Theoretical Lens

Assess the usefulness of Marxist theories of stratification in understanding social class in society today.

Karl Marx and Max Weber were influential sociologists that paved the way for modern sociological school of thought. Both, Karl Marx and Max Weber contributed a lot to the study and foundation of sociology. Without their contributions sociology would not be as prominent as it is today. From the contribution of how sociology should be studied, to how they applied their theories to everyday life has influenced many sociologists. Predominantly, both of these theorists’ discussed the effects of capitalism, how it has developed, shaped and changed society into what it is today. Specifically, Karl Marx’s contribution of the bourgeoisie vs. the proletariat class and Max Weber’s social stratification has helped individuals to understand how modern day society has transformed into what it is today. Particularly, this paper will lie out Weber’s theory of social stratification and Marx’s theory of the bourgeoisie vs. the proletariat class; additionally this essay will also compare and contrast the ideas of these two influential sociologists. Finally this essay will criticize both of these sociologists’ theories and display that Marx and Weber do not explain how modern day society and classes have been formed.

Marxism is a theory that analyses social hierarchy and class struggle though the proletariats (lower class) and the

Chapter 1 explains how the sociologists focus on social forces such as religion, education, politic, race, class, and gender in the society that might be influence people’s behaviors. For instance, most people is believed that people are poor because they are not working and that wealth is the reward for who are working hard. However, the sociologists look at other factors that might cause the poverty in the society. How can we define the poverty? Is it because people don’t have enough money, food, or shelter? When are people feel satisfy with what they have? Karl Marx explains the class conflict theory in which the bourgeoisie controls the means of production and wealth while the proletariat works for the bourgeoisie. The social class caused

For centuries, many philosophers have discussed the issue of class struggle. Karl Marx and Andrew Carnegie both developed theories of the unequal distribution of wealth a long time ago; however the only Carnegie’s ideology could apply to American society today. In “The Communist Manifesto”, Marx first introduces the two main social classes: bourgeois (the upper class) and proletarians (the lower class or working class). He points out the revolution of industrialism has made changes of Capitalism to Communism. He suggests that the rich should redistribute property evenly because the proletarians have put a lot effort contributing in the

The article presents Weber’s argument regarding social stratification in contrast to Marx’s. In his discussion of his theory of social stratification, he outlines three ways in which society is divided: by class (economically), status (socially) and by party (ideologically). He argues that the individual identity is not determined by the class identity, and that status and party identities often cross class divisions.

The Marxist approach proves that the least deprived individuals are the ruling class and the most deprived individuals are in the working class. In the hierarchy Marxists believe that most of the deprived people shouldn’t have and education and they should be working in factories and other environments like this. Marxist know that the most deprived individuals work in poor conditions that could make them ill, people in the lower class don’t earn as much as a higher class would. This is because they are in the lower class and they live and work in poor conditions so they don’t need to earn as much.

The social class has two major approaches to the study in the scholarly literature. The first one is ethnographic and descriptive, and the other is Marxism, which offers a range of perspectives. Smedley describes Marxism as identifying social classes as groups standing in different relationships to the "mode of production" and

Additionally, by studying class, sociologists allow themselves a greater understanding of the apparent ‘class conflict’ which is suggested by Marx. Although Marx’s understanding of class is outdated, due to its reliance on people’s relationship to the means of production being the main influence over their class, and its lack of consideration towards the social or cultural aspects of class (McLellan, 1986), his understanding of the conflicting interests of the classes bridges an important gap between the personal influence of class on people’s lives, and how this impacts society as a whole. Furthermore, sociologists study class because of its influence over society and its structure, as Marx said ‘the history of all hitherto existing society is a history of class struggles’ (Cannadine, 2000, p. 1). Thus, class must be studied in order to

The purpose of this essay is to provide an explanation on why sociologists are interested in class. This assignment will define what class is and to what extent class matters. Other social divisions will be explored in this assignment to show how they intersect with class. The social divisions which intersect with class which will be discussed include economic and social inequalities, social mobility and identity. The beliefs from well-known theorists, Karl Marx and Max Weber who disagreed on the nature of class, will also be included to support the main points which are

According to an article published by Stanford University Karl Marx (2003 Stanford University), Marx saw capitalism as the creator of alienated labor, where he saw people of a lower class forced to produced goods for a higher class. In accordance with Marx and class division, the Social Ranking Theory of Depression was introduced in Social Class Divisions in the Consulting Room: A theory of Psychosocial Class and Depression (Storck 1998). This theory related its concepts back to a sports teams. In each sports team, there are contradictory emotions of jealousy and anger between players because some are rewarded and others are not all due to class division. This relates back to the internal workings of a

Weber argues that social mobility can either move us upwards or downwards depending on our choices and opportunities. While Marx does recognise social mobility, he relates this mainly to the petty bourgeoisie, and its likelihood of being absorbed by the other two classes due to its transitional nature. For Marx, class is a clearly defined and

Karl Marx describes “Society as a whole [as being] more and more [split] up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other-bourgeoisie and proletariat” (Marx 124).  As Marx made his distinction between upper class, bourgeoisie, and lower class, proletariats, it is important to keep in mind the societal structure at the time.  To understand how classes were created and the disparity between the rich and poor, or, bourgeoisie and proletariat, it is necessary to examine how people came to be rich and poor.  Exploring a time before money existed will help us to process and understand reasons why the binary between rich and poor exists and how it is reflective of low and high art distinctions.

Most societies throughout history and the world have developed a notion of social class. It is refers to hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups within society. How these social classes have been determined has been a common topic among social scientists throughout time. Two individuals who have headed this long standing debate are Karl Marx and Max Weber. In this paper I will be summarizing Marx and Weber’s theories on social class; how they are determined, their interests, and problems that may exist among groups. I will then provide my own critiques of their arguments.

In the opposite, Weber rejected the economic determinism of Marxism in the understanding of the stratification of the modern capitalist society. For Weber, the capitalist society is stratified in a two different ways from the Marxist description: On the one hand, the class differentiation is not classified merely by the ownership of means of production. According to Weber, class interest not as a given historical attribute to workers and capitalist, but is an ‘average interests’ of different individuals sharing similar market situation and ‘life chance’. Such ‘life chance’ is defined by the capacity of the individual to create utility and exchange value in the market by the utilization of their property. Therefore, class situation of the propertied is not merely defined by the ownership of means of production, but also returns on investment and rental income, which Marx doesn't take into account; for the class situation of the property-less, people is also fragmented by their differential possession of scarce skills, services and knowledge. Class interest is complex and fragmented.