Priestley presents attitudes towards the working class as negative and prejudiced. This is explored through a range of characters, with the use of tone and description of individual characters. The audience is encouraged to dislike this, in order to persuade them to align with Priestley's viewpoint, and stance on capitalist ideologies. At the beginning of 'An Inspector Calls', we are introduced to the Birlings- a middle upper class family, in 1912 capitalist Britain. The head of the family, Mr Birling, is seen to dislike and see himself as superior to the lower class, which cannot only be seen through his speech, but his actions too. By firing Eva Smith, simply because she asked for a raise, the audience can see the type of character Mr Birling is. He only cares about himself and his profits, and instead of letting his workers earn more money, he displays his arrogance by refusing for the purpose of allowing himself to become more wealthy. This can be seen in the quotation "soon, they will be asking for the earth." The word "they" groups the working class as a collective, showing that he views them all as the same- an example of prejudice. Furthermore, the use of the noun "earth", which is hyperbolic, is used to describe the act of Eva Smith asking for a raise. He makes her out to be greedy and selfish, which is ironic considering his character as a "hard-headed man of business". The purpose of this irony is to portray Mr Birling as hypocritical and therefore not understanding of his own egotistical nature - as he is too egotistical to see it. Priestley wants the audience to label him as an unlikable character who is inherently arrogant. Mr Birling is the embodiment of capitalism - so therefore Priestley aims to make the audience make the conclusion that capitalism and capitalists are inherently arrogant too, to further push his message of socialism being the best fit for society. Similarly, through the character of Mrs Birling, Priestly presents her as condescending towards the working class. This is evident throughout the play, where she, like Mr Birling, Prejudices against them and attempts to separate herself from them. A key example of this would be through her relationship with Sheila, who is known to be shielded and infantilised despite her age. Sheila’s repeated use of the word “mummy” in reference to her mother, suggests that she is attached to Mrs Birling. The impact of this is that Mrs Birling tries to keep her as close to herself as possible and, as a result, as far away from the reality of society as possible. By creating a divide between the Birling family and the working and lower classes, Mrs Birling separates herself, which highlights that she feels a sense of superiority towards them, using her class as a barrier between them. Additionally, in the quotation, “girls of that class”, the word “that” again shows that she views the lower class negatively and dehumanises them as if they had no real worth or value. The word “girls” which is used in regards to Eva, suggests that she groups Eva with the rest of the lower class, almost invalidating her. The fact that she cares more about ehr class than her suicide confirms to the audience that Mrs Birling is classist, individualist and lacking of sympathy. Priestley wants to present these qualities as deep rooted in capitalism- showing that they possess a lack of social responsibility or care for anybody else but themselves. However, on the contrary, the character of Inspector Goole- the embodiment of socialism, is not characterised in this way- instead, he promotes social reform and equity. In the quotation ,” We are each responsible for one another”, Inspector Goole is seen to show the Birlings that caring for other people and having sympathy is the most important thing. The word “each” outlines that he is directly addressing them, showing his authority and power, as a socialist, over the capitalist family. This shows how socialism dominates capitalism- which is what Priestley wants the audience to see. He uses Inspector Goole as his mouthpiece to express his ideas towards class, which is important in understanding Priestley’s motives. He wants the audience to see that characters such as Mr and Mrs Birling, who are both capitalist, are symbols of capitalism as a collective and to the 1946 audience, will not improve society in the next few years. To conclude, Priestley, through multiple characters, displays the ideology of capitalism as inherently individualist and therefore have negative attitudes towards the lower class. As a result, he aims to persuade the 20th century audience to align with his own views, and see these characters as unlikable and therefore disagree with them.