THEORIES OF CLASS AND STRATIFICATION – I:Critical evaluation

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Introduction to Sociology SOC101

Lesson 22

THEORIES OF CLASS AND STRATIFICATION I

The ideas developed by Karl Marx and Max Weber forms the basis of most sociological analysis of class

and stratification. Broadly theories have been divided into conflict and functionalist perspectives and these

two will be the focus of our discussion.

Stratification and Conflict

Social conflict perspective argues that, rather than benefiting society as a whole, social stratification benefits

some people at the expense of others. This analysis draws heavily on the ideas of Karl Marx, with

contributions from Max Weber.

Karl Marx: Class and Conflict

Marx (1818-1883) argued that the distinctions people often make between themselves such as clothing,

speech, education, or relative slavery are superficial matters that camouflage the only real significant

dividing line: people either (the bourgeoisie) own the means of production or they (the proletariat) work for

those who do. This is the only distinction that counts, for these two classes make up modern society.

Means of production refer to the sources by which people gain their livelihood.

Hence people's relationship to means of production determines their social class.

Before the rise of modern industry, the means of production consisted primarily of land and the

instruments used to tend crops or pastoral animals. In such societies the two main classes were those who

owned the land (aristocrats, gentry or slave-holders) and those actively engaged in producing from it (serfs,

slaves and free peasantry).

In modern industrial societies, factories, offices, machinery and the wealth or capital needed to buy them

have become more important. The two main classes are those who own these new means of production

the industrialists or capitalists called as Bourgeoisie (boorzhwahze) and those who earn their living by

selling their labor to them the property-less working class called as proletariat.

According to Marx in Das Kapital three great classes exist in modern societies:

The owners of mere labor power, the owners of capital, and the landlords, whose respective sources of

income are wages, profit, and ground-rent.

The relationship between classes is an exploitative one. In feudal societies, exploitation often took the form

of the direct transfer of produce from the peasantry to the aristocracy. Serfs were compelled to give a

certain proportion of their production to their aristocratic masters, or had to work for certain number of

days in the lord's fields to produce crops consumed by the lord.

In modern industrial societies, the source of exploitation is less obvious, and Marx devoted much attention

to trying to clarify its nature. In the course of the working day workers produce much more than is actually

needed by employers to repay the cost of hiring them. [Value of product of labor value of labor = the

surplus value] This surplus value is the source of profit, which capitalists are able to put to their own use.

The labor becomes a commodity. Wealth is produced on a scale far beyond anything seen before, but

workers have little access to the wealth their labor creates.

The capitalist becomes richer while the proletariat gets poorer. Marx used the term pauperization to describe

the process by which the working class grows increasingly impoverished in relation to the capitalist class.

Even if the workers become more affluent in absolute terms, the gap separating them from the capitalist

class continues to stretch ever wider.

These inequalities between the capitalist and working class were not strictly economic in nature. Work itself

becomes dull and oppressive in the modern factories resulting in dehumanizing the work environment.

Introduction to Sociology SOC101

The capitalist class draws its strength from more than the operation of the economy. Through the family,

opportunity and wealth are passed down from generation to generation. Moreover, the legal system

defends this practice through the law of inheritance. Similarly the exclusive schools bring children of the

elite together, encouraging informal social ties that will benefit them throughout their lives. In this way

capitalist society reproduces the class structure in each new generation.

Marx saw great disparities in wealth and power arising from this productive system, which made class

conflict inevitable. Over time, Marx believed, oppression and misery would drive the working majority

(labor class) to organize, challenge the system, and ultimately overthrow the capitalist system. Such a class

struggle has been part of the history of societies. According to Marx; through this revolution the capitalist

system is replaced by socialist system resulting in a classless society. In such a society, humans will be able

to live in a world where they are not prevented from realizing their full potential by the constraints of class

societies. In a classless society the principle of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his

need" comes into operation.

Critical evaluation:

How do we motivate people to do their job efficiently? Motivating people to perform various social roles

requires some system of unequal rewards. Severing rewards from performance generates low productivity.

In capitalist societies the wages of workers have increased. Here people talk of The Affluent Worker.

Between the two classes a third class of petite bourgeoisie small owners, managers, supervisors, and

autonomous workers has emerged. Such a situation is not going to let the capitalist system to collapse.

All workers don't support the Labor Party, as it is evident from the voting behavior pattern of laborers in

UK.

Also people talk about the collapse of USSR.

Religion used as the pain-killer for oppression. (Religion as opiate of the people)

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