Themes — Social Responsibility & Class

An Inspector Calls is fundamentally a play about social responsibility — the idea that we all have a duty to look after one another. Closely connected to this is the theme of class — the rigid social hierarchy that allows the Birlings to exploit Eva Smith without consequence. These two themes are at the heart of every GCSE question on the play.

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Theme 1: Social Responsibility

What Is Social Responsibility?

Social responsibility is the belief that individuals and communities have an obligation to act in the best interests of society as a whole, not just themselves. Priestley contrasts two opposing views:

Birling's view (individualism)	The Inspector's view (collectivism)
"a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own"	"We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other"
Each person is responsible only for themselves	Everyone is connected; what we do affects others
The poor are responsible for their own poverty	The privileged have a duty to the vulnerable
Charity is optional and a matter of personal choice	Social justice is a moral imperative

How Each Character Responds to Social Responsibility

Character	Response to social responsibility
Mr Birling	Rejects it entirely — "If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody ... it would be very awkward"
Mrs Birling	Rejects it — "I accept no blame for it at all"
Sheila	Accepts it — "I know I'm to blame — and I'm desperately sorry"
Eric	Accepts it — "We did her in all right"
Gerald	Partially accepts, then retreats — helps disprove the Inspector
Inspector	Demands it — "We are members of one body"

Priestley's Message

Priestley structures the entire play around the question: are we responsible for each other?

• The answer, for Priestley, is an unequivocal yes
• Every character who harmed Eva did so because they prioritised their own comfort, status, or pleasure over her wellbeing
• The Inspector's final speech — with its warning of "fire and blood and anguish" — is Priestley telling the audience that refusing social responsibility leads to catastrophe (the two World Wars)

Examiner's tip: Social responsibility is relevant to almost every question on the play. Even if the question asks about a specific character or theme, you can nearly always connect your answer back to social responsibility.

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The Chain of Responsibility

One of Priestley's most powerful structural choices is the chain of responsibility. Each family member is linked to Eva's death:

Mr Birling (sacks her) → Sheila (has her dismissed) → Gerald (uses and abandons her)
     → Eric (assaults her, gets her pregnant) → Mrs Birling (refuses her help)
                                                         ↓
                                                    Eva's suicide

No single character killed Eva — they all contributed. This is Priestley's point: social responsibility is collective. We cannot say "it wasn't just me" because we are all interconnected.

Examiner's tip: The chain structure mirrors the Inspector's message — "We are members of one body." Each person's actions had consequences for Eva, just as each member of society affects the lives of others.

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Theme 2: Class

The Class System in 1912

In Edwardian England, class was rigid, pervasive, and largely unchallenged by the upper classes:

Class	Examples in the play	Attitude to those below them
Upper class	Gerald Croft, his parents	Entitled; assume leadership is natural
Upper middle class	The Birling family	Aspiring; desperate to rise further
Working class	Eva Smith, Edna (the maid)	Exploited; invisible; disposable

How Priestley Presents Class

Priestley exposes the class system as unjust, cruel, and self-serving:

1. Mr Birling treats workers as commodities

"If you don't come down sharply on some of these people, they'd soon be asking for the earth" (Act 1)

Eva asked for a pay rise of two and a half shillings — a modest request. Birling sacked her and the other strikers because he sees workers as expendable.

2. Mrs Birling uses class as a weapon

"Girls of that class" (Act 2)

Mrs Birling dismisses Eva because of her class — she cannot believe a working-class girl deserves the same consideration as someone of Mrs Birling's own status.

3. Sheila exploits her class privilege unconsciously

Sheila had Eva sacked from Milwards by leveraging her family's status as customers. She did not think about the consequences for Eva because, as a privileged young woman, she had never had to think about what it means to lose a job.

4. Gerald's "rescue" reinforces class hierarchy

Gerald's relationship with Eva was defined by class — he had money, a home, and power; she had nothing. Even when he was kind, the relationship was one of dependency, not equality.

5. Eric's behaviour reveals class entitlement

Eric assumed he could force his way into Eva's lodgings because his class status gave him a sense of entitlement over working-class women.

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Class and Gender: The Double Burden

Working-class women like Eva faced a double disadvantage — exploited both because of their class and because of their gender:

As a working-class person	As a woman
Low wages, no job security, no safety net	Could not vote, limited legal rights
Easily sacked with no recourse	Few employment options outside factories/shops
Invisible to the upper classes	Vulnerable to sexual exploitation
No access to charity if deemed "undeserving"	Reputation was everything — easily destroyed

Eva's tragedy is the intersection of class and gender oppression. She is exploited as a worker (by Birling), as a consumer (by Sheila), as a woman (by Gerald and Eric), and as a supplicant (by Mrs Birling).

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Priestley's Attack on the Class System

Priestley uses the play to argue that the class system is not just unfair but morally indefensible:

1. The Birlings' privilege depends on the exploitation of people like Eva — Birling's profits come from paying low wages; the family's comfort requires servants
2. Class makes the Birlings blind to their own cruelty — they do not see Eva as a real person with feelings
3. The Inspector dismantles class barriers — he treats everyone equally and refuses to defer to status
4. The final phone call suggests that the class system will face a reckoning — if the privileged will not learn voluntarily, they will be forced to learn

Examiner's tip: When writing about class, always connect it to Priestley's purpose. He is not simply describing the class system — he is attacking it. The play is a call to action for the 1945 audience to build a more equal society.

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Key Quotes for Social Responsibility and Class