Understanding Social Class: Property, Power, and Prestige

Contrary to the common belief, social class consists of more than just the rich and the poor. Rather, social class is comprised of different groups lumped together because they share similar levels of property, power, and prestige. This view, theorized by Max Weber, is the most widely accepted view of social class by sociologists today. The first element of social class, property, consists of anything a person owns, from cars to books, houses to stocks. Wealth is the sum of a person’s property minus his or her debts, in other words, a person’s wealth is their net worth. The term income is used to describe a stream of money a person may receive, such as from a job or allowance (212). In the United States, most of the property is owned by a small amount of people (213). Bill Gates, listed by Forbes Magazine as the richest

Prestige is the respect that comes with an occupation. Some jobs have very low prestige, such as a factory worker or street vendor, while others have very high levels of prestige, such as a doctor, lawyer or a judge. Certain occupations are generally given more prestige if they necessitate higher education, have a high salary, involve intelligent or creative thinking, and are relatively independent. Doctors, lawyers, and judges are all payed high salaries, are thinking-oriented rather than labor-oriented, and certainly necessitate advanced degrees and several years of schooling. As one might expect, occupations are given less prestige the more dependent, low-paying, and physically laborious they are, as well as if they demand little to no education (216). An example of low prestige can be found in the classic teen flick The Breakfast Club. Carl the janitor is taunted by student John Bender because of his extremely unprestigious occupation. “How does one become a janitor?” Bender ridicules him, emphasizing just how much of a lowlife one has to be to get such a job (The Breakfast