Exploring Social Inequality

• Application of Contextual Information (Lit-AO3)
• Clear and Coherent Writing (Lit-AO4, Lang-AO5/AO6)
• Evidence-Based Reasoning (Lit-AO1–3/Lang-AO1–4)
• Spoken Language Skills (Lang-AO8, Lang-AO9)
• Summarising and Synthesising Skills (Lang-AO1)

Students are introduced to social inequality, a key theme of An Inspector Calls, and one that lays the foundation for understanding the context and the message of the play in later lessons. They also discuss and debate what it is that drives social inequality in society, and critique graphs on social inequality in a gallery walk. This not only helps develop their speaking and listening skills, but also their evidence-based reasoning as they respond to information in the graphs, using it to draw conclusions. Additionally, the use of discussion and journalling help students to verbalise their thoughts in different ways, and to practise turning them into coherent sentences, which will help them across their English GCSEs.

Learn more about this unit's Alignment with GCSE Specification.

What can J. B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls teach us about the impact of our individual and collective decisions and actions on others?

• What impact does my identity and background have on the choices that I make?
• What impact do societal institutions have on me and the choices that I can make?
• What impact do social categories have on me and the choices that I can make?

This lesson is designed to fit into one 50-min class period and includes:

• 4 activities
• 4 teaching strategies
• 1 PowerPoint
• 2 handouts

Priestley was a social campaigner, who was shaped by his upbringing and his later life experiences. His mother, who died when he was very young, was a mill girl and he grew up in Bradford on the periphery of industrial England – the plight of industrial workers was thus never far out of mind. His father was a socialist, who believed that ‘helping the less fortunate was . . . a moral obligation’ and who, as headmaster of a primary school, ‘administered the first free school meals in the country’. ¹ Furthermore, Priestley himself was exposed to the harsh realities of social and class inequality during his stint as a soldier in the First World War. 

Priestley subsequently dedicated his life to challenging social inequality and reporting on the problems faced by those who grew up in deprived, working-class areas. He was one of the first authors to travel through and write about the depressed areas in the UK, and was a great social commentator, publishing hundreds of articles that supported political campaigns and the formation of socialist institutions, such as the National Health Service. Throughout his life, he used his platform as a successful author to campaign for a socially just and equal society.  It is unsurprising, then, that one of the key themes of An Inspector Calls is social inequality, notably social inequality with respect to class. 

Priestley’s decision to set the play in 1912 is evidence of his commitment to challenging the social institutions and societal values that placed excessive significance on an individual’s socio-economic background and class, at the expense of their identity as a fellow human. Setting the play when he did, two years prior to the First World War, and having written it in 1945, enabled him to reflect and comment on the class divisions and social inequality, which he believed helped create the conditions for two world wars.

• 1 "Education," The JB Priestley Society Website, accessed 24 March 2020.

This lesson focuses on helping students understand social inequality. Depending on your students’ prior knowledge, you may need to provide them with the following definitions before or during the lesson. Consider starting a Word Wall in your classroom, which you add key terms to over the course of the scheme of work.

• Social inequality is the extent to which there are differences between groups in society. Social inequality can be related to:

  • Differences in wealth and incomes
  • Gender
  • Ethnicity
  • Disabilities and health issues
  • Age 
  • Level of education

• Elite (noun): the richest, most powerful, best-educated, or best-trained group in a society.
• Elitist (adj.): organised for the benefit of those who are regarded as elite/serves the interests of the most powerful, best-educated, or best-trained group in society.
• Social mobility: the ability to move between one level of society and another. It is linked to a change in social status. In the UK, when we talk about social mobility, we often refer to people moving upwards to a higher level.

To help build discussion points for the Four Corners activity, students conduct a gallery walk where they will be looking at graphs that depict current trends in wealth distribution and employment opportunities. You may want to print out two copies of each graph so that students do not have to crowd around one image. Hang the graphs around the classroom in advance of the activity, either at the start of the class or when students are doing another activity, so that the gallery walk is ready for the students to peruse.

This lesson uses the Four Corners teaching strategy to discuss social inequality. Before class begins, familiarise yourself with the strategy and set up the room in advance. To prepare your classroom space, create four signs that read ‘Strongly Agree’, ‘Agree’, ‘Disagree’, and ‘Strongly Disagree’, and hang them in different corners of the room. Consider printing the signs on coloured paper or card and, if your school has a machine, laminating them so you can reuse them for Four Corners and Barometer discussions this year.