, social class, a demographic consisting of people with similar social and economic statuses, plays a major role in the lives of the royal family members.
Historical Legacy
It is also essential to consider the historical background of the coronation. During the times in which colonization took place, implying the acquisition of control in various territories by stronger entities, monarchies were the driving force. The British Empire was a colonizer, which is why the royal family is currently, directly or indirectly, in charge of territories no longer ruled by Great Britain.
Currently, the global economic gap, which implies global economic inequality, is astounding as demographics differ exponentially based on the area of the world (Newman, 2018, p. 332). Hence, in the case of the coronation, countries previously ruled by the British Empire with low economic opportunities were observing a £100 million event celebrating the new king (Marche, 2023). Needless to say, the fact that the working class generated the tax funds partially covering the coronation is another way the public has viewed the action negatively. As a result, the monarchical system resembles slavery, implying that one has ownership of an individual, its workforce, and labor.
False Consciousness
Another concept that aligns with the article is the notion of false consciousness, indicating that the working class believes that the system inherently harms them. It is a reality that cannot be changed (Newman, 2018, p. 332). As a result, despite the fact that media coverage was partially negative, the public, in its entirety, did not view the event as harmful.
The fact that the upper class, which is the higher socioeconomic demographic, is viewed from a lens of prestige rather than a desire to dismantle classism is another idea correlating with a false consciousness.
The sense of prestige emphasizes the respect one receives in society (Newman, 2018, p. 332). The working class needs access to the opportunities and lifestyles of the royal families. As a result, instead of avoiding classism, specific demographics can come closer to the idea of prestige by supporting a system in which one is honored solely through their heritage.
Conclusion
The article presented by The Guardian highlights both the objective news related to the coronation of King Charles and the author’s opinion on how outdated and classist the monarchy is. The text correlates with the notions emphasized during the semester, including the stratification system, social hierarchy, economic status, labor class, enslavement, wealth disparity, imperialism, misguided perceptions, elite class, and social status. Hence, the international event that received extensive coverage in the news can be viewed from the lens of social inequality and traditionalism rooted in inherited privileges. Such conclusions were reached by contrasting the article and the textbook and finding similarities in concepts and ideas.
References
Marche, S. (2023). God save us all: Britain is about to get the king it deserves. The Guardian. Web.
Newman, D. M. (2018). Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life (12th ed.). Sage Publications.
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