Definition

Class refers to the hierarchical divisions within a society between people or groups, such as occupational groupings. Class is a different broad word for social stratification in this context. Another often used broad synonym for “class” is “social class.”

Class refers to any specific position within a social classification or class structure, such as “working class” or “middle class.”

It is a specific kind of “open” stratification of the class observed in contemporary industrial cultures, where both individual and group social mobility is comparatively widespread.

Marxism holds that the economic divides of society based on property ownership and non-ownership, such as the bourgeoisie and proletariat in capitalist countries, which define all large-scale societies, ultimately determine the course of each form of society. Marx also recognizes a wide range of lower classes and groupings that affect how political and social conflicts turn out.

English sociologist Anthony Giddens defined the class as a “Large-scale grouping of people who share common economic resources, which strongly influence the type of lifestyle they are able to lead”.

Class Characteristics

1. A system in which social classes function as distinct subcultures; each social class has its own set of norms, values, and ways of living.

2. A structure in which money and power are distributed inequitably.

3. A system in which status is earned via personal initiative instead of being given, assigned, or inherited.

4. A hierarchy-based system acknowledges superiority and inferiority to those above and below.

5. A social ranking system that places a strong emphasis on financial standing.

6. A system more mobile than the caste system.

7. A system where each class’s cultural manifestations and way of life are unique.

8. A status hierarchy structure.

9. A system with some degree of class structure permanence.

10. A system based on stratum (class) awareness and solidarity.

11. A system where distinctions between classes are less clearly defined and more flexible.

Max Weber – Class

Following Weber, class refers to the variations across categories or groups of people in their “typical probability” of “acquiring things,” “gaining places in life,” and “finding inner pleasure.” These disparities are referred to as life chances. Because of this, Weber defined “class” as “all individuals in the same class condition,” regardless of the underlying causes or what they could entail for the long-term future of societies.

Weber identified several overlapping potential bases of class situation, based on property ownership and non-ownership, as well as mentioning various types of property and the various types of income these produce.

Weber explicitly cites:

A . Property classes whose situation is based on property holdings of different sizes

B . commercial classes, which are misleadingly referred to since they include people who can protect their positions by involvement in organizations or politics, such as professionals or others with monopolizing credentials, as well as businesspeople with additional monopolistic bases;

C . Social classes are the “totality” of these class circumstances, described as those in which “individual and generational mobility is simple and often happens.” The working class, the petty bourgeoisie, the ‘propertyless’ intelligentsia and experts, and the classes favored by wealth and education are the main social classes’ described by Weber in this sense.

There are several “middle classes” in between “positively privileged” and “negatively privileged” class positions and the social classes these conditions give birth to. According to Weber, “social class” is very varied since class positions are highly mobile and unstable, and these factors are only sometimes the origins of class consciousness or organized labor.

Descriptive and analytical

Similarly, the phrase entered common usage to describe differences in birth, occupation, wealth, aptitude, property, etc. It is possible to make a general contrast between conceptions of “class” that aim to be primarily “descriptive” and those that are more “analytical”; however, this distinction is not absolute.

Analysis of class conceptions: Marx

Though he recognized that the phrase had arisen earlier, particularly in the work of Enlightenment social theorists and French socialists, Marx’s usage of the term in sociology has had the most significant impact.

Although the term has a variety of uses in Marx’s writings, the key elements of his overall model of social class are evident:

A . To feed, shelter, and clothe dependent children, the ill, and the elderly, every community must create a surplus. When a group of people declares that resources that are not immediately consumed for survival are their private property, class differences start to emerge;

B . As a result, classes are determined by whether a person owns (or does not possess) productive property that enables the taking of excess. Different types of property (such as enslaved people, water, land, and money) have played a significant role in forming social ties at various points in human history, but two primary classes typify all class systems. According to Marx, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat’s connection under capitalism was the most significant class relationship;

C . For Marx, the historical significance of classes stems from the fact that they are inherently exploitative: one class exploits and oppresses another by taking the surplus created by that class, and as a result, conflict is a natural byproduct of class relations. Class conflicts, which are linked to fundamental social and economic tensions, are ultimately what alter societies. They are the most significant element in social change.

D . Marx makes a distinction between the “objective” components of the class, as described in (b) above, and the “subjective” aspects, i.e., the fact that one is a member of a class does not always entail knowledge of membership or a sense of political affiliation with a class’s interests. One can only discuss a social class when members recognize their shared interests and work together to achieve them.

The majority of the following sociological study on class has been motivated by significant issues that emerged from Marx’s work:

A . Marx’s explanation of classes and their significance in pre-capitalist cultures was relatively constrained, which raises the issue of whether class is really important to the process of development in these societies; for example, see class-divided society;

B .  the development of significant groupings outside of the proletariat and bourgeoisie;

C . Class distinctions, which have been proven to be just as important politically (e.g., see contradicting class locations);

D .  the significant influence on people’s lives of elements other than socioeconomic class, including gender and ethnicity;

E . The fact that, historically, for lower classes, class consciousness has typically been significantly different from what Marx would consider being “objective” conditions. Class consciousness, in practice, has never demonstrated a simple correspondence with Marx’s view of the objective class situation.

Class analytical conceptions: Weber

Max Weber’s writings include the alternative theory of class that has gained the most significant traction. Weber placed more emphasis on other elements that supported inequality than Marx did. In particular, he saw status or honor and prestige as unique variables. Along with emphasizing the connection between opportunity and class, he said that a class is a category or group of individuals with comparable “life chances.”

Although Weber highlighted class distinctions (partially based on social position) and actual changes in class borders to a considerably greater degree than Marx, he shared Marx’s view that ownership and non-ownership were fundamental criteria. Examples include Weber’s differentiation between the owning and commercial classes and how the working class was separated according to life chances based on various ability levels. 

In this instance, Weber highlights the significance of “markets” as the foundation of inequality rather than just property ownership or non-ownership, i.e., the degree of talent and demand for skills driving variations in rewards.

In addition, Weber disagrees with Marx in that he sees class and bureaucracy as the primary power sources in contemporary civilizations. Because Weber placed so much emphasis on a range of variables that affect opportunities and rewards, his method of class and social stratification analysis has had a significant impact on sociological theory. 

Analytical notions of class: contemporary approaches

The majority of current techniques typically start with either Marx or Weber. Numerous efforts have been made to modify or disprove various aspects of traditional techniques. There has been much discussion of attempts to correct flaws in Marx’s work, as evidenced in works by Poulantzas, Carchedi, and Wright.

The issue of class borders, or how to account for the status of the “middle classes” within the Marxist theory of class, preoccupies all of these thinkers. They all acknowledge the flaws in the traditional Marxist interpretation of groups like professionals, managers, and white-collar workers. However, they differ in how they propose to address the issue of this group’s continued existence and function, which the traditional Marxist theory assumed would eventually be assimilated into one of the two main classes in capitalism or disappear.

According to Poulantzas, who bases his argument on Althusser’s conception of the mode of production, the definition of social classes cannot be solely economic. Poulantzas claims that there are three relatively independent aspects of class relations: economic (productive versus unproductive labor), political (supervision versus non-supervision), and ideological (mental versus manual labor). The proletariat is still primarily defined by the direct production of goods (the economic role), but other power relations complicate the situation. Any productive or not worker who holds a subordinate position in the three sectors should be considered a member of a different class: the ‘new petty bourgeoisie.

Carchedi suggests an alternative strategy to this one. He distinguishes between ownership and practical features of the capitalist employment relationship. He contends that as capitalism expanded, the production process became more and more communal, and similarly, as administrative hierarchies grew, the role of the capitalist in managing and organizing the labor force became more and more distinct from ownership. The new middle class, which is not a member of the class that owns capital, performs the functions of capital (control and surveillance).

C. Wright Mills makes a similar distinction between control and ownership, contending that those who do not own the means of production but have significant power as managers or semiautonomous professionals were in conflicting class positions. Wright stressed the concepts of property and exploitation once again as essential to comprehending class relations in later criticism (1985). Each of these theories treats power and control over the labor process as being independently decisive of class relations to get around the difficulties that the “new middle classes” provide for Marxian interpretations of class.

Therefore, these “new” methods have some striking similarities with elements of Weber’s approach while being situated within the Marxian tradition and having distinct conceptual frameworks. The difference is that these “new” approaches regard themselves as rehabilitating the Marxian viewpoint. The fundamental dynamics of society and the underlying premise of the class remain “objective” economic class interests.

Many other authors have chosen to create a more fruitful theory of class by turning more directly to Weber than to Marx. Parkin has been one of the most significant of these, along with Lockwood and Goldthorpe. The notion that organizations attempt to monopolize resources and chances for their gain and to restrict resources and opportunities to others is known as social closure, and Parkin builds on Weber’s treatment of this concept. The concept of excluding non-members is the central notion in this situation.

Distinct communities have different requirements for belonging to the dominant classes. In some societies, the exclusion is based on factors like religion, race, or gender. Kinship and descent are essential factors since birth into a specific group is a typical condition. In this rigid structure, favored groups may effectively increase closure for their gain.