Social closure in Charles Dickens’s Great expectations

Abstract EN

Social closure, the sociological concept introduced by Max Weber, characterizes a process in which certain interest groups draw boundaries and set limits on access to resources and constrain social mobility with the aim of protecting their privileges and preventing others from sharing these privileges with them.

The concept is more nuanced than the Marxian notion of class conflict, and incorporates status and cultural elements in examining the interaction between different classes and social groups in society.

This paper attempts to apply this Weberian concept to Charles Dickens‟s novel Great Expectations.

It argues that despite the general tendency to consider the nineteenth century a period of great changes, particularly in terms of the social structure of British society, there were still insurmountable social and cultural barriers which frustrated the endeavours of ambitious young individuals, like Pip in Great Expectations, and even distorted their sense of identity.

It shows that the novel presents the characters who stick to their social group in a positive manner while showing that all the characters who try to transcend their class end up in failure.