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A social class is a group of people that have similar social and economic status.

The most common class division in historical societies has either been bi-partite or tri-partite: a large class of people who labour and produce controlled by either: one ruling class; or, one ruling class with the assistance of a middling class. An example of this situation is that medieval European countries often had an aristocracy or nobility, a peasantry and a gradually developing urban middle class.

With the social changes stemming from the Industrial Revolution, three strata developed in most Western countries:

an Upper Class of the immensely wealthy and/or powerful
a Middle Class of managers and extremely highly paid professionals
a Lower Class of people paid relatively normal wages

The composition and characteristics of the Lower Class, especially in the United States, is highly controversial; some writers eschew the term Lower Class in favor of the term Working Class.

Marxist usage of class

In Marxist terms a class is a group of people with a specific relationship to the means of production (social production). Marxists explain history in terms of a war of classes between those who control social production and those who produce social goods. In the Marxist view of capitalism this is a conflict between capitalists (bourgeoisie) and workers (proletariat). For Marxists classes are antagonistically opposed to one another. This antagonism is rooted in the situation that control over social production is necessarily control over the class which produces social goods.

The most important transformation of society for Marxists has been the massive and rapid growth of the proletariat in the last two hundred and fifty years. Starting with agricultural and domestic textile labourers in England, more and more occupations only provide a living through wages or salaries. Private enterprise or self-employment in a variety of occupations is no longer viable, and so people who once controlled their own labour are converted into proletarians. Today groups which in the past subsisted on stipends or private wealth--like Doctors, Academics or Lawyers--are now increasingly working as wage labourers. Marxists call this process proletarianisation, and point to it as the major factor in the proletariat being the largest class in current societies.

Usage of class following Max Weber

When sociologists speak of "class" they usually mean economically based classes in modern or near pre-modern society. Modern usage of the word "class" outside of Marxism generally considers only the relative wealth of individuals or social groups, and not the ownership of the means of production.

The sociologist Max Weber formulated a three-component theory of stratification, with class, status and party (or politics) as conceptually distinct elements.

Class is based on relationship to the market (owner, rentier, employee etc.)
Status has to do with honour and prestige
Party refers to factors having to do with affiliations in the political domain.

All three dimensions have consequences for what Weber called "life chances".

Class can be used to describe the stratification of a society. This leads to schemes like the following, relating class to income:

Upper class
Middle class
Lower class

Modern western societies tend to generate a large middle class in the Weberian meaning. Often, class schemes are extend to include sub-classes like "Upper middle class" and "Lower middle class".

Newer sociological theory often sees class as category that isn't very helpful for describing societies. Other approaches include using strata instead of classes, changing the view from objective -- income-based -- classes to subjective classes, having a look at lifestyle based milieux or discussing different kinds of capital (Bourdieu).

Relevance of Class

At various times the division of society into classes has had various levels of support in law. At one extreme we find old Indian classes - castes, which one could neither enter after birth, nor leave (Though this applied only in relatively recent history.) On the other extreme there exist classes in modern Western societies which appear very fluid and have little support in law. The extent to which classes are important differs also in western societies, e.g. between Great Britain and Scandinavia.

The concept of "caste" differs from that of "class", and refers to rigid status groupings, the membership of which is usually inherited. Particular caste groups include:

the Burakumin of Japan
the Dalits ("untouchables") of India

@@ Line 48: / Line 48: @@
 * the [[Burakumin]] of [[Japan]]
 * the ''[[Dalits]]'' ("untouchables") of [[India]]
-== Class in the United States, c. 2004 ==
-The present-day [[United States]] has no legally-recognized social classes. In fact, titles of nobility, the most common "official" recognition of class status, are banned by the [[U.S. Constitution]].
-The absence of officially-recognized classes may reflect the desire of this society to become a [[market]]-oriented [[meritocracy]], as the United States has traditional values of hard work, entrepeneurism, and individualism.
-In practice, however, there are ''de facto'' social classes in the United States, normally based upon [[wealth]], influence, occupation, and social and economic access. Some sociologists divide the society only two social classes; others, as many as nine. Most often, American society is depicted as containing five social classes, which are:
-* An entrenched ''upper class''. Extreme wealth or good fortune can bring an individual into this class, but this is rare. These individuals have access that is clearly, and noticeably, outside the reach of the average American. They sustain themselves, and secure continued advantage, through social connections and networking rather than hard work. On the job market, they often use their connections to secure coveted and prestigious occupational positions with salaries in excess of $500,000 per year. However, it is also possible for a person to be upper-class without being exceedingly wealthy. In America, this class is highly aware of its position of privilege, and also very defensive thereof. Since the [[1980s]], individuals within this class have used [[downsizing]] of middle-management and information-technology sectors as a pre-emptive measure against an ambitious [[middle class]] that has always outnumbered, and now threatens to outskill, them.
-* A largely [[professional]] ''upper-middle class''. Individuals within this class rarely have the social advantages or posh corporate positions lavished upon the upper-class, but normally have access to the best [[education]] and occupational training in American society. Individuals within this class typically make between $40,000 and $500,000 per year, but there is much variation. For example, a home-maker married to a doctor, a student at a high-ranking college or professional school, or an assistant professor making $35,000 per year would be considered upper-middle class, despite their comparatively low salaries. Additionally, since class has as much to do with occupational prestige as salary, some might argue a truck-driver making $60,000 only to be "middle-middle" class.
-* A "''middle-middle''" class that has been rapidly disappearing from American society. [[Downsizing]] and [[offshoring]] have eliminated many of the skilled [[union | unionized]] jobs that provide membership within this class. As a result, many individuals within this group have drifted either into more skilled work, in the professional sectors (upper-middle class) or they have moved downward into the service sectors (lower-middle class).
-* A ''lower-middle class'', or "working poor". Largely working in unskilled service jobs, individuals within this social class often face varying hours, unpleasant occupational environments, and impersonal supervisors. Short of [[education]], they have no mobility. By world standards, these individuals are materially privileged. Nonetheless, they are positionally underprivileged. Due to America's high costs of living, they are often trapped in debt and consigned to work in menial, secondary wage labor.
-* A ''lower class'' of often [[poverty | impoverished]] and desperate individuals. [[Crime]] and [[hunger]] are daily threats for them, and [[illiteracy]], [[homelessness]] (most U.S. job applications require that the applicant provide a home address) and, in some cases, previous criminal records ensure that their chances of securing work remain low. These individuals are the most marginalized within American society.
-Class delineations are somewhat artificial, and whether or not the divisions within the middle class (upper-middle to lower-middle) exist is a matter of debate. "Upper-middle" class individuals lead dramatically different economic lives from "lower-middle" class individuals, but whether or not these groups are separate ''as classes'' is in question.
-"Class" involves sociological barriers that are almost impossible to cross. Indeed, in America, it is rare that a person born into the lower class escapes it, and it is highly unlikely that a person outside of it will enter into the upper-class. By contrast, it is much easier for a person born into the lower-middle class to end up-- through merit, hard work, or luck-- in the upper-middle class.
-The exact definitions and delineations of class are up for debate, but most class metrics for the United States involve a person's relationship to 1> the labor market, and 2> the profits of established businesses.
-The lower-class is ''under-invested''. If correlations between native intelligence and class exist at all, they have been shown to be weak at best. (see: [[George W. Bush]]) For most individuals within the lower class, their talents and capacities are overlooked or ignored, and therefore rarely develop to their full potential. Poor family and educational environments exacerbate this, placing these individuals at emotional and academic disadvantages from which some never recover. These individuals frequently work in part-time or secondary labor, and face extreme difficulty in attaining a stable, well-paying job.
-The middle classes, excluding self-employed individuals or partners in small businesses, are ''under-valued''. The compensation they recieve for their work may be anywhere between meager and generous. Invariantly, however, their compensation fails to match the worth of their labor to the enterprise for which they work. This is because their compensation and occupational conditions are not calibrated according to their ''contributions'' to the enterprise, but rather according to the ''market-value'' of their [[human capital]], or skills and knowledge. In general, the market-value of an individual's labor is usually significantly less than the productive worth of said labor to the respective enterprise.
-The upper classes are ''over-valued''. Their compensation exceeds, often by more than an [[order of magnitude]], what would be the market-value of their work were their privileged occupational positions opened to middle-class individuals, some of whom, by all accounts, would be competent to manage them. Through social connections and "sweetheart" deals (see: [[Halliburton]]) these individuals often secure positions of considerable compensation and influence that are rarely open to the general public. They benefit from salaries that some consider excessive, as well as the discrepancy between lower-level workers' productive worth and their market-value-based compensation, known as ''profit''.
 == See also ==

Revision as of 22:13, 7 March 2004

Marxist usage of class

Usage of class following Max Weber

Relevance of Class

See also

Further reading