Social Grade Scale

Market researchers divide the population into 6 socio-economic groups or social grades , which are based on the occupation, or job, of the head of a household. These grades give some idea of a households income and how it might be spent. This is used mainly for audience profiling and targeting by the media, publishing and advertising sectors, and have become established as a generic reference series for classifying and describing social classes, especially for consumer targeting and consumer market research.

A- Chief executive, senior civil servant, surgeon
B - Bank manager, teacher
C1- Shop floor supervisor, bank clerk, sales person
C2- Electrician, carpenter
D- Assembly line worker, refuse collector, messenger
E- Pensioners without private pensions and anyone living on basic benefits


By Christian Sheen