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Class, identity and culture 69

of the other potential dangers (although they are not expressed in quite the
same terms I have outlined) discussed here. This is significant work on a num-
ber of levels for the arguments in this chapter and for the wider argument of
the book and I now turn to it.

Inscription, exchange, value and perspective

In accord with the general approach outlined in this chapter so far, a key
aspect of Skeggs’ work has involved taking culture seriously in the reconsider-
ation of class. As with the other authors considered, this does not involve a
return to earlier models, but rather entails the deployment of a number of
strands in contemporary feminist, cultural and social theory to retheorize pro-
cesses of class making, characterization and exclusion. A key strand in her
work is an opposition to those contemporary and social theories that in her
view overemphasize mobility and the pliability of cultures and identities. This
is characterized as a middle-class, academic view that, due to the influences of
its own social location, fails to see the processes to which, for example, the
working class continue to be marked. I comment further on this view later.
Skeggs’ work covers much ground and I will focus on three main aspects of it,
which are of particular use for my argument. First, I will outline rather briefly
the key overall nature of her approach. Second, I discuss the limitations of the
capital and exchange ideas that she identifies. Third, and most importantly,
I consider at greater length the account of contemporary identity that she
deploys. This will have implications for my own theorization of this, especially
as considered in Chapter 9.
As Skeggs says: ‘The way some cultural characteristics fix some groups and
enable others to be mobile will be a central exploration of this book’ (2004: 1).
Thus, the advantages, especially of some middle-class groups in mobility, sug-
gest that other members of society will be disadvantaged. Of course, there are
other forms of mobility – such as migrant labour – that are not always advan-
taged by mobility. However, in broad terms Skeggs’ emphasis can be followed.
She suggests that four key processes underlie and run through the argument of
her book. These are inscription, exchange, evaluation and perspective. To begin
the discussion of these terms, consider Skeggs’ description (2004: 2):
First, how do certain bodies become inscribed and then marked with
certain characteristics? Second, what systems of exchange enable some
characteristics to be read as good, bad, worthy and unworthy? Thus, how
is value attributed, accrued, institutionalized and lost in the process of
exchange? And how is this value both moral and economic? Third, how is
value produced through different perspectives (different ways of knowing,
hearing and seeing that represent particular interests)? Fourth, we need
to know how these systems of inscription, exchange, valuing, insti-
tutionalization and perspective provide the condition of possibility for
being read by others in the relationships that are formed by groups; what
are its effects?
An important set of emphases derive from this analysis. Thus, in putting
a particular mode of emphasis on exchange, and combining this with how