Social class

The most common class division has either been bi-partite or tri-partite: a ruling class or "nobility" as the Upper Class and one or two lower strata. Ancient England and other European countries had a nobility and a peasantry, but gradually a Middle Class arose.

With the material prosperity stemming from the Industrial Revolution, most Western countries settled into three strata:

• an Upper Class of the immensely wealthy and/or powerful
• a Middle Class of professional and other workers
• a Lower Class

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). Classes are seen as antagonist.

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" 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. 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

See also

• proletariat, bourgeoisie, working class, middle class, intelligentsia
• politics, sociology
• Class warfare

For other meanings of the word class, see Class.

Further reading

• Consumer's Republic, Lizabeth Cohen, Knopf, 2003, hardcover, 576 pages, ISBN 0375407502 (An analysis of the working out of class in the United States)

Referenced By