Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Impact of social class
Impact of social class
Relationship between social classes
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Impact of social class
Class and socio-economic status demonstrate how today’s society is constructed. This essay will focus on the way in which socio-economic status can determine class in relation to both Marx’s and Engel’s theories of class and Weber’s account of class and social stratification, while also taking a brief look at the effects of capitalism regarding social order. Furthermore it will examine the importance of these social phenomena to a changing society.
For Marx, class is defined according to the ownership of the means of production (Holmes, Hughes & Julian, 2012). Class can be described as having three categories; Ruling class, middle class, and working class. Marx has asserted that classes have formed as a result of capitalism. Capitalism, and the competition it entailed, forced the members of society into two groups: workers (the proletariat) and capitalists (the bourgeoisie) (Marx, 1978). It can be stated that, the class in which an individual is placed in is a direct result of their socio-economic status. There are multiple elements included in Marx’s theory of class to depict the way in which class is viewed by individuals in society.
The theory of surplus value is important in illustrating the role of the production industry by highlighting the distinctions between classes in society. In Marx’s theory of surplus value, the difference between the exchange value of the worker’s labour and its use value to the capitalist who buys it represents surplus value (Holmes, Hughes & Julian, 2012). In other words this theory demonstrates the exploitation of the working class as they are the ones who produce items but do not benefit financially from them; instead they are paid minimum wage. Marx’s economic argument is that the workers alwa...
... middle of paper ...
...aid that a multitude of factors lead to the determination of class. Also highlighted through these theories is social inequality within society as a result of its capitalist nature. Overall, socio-economic status can be viewed as a determinant of class highlighting the importance of both these social phenomena to society.
References
Holmes, D., Julian, R., Hughes, K., (2012). Australian Sociology: A Changing Society. NSW, Australia: Pearson Australia.
Kerbo, H.R., (2006). Social Stratification. London: Sage publications Ltd.
Levine, R.F., (1998). Social Class and Stratification. Maryland, USA: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Marx, K., (1978). The Marx-Engels Reader. Ed. Robert C. Tucker. New York: W.W. Norton & Company
Lenski, G.E., (1966). Power and Privilege. A theory of social stratification. NY, USA: The University of North Carolina Press.
In his essay “Land of Opportunity” James W. Loewen details the ignorance that most American students have towards class structure. He bemoans the fact that most textbooks completely ignore the issue of class, and when it does it is usually only mentions middle class in order to make the point that America is a “middle class country. This is particularly grievous to Loewen because he believes, “Social class is probably the single most important variable in society. From womb to tomb, it correlates with almost all other social characteristics of people that we can measure.” Loewen simply believes that social class usually determine the paths that a person will take in life. (Loewen 203)
(p1) Broadly speaking, class is about economic and social inequality… (p6) We have a tendency for groups of advanced people to congregate together, and groups of disadvantaged people to congregate so that inequalities persist from generation to generation.
With each class comes a certain level in financial standing, the lower class having the lowest income and the upper class having the highest income. According to Mantsios’ “Class in America” the wealthiest one percent of the American population hold thirty-four percent of the total national wealth and while this is going on nearly thirty-seven million Americans across the nation live in unrelenting poverty (Mantsios 284-6). There is a clear difference in the way that these two groups of people live, one is extreme poverty and the other extremely
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, and Robert C. Tucker. The Marx-Engels reader . 2d ed. New York: Norton, 1978. Print.
Marx, Karl & Friedrich Engels. 2008 (1848). The Communist Manifesto. Introduction by David Harvey. London: Pluto Press. ISBN: 978-0745328461
Clark and Lipset (1991) explain that looking at class theories that has been a lot of change in class and it has altered the concept of class toward the fragmentation of stratification. Clark and Lipset (1991) further explains that changes have occurred since Marx and Weber write their view on social stratification and it went into high gear since 1970s. Clark and Lipset (1991) acknowledge a change for the theories of stratification is that traditional hierarchies is declining and economic and family hierarchies is less than generation or two ago. Clark and Lipset (1991) explains that class conflict declines, there would be less conflict or organized lines, for instance gender. However, not all hierarchies are generating counter-reactions and there is an acceptance of democratic process to allow the opposition to surface. According Clark and Lipset (1991), “the key trends could be described as one of fragmentation of stratification: the weakening of class stratification, especially as shown in distinct class-differentiated lifestyle, the decline of economic determinism, and the increased importance of social and cultural factors, politics is less organized by class and more by other loyalties, the slimming of the family and social mobility is less family-determined, more ability and education
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, and Robert C. Tucker. The Marx-Engels reader. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1978. Print.
Karl Marx (1818 - 1883) and Max Weber (1864 - 1920) both recognised that economic categories played a large part in social class structure. Nineteenth Century history plays an important part in understanding how class influenced identities. The Industrial revolution was changing the structure of the communities, the rich or landowners having a far better standard of living with better education, health care, property ownership and power than the poor. The working class would have a daily struggle to survive. The change in Trade Unions meant that the working class had a voice, helping to push their needs forward, looking for better standards of living and working conditions. Marx's concept of class was based around the production of goods. The emerging owners of these goods, or capital, were known as the ruling class. Marxism would define only two classes, the ruling class and the working class. The influence on identity of these two class structures would be very relevant in those days. The working class would earn a wage from the production of the goods but the ruling class would sell these for a profit and exploit the workers. The two classes were on two different levels of wealth, property ownership and social standing and they would struggle to mix, they were dependent on each other but the rewards would be unevenly matched.
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. "The Communist Manifesto." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 769-773.
Social and economic class is something we as Americans like to push into the back of our minds. Sometimes recognizing our class either socially or economically can almost be crippling. When individuals recognize class, limitations and judgment confront us. Instead, we should know it is important to recognize our class, but not let it define and limit us. In the essay, “Class in America”, Gregory Mantsios, founder and director of the Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education at the School of Professional Studies, brings to light the fact that Americans don’t talk about class and class mobility. He describes the classes in extremes, mainly focusing on the very sharp divide between the extremely wealthy and extremely poor. In contrast, George
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Trans. Paul M. Sweeny. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1998.
Wolff, Jonathan. "Karl Marx." Stanford University. Stanford University, 26 Aug. 2003. Web. 2 May 2014. .
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. "The Communist Manifesto." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 769-773.
According to Marx class is determined by property associations not by revenue or status. It is determined by allocation and utilization, which represent the production and power relations of class. Marx’s differentiate one class from another rooted on two criteria: possession of the means of production and control of the labor power of others. The major class groups are the capitalist also known as bourgeoisie and the workers or proletariat. The capitalist own the means of production and purchase the labor power of others. Proletariat is the laboring lower class. They are the ones who sell their own labor power. Class conflict to possess power over the means of production is the powerful force behind social growth.
Kerbo, H. R. (2012). Social stratification and inequality: class conflict in historical, comparative, and global perspective (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.