Max Weber Class Consciousness Analysis

Katie Bardaro, from Pay Scale Human Capital, once said “The real issue here is not the gender wage gap, but the jobs wage gap. People are filling positions according to gender, with higher-paid positions being filled by men and lower-paid positions being filled by women. That needs to change” In addition, men and women have differences on how they get paid. People think that men should get paid more because they think that they can do so much more, when women can do the same amount as a man can. Although we live in a society where men earn more money for the same job, this gender gap needs to stop, because equal pay can end poverty for single mothers, makes it harder to provide for family, and can overall will help society.

Karl Marx’s class theory lies upon the premise that "the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." He meant by this that ever since the inception of modern human society, people have been always divided into classes which are in conflict with each other due to class interests. An argument against class interests is that they are not given ab initio, they arise out of exposure of people occupying different social positions in varying social contexts. Karl Marx and Engels divided the masses into three broad classes, the proletariats, the petty bourgeoisie and the bourgeoisie.

This essay expresses the opinion of Tara Siegel Bernard on behalf of the existence of the gender pay gap and focuses on it being a primary issue in the workplaces of major companies. The essay goes on to discuss how our society expects women and men to both behave in particular ways and how that idea has contributed to the ever present pay gap, such as how “. . . the imbalance often traces back to women being hired at a lower salary than their male peers” and “. . . women are less inclined to ask for raises. . .” Pointing out the possible reasons for the gender pay gap helps to establish the need for companies and our country’s leaders to find solutions. Bernard also focuses on the number of women in top or executive positions, which

Weber extended Marx’s analytical scheme by introducing additional components of social position, “status” and “party”. Status, or prestige,

It would take volumes to describe how important Karl Marx’s work is in sociology. His work is important in the 21st century because his concepts and ideas are the only genuine seeds for a better society. I see Marx as a voice for the voiceless, the weak, and the vulnerable in all societies across the globe.

Preliminary Thesis Statement: Religion is an essential constituent of any civilization with a unique spiritual pathway.

The gender pay gap is the difference between earnings made by men and earnings by women. The Gender pay gap is generally due to various reasons, such as differences discrimination in hiring process, differences in negotiations for pay, differences in education choices, differences in the jobs men can go compare to women can’t easily go for.

Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, social scientist, sociologist, historian, journalist and revolutionary socialist. Marx was born on 5 May 1818 in Germany and died on 14 March 1883 in London. Karl Marx is regarded to be one of the founding fathers of Sociology. Capitalism, in layman’s term means “an economic, political, and social system in which property, business, and industry are privately owned, directed towards making the greatest possible profits for successful organizations and people.” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2014). Capitalism, according to Karl Marx is divided into two major social classes: the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The Bourgeoisie, which is the minority of the class system, own the means of production such as land, machinery, factories and raw materials whereas the Proletariat, which is the majority of the class system, having no means of their own production and have to work to earn wage for a living.

The key concepts that I will discuss in this assignment are the theories and ideas of Karl Marx on Alienation, Exploitation, Materialism and Class struggle. The objective of this assignment is to examine the literature written about Karl Marx in order to clearly present his main ideas and theories in relation to work and capital. In the second part of my assignment I will discuss what relevance these theories and ideas have in today’s world. Karl Heinrich Marx the philosopher and revolutionary socialist was born on the 5th of May 1818 and died on the 14th of March 1883. He was born in the city of Trier in Germany and studied law in Bonn University. He based his ideas and theories on social structure, economics and politics.

Although they actually share some similarities, Weber’s analysis of class, change, capitalism and history differ radically from the views by Marx. Marx believed in capitalism and class conflict whereas Weber believed in rationalisation and bureaucracy. Both Marx and Weber agreed that there was many problems within modern society. Marx had an optimistic view about the future of society and he was confident that his theory would improve the lives of those in society. Weber however took more of a pessimistic view arguing that society is characterised by the process of rationalisation. Marx sees change through capitalism and conflict and Weber sees change through rationalisation and bureaucracy. Both have differing views about social change and the outcome of such change. Marx’s views are much more optimistic than Weber’s idealistic pessimistic views.

It is important to link gender equality and sustainable development for a number of reasons. How can we achieve a sustainable future, and reach our development goals if half of the world’s population has their rights, capabilities and dignity ignored? Women’s knowledge should be used to help achieve these goals, they should be viewed as central actors, not victims. Furthermore, to be effective, policy actions for sustainability must redress the disproportionate impact on women and girls of economic, social and environmental shocks and stresses. The lives of girls and women have changed dramatically over the past quarter century. There has been progress, today, more girls and women are literate than ever before, and in a third of developing countries, there are more girls in school than boys. Women now make up over 40 percent of the global labour force. In some areas, however, progress toward gender equality has been limited—even in developed countries. Girls and women who are poor, live in remote areas, are disabled, or belong to minority groups continue to lag behind. Too many girls and women are still dying in childhood and in the reproductive ages. Women still fall behind in earnings and productivity, and in the strength of their voices in society. In some areas, such as education, there is now a gender gap to the disadvantage of men and boys. Gender inequality is seen at the very highest level, with women underrepresented in government decision making positions. Women

The development of a society from the old and from the new is the result of the conflict of classes in the society. Marx’s use of this method, the dialectical materialism, to analyze the general development of historical events and it is a large outline of the principal stages through which history has moved. The materialist view to history shows that humanity has the capability to survive, as

Marx (1844) argued that humans are naturally sociable and that work emboldens meaning and satisfaction in life, but that capitalism

The United States is currently facing an economical problem that involves males and female differences within the workplace. Males are given bigger and sometimes even better rewards for doing equal amounts of work as their female counterparts. Females are frequently not receiving the same wage even if they can complete the same job of a male. Also, females are less likely to get promoted within their job if they are competing against a male. A source states, “Women are now more likely to have college degrees than men, yet they still face a pay gap in every single education level,

Karl Marx (1818-1883) considered himself not to be a sociologist but a political activist. However, many would disagree and in the view of Hughes (1986), he was ‘both – and a philosopher, historian, economist, and a political scientist as well.’ Much of the work of Marx was political and economic but his main focus was on class conflict and how this led to the rise of capitalism. While nowadays, when people hear the word “communism”, they think of the dictatorial rule of Stalin and the horrific stories of life in a communist state such as the Soviet Union, it is important not to accuse Marx of the deeds carried out in his name.