Theories Of Social Stratification

In The Communist Manifesto, Marx refers to the "proletariat" or the working class as the group with the most "class struggle". Marx defines the classes as 1) bourgeois, the "capitalists" who own the social production and employ the labor of others; and 2) proletariat, who sell their labor power to make a living but don 't own their own production. Marx argues that the wealth and prosperity of the bourgeois depends on the proletariat 's production of labor. Their products are sold for a larger value that the labor itself thus exploiting the working class and allowing the bourgeois to control the production.

Wealthy elites or the bourgeoisie continued to earn high profits while the poor proletarians continued to take part in labor intensive work in factories. Marx and Smiles both saw this as a major problem in their society. In Marx’s Communist Manifesto, he wrote, “ not only are they [the proletarians] slaves of the bourgeois class, and of the bourgeois state; they are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine, by the overlooker, and above all, by the individual bourgeois manufacturer himself…” What Marx means is that the bourgeoisie is looking down at the proletariats and using them as merely a way to earn profit. In contrast to Marx, Smiles said, “...they [the proletarians] resemble the savage tribes, who know no better, and do no worse.” Smiles is comparing them to savage tribes to emphasize their inept social understanding. He blamed the poor for their destitute lives because they lacked the knowledge to improve themselves to become wealthy. While Marx sided with the poverty stricken population, Smiles argued that the wealthy were in the right. However, both would agree that there were problems in society that needed

Summary: In chapter ten of the online text, global inequality and global stratification. Global inequality involves the concentration of resources in certain nations, significantly affecting the opportunities of individuals in poorer and less powerful countries. On the same scale, global stratification refers to the unequal distribution of resources among nations. Industrialization gave way to a split in nations called core, peripheral and semi-peripheral nations. The core nations are those that are dominant in capital, highly industrialized, technological and urbanized. Peripheral nations have little industrialization, unstable government, inadequate

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.

labor –at the centre of his analysis of human history. He was able to show that the

Marxism is an economic and social system. Holland Arrowsmith explains Marxism as a term which refers to “a hugely diverse set of social, economic, philosophical, historical and cultural theories”. Several theories such as social, economical, political and critical theories have been derived from Marxism philosophy. Marxism advocates equality amongst the class structure of society. Marxism is divided into two fundamental classes. According to Marx there are only two classes which exist: Bourgeoisie, which means powerful or dominant class and Proletariat, which means the peasant or working classes. Bourgeoisie, which gains the power, defines superstructure “including all social and legal institution, all political and educational systems, all religions and all art” (Bressler, 162), and articulate the ideology which is based on profits of bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie ideology leads to alienation of individuals, especially proletariats. This bourgeoisie ideology creates the clash between the two classes. Marx supported the working class and their victory over dominant class. Marxism believes in providing equal opportunity to the working class as that are available to the

According to Marx society was divided into two classes that were in eternal conflict in the battle for resources, or as Marx coined; “the means of production”. The first class were the bourgeoisie, which Marx described as the sole owners of the means of production as well as the media. The bourgeoisie used their power and influence to exploit the second class, which Marx called the proletariat which consisted of all the workers of the world. Marx rejected the idea that the wealthy pulled themselves from their own bootstraps, which he called “false consciousness” and in return coined the term “class consciousness”, which referred to a persons awareness of their own social status, especially in terms of class conflict. Overall, Marx concluded that social order is created maintained by domination and power. More so, to Marx money was everything. Money was the access to not only the means of production but many other lavish things, including healthcare. Marx would describe the meaning behind these graphs as the bourgeoisie using their wealth to ensure themselves to a longer and easier life, whilst the proletariat would have less access to healthcare, and thus be caught up in trying to keep themselves healthy rather than becoming “class conscious” and creating the worldwide worker’s revolution that Marx once dreamed

The Marx approach focuses on economic factors as the sole reason for conflict in society. He saw society divided into the Bourgeoisie, or the owners of the means of production, and the proletariat, or the workers. Tensions and conflicts occur when the resources, power, and status are unevenly distributed between these two groups, and the conflict can lead to social change. He believed the exploited people would bane together and attempt to bring about changes. The workers would develop a class consciousness and revolt demanding more changes in society, while those with the wealth, power and prestige will continue to try and promote their own interest usually at the expense of the weaker

In the book Social Inequality: Forms, Causes, and Consequences, Chapter 10 is about Contemporary Explanations of Inequality. The chapter talks more about the different sociologists views and the different theories of stratification.

Social stratification, social networks or occupation are all structural reasons for inequality. Individual’s talents, education and class can all affect inequality. Sociologists have different theories for why structural and individual occur and the reasons behind them.

Social inequalities can be described as the differences in “income, resources, power and status” (Naidoo and Wills 2008, in Warwick-Booth 2013, 2) that advantage a social class, a group or an individual over another, and thereby establish social hierarchies. It also affects inequalities in regards to gender, race, access to health and education, and general living conditions. In sociology, the dichotomy between the conflict theory approach and the functionalist approach has led to a discordant opinion in regards to social inequalities. The conflict theory seems to admit that social inequalities needs to disappear in order to install a common and equal base for all individuals, whereas the functionalist approach believes that social inequalities

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. Therefore, in a stratified society, the individual’s opportunities are always determined by his or her social class. In this essay, I will be arguing that even though mobility exists in the social class system, the opportunity to change status is relatively open for everyone but the distribution of opportunities among the members of a social class is not relatively equal to all. I will demonstrate this point by showing how participation of an individual in a specific social class will decide the opportunities in terms of attaining education and achieving a well-paid job.

Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim both displayed very differing views on the division of labour, and they each have a different proposal on how a society should be ordered. In this essay, I will be highlighting on how Marx believed in a classless society, and how Durkheim believed in structural functionalism, where a society will adjust to achieve a stable state. Furthermore, I will be relating both of their views to my home country Singapore, and why Durkheim’s theory of structural functionalism will be more applicable to the society of Singapore.

According to Edwards et al. (2006) Marx thought that within capitalism there would be an increased divide between the bourgeoisie class and the proletariat class in the future. The proletariats are lower of the two classes, the people who have to work for wages in order to survive. The bourgeoisie are the people in society who controlled and owned the means of production in a capitalist system. Marx believed this divide would happen because the workers are dependent on their wages as a means of survival where as one of the employer’s objectives is to lower wages in order to reduce costs. This clash of interests would inevitably bring on a resistance from the proletariats. “Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win” (Marx and Engels 1848) chpt, 4. As we can see from this quote that was written in the communist manifesto by Marx himself, It is clear that he believed that as a result of this oppression by the bourgeoisie the proletarians would revolt against the capitalist system and this would result in a

Zoe Wicomb’s novel, Playing in the Light (2006), is set in the 1990s in Cape Town, South Africa, post apartheid. The novel revolves around Marion, the protagonist, and her intricate relationship with Brenda, the first person of color she has ever employed at her travel agency business. This post apartheid novel offers interesting and an insightful viewpoint of South Africa following the fall of apartheid. By analyzing the passages in this novel, one will be able to better understand race in the context of South Africa.