The latter consists of the base structures needed for the said societies production and operation; structures such as transport, energy and healthcare are part of the infrastructure. Institutions such as the justice system, military and family, among others, make up the superstructure. Marx viewed the 'state' as being in a relationship with society as one of control and subservience, respectively, therefore creating conflict. In Marx's theory of the state, he postulates the terms of mode/means of production, where the labour force are oppressed by the elite and owners of the production. He conferred that there were different stratifications, which formed economic bases, creating an ideological superstructure which consisted of juridical and
Introduction Social structures are constraints that affect the lives of both the wealthy and the poor members of society. Each society has its own set of social arrangements for example; class, gender and ethnicity are all constraints that each society has to deal with in one way or another. One of the most fundamental of the social structures would be class. Class structure is found in all societies and is the key source of economical inequality. Members of different class groups start their lives with unequal opportunities.
“The reason we have classes is due to a group sharing a common interest and economic position” (McIntosh, 1997:133). Class is determined on possession of wealth; together with the occupation are the principal bases for class difference. The main classes in Western societies are the upper class who was the wealthy, employers and factory owner, the middle class who were white collar workers and professionals and the lower class who were the ones in the blue-collar or manual jobs. In the developed countries there was also a fourth class, the peasants who were occupied in traditional types of agricultural production. The most well-known and important theories of class are those developed by Karl Marx and Max Weber.
In other words, they appear to be qualitatively distinct from other kinds of jobs in the market.” (Pg. 258). I will touch more on the dual market theory and its importance to creating stratification later in the paper. I would also like to touch on how the filling of these jobs within these markets can be, and often times is achieved through social reproduction. Social reproduction theory which “examine how inequality is reproduced over and over again in our everyday behavior and situations…Social reproduction identifies the barriers to social mobility, barriers that constrain without completely blocking lower and working class individuals’ efforts to break into the upper reaches of the class structure”(Pg.
Although there was a class division that led to many social conflicts between the classes, property is one thing that both classes could agree symbolized power. The division of labor was always one-sided with the proletariats conducting all of the menial labor while the bourgeoisie reaped the benefits of free trade in an open market. With capitalism expanding and property becoming even more valuable, according to Marx it is a necessity that the security of one's property is certain. Without that it would prove to be an unsuitable circumstance for the bourgeoisie who have entire businesses to lose versus the proletariat that may only have a home to his name. If either were to lose their property it would be horrendous, but there is no doubt that the bourgeoisie would lose more than the proletariat would.
The fact is just that the degrees of these two functionaries occasionally fluctuate according to social dynamics, but then mainly do so for the betterment and progress of the society on a collective and total perspective. We have to keep a close eye on that and all of us should contribute equally to our society's development. Society demands for rivalry neither theoretically nor practically, it demands higher social values and flexible regulations that can make our lives worth
Weber was worried that this would eventually eradicate the intrinsic element to human existence which is humanity. Marx, on the other hand, argued that modern societies are characterised by capitalism and people who owns the means of production. Marx identified four successive modes of production which are primitive communism, ancient society, feudalism and capitalism. All these production is profoundly influenced by class relations. For instance, people who own the means of production exploit the labour.
Social classes are a form of social stratification that refers to the existence of structured inequalities between individuals and groups in society. A social class is a group of people of comparable status, power and wealth which are usually classified as upper class, middle class, and lower class. For each class, there are some specific opportunities available that influence their social life. We can understand about the particularity of the chances through unequal distribution of these opportunities between individuals in social classes. In here belonging to a social class seems to be an obstacle for some individuals to obtain equal opportunity, unlike upper class people.
His stance leads us to one of the key concerns in sociology known as social stratification. It is a system by which society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy based on their ease of access to scarce resources. Social stratification is universal but it changes between different societies. 1B. As of year 2014, there are nine levels in China’s class structure.
It not only precisely defines a description but also play an important role to measurement labor standards. The decent work strategy was based on four central pillars consisting of fundamental rights, employment, social protection, and social dialogue which have a strict relationship together. The relationship can be demonstrated by a virtuous circle, for example fundamental rights would lead to greater employment, which would provide the economic growth and then strengthen social protection, which would in turn strengthen fundamental rights further. The decent work specially raises the importance of creating jobs of a certain quality. Jobs all sectors were respected, workers were entitled to social protection, and they had opportunities for voice and for participating in the design of the economic policies that directly affected them.