Karl marx and max weber social stratification. Comparison of Marx’s view of Social Stratification with that of Weber 2022-10-31
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Karl Marx and Max Weber are two of the most influential sociologists in history. They both developed theories about social stratification, or the ways in which societies divide people into different social classes based on their wealth, power, and status.
Marx's theory of social stratification is centered on the concept of class struggle. He believed that society was divided into two main classes: the bourgeoisie, or the owners of the means of production, and the proletariat, or the working class. According to Marx, the bourgeoisie exploited the proletariat, using their labor to produce goods and earn profits while paying them only a fraction of the value they produced. This exploitation, Marx believed, was the root cause of social conflict and inequality.
Weber, on the other hand, saw social stratification as a result of a more complex set of factors, including not only class, but also power, prestige, and lifestyle. He believed that societies were divided into three main classes: the upper class, the middle class, and the lower class. These classes were not determined solely by one's economic position, but also by one's education, occupation, and social status.
While Marx and Weber had different approaches to understanding social stratification, they both recognized that it was a central feature of modern societies. They also both believed that social stratification was a source of conflict and inequality, and that it could have far-reaching consequences for individuals and society as a whole.
Today, the theories of Marx and Weber continue to be relevant and influential in the field of sociology, and their ideas about social stratification continue to shape our understanding of the ways in which societies are structured and how inequality is maintained and perpetuated.
Karl Marx &Amp; Max Weber On Social Stratification Definition Essay Example
Those, persons found to belong to the same academic status are expected to observe behaviors and attitudes characteristic of this group. There are also subdivisions with a class, usually subdivided by occupation. Such simpler societies did have social differentiation, but were without the institution of social stratification. The proletariats, who are the lowest stratum of our present society, cannot raise themselves up. Religion and the Masses According to Marx, society was seen as two classes: the rich and the poor. If people are ready to pay for access to prestige, then the source of prestige can lead to wealth.
Sociology Club : Must Know Karl Marx Theories on Social Stratification
Karl Marx and F. The advent of globalization, or the birth of the network society? Some societies will shout that they are classless whilst others will construct a whole culture around the divisions within. Concretely, this should be seen as traditional democracy, which is in complete contrast with modern from legal order and politics. Therefore, the society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great classes directly facing each other, i. Those in the upper class are deemed to be the very wealthy and powerful, while those from the lower class are the poor and the weak.
Therefore, as the bourgeoisie grew richer, the proletariats would develop a sense of shared identity considering their similar experience of exploitation. A prime example is the ongoing wage gap between white men and women of all races or ethnicities. This is understood by its meaning. This has focused particularly on the rise of white-collar management. He opines that religion does not serve the workers but intentionally help the capitalist to spread the ideology of the ruling class.
Marx, Weber, and Bourdieu on Societal Stratification
But those who are born in a wealthy or powerful family, knows just where they stand in the hierarchy system — and that is similar to that of their parents. Despite the fact that many work even harder to achieve more economic reward, many cannot move up the social ladder. It was entirely invalid to claim, as Marx had done, that differences in social status and political power derived almost entirely from differences in social class position. Social stratification is already an intrinsic structure of any society, and if it has its benefits and function in a society, which some scholars believe, that is reward and merit for productivity. For Marx, classes do not emerge automatically but rather though a gradual process involving struggle. In this case, the middle class are the most predisposed as it is only an intermediary class.
(PDF) Social Stratification According to Marx and Weber: Comparison of the Theories and Modern Relevance
Thus, in this observation, social space constructs different kinds of capital that become sources of power to defend or change such power. In which Karl Marx has more conflict perspective to study society. The proletarian is without property and his relation to his wife and children has no longer anything in common with the bourgeois family relations. Due to lack of education and skills, their opportunities are simply limited McGregor, 1997, p. For Karl Marx, class reflect the fundamental division of labour not simply possession of wealth. This was necessary as the ruling classes bourgeoisie suppressed autonomy of ideas, culture, religion and polity.
CRITICISM OF MARXIAN SOCIAL STRATIFICATION Commenting on the theory of Marx, T. Marx did not reject that there are other strata that do have an effect on society, only that its effect is not an important one that is required to be understood. Here are the ones that everyone should know: Marx believed that human labour is a form of expressing your purpose in society. Learn More Bourdieu organizes the society into social space and symbolic space. Marx believes that this is bad for the workers because as time passes, the workers will lose their skills because the workers are using machines to build rather than their own two hands.
(DOC) SOCIAL STRATIFICATION: A COMPARISON BETWEEN MARX AND WEBER
Despite the fact that many work even harder to achieve more economic reward, many cannot move up the social ladder. Remember that people are also rewarded with social honor and this is known as social status. The mixing of these individuals will lobby for the prestigious attention accorded to the propertied class. In contrast, Weber focuses on the political and generalises it to the economic. Weber, however, saw rationalisation and bureaucratisation as the key features of capitalism and believed that the capitalist free market provided the best economic mechanism for the achievement of economic growth and rising living standards for all. According to Max, there will be more than two classes.
Difference Between Karl Marx and Max Weber: Ideologies
While economic class forms one possible basis for group formation, collective action and the acquisition of political power, Weber argues that there are other bases for these activities. People are distributed among different classes, so are status groups based on distribution of honour which is identified in terms of a range of symbols in a given society. However, the way of organisation of people in socioeconomic strata is not yet determined from the single point of view. But since people now work for capitalist employers, and thus capitalism, people no longer have this sense because they are now working for money rather than their individual transformation and growth. Marx is also criticised for exaggerating the importance of class and particuÂlarly class conflict. In the contrary, it has established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones.
Compare and Contrast the Key Ideas of Marx and Weber
This four-volume collection, a new title in the Routledge Critical Concepts in Sociology series, brings together both canonical and the best cutting-edge research to document the intellectual origins and development of what remains a key framework within which contemporary work in the social sciences in general, and sociology in particular, proceeds. In his analysis of status groups Weber took examples mainly from precapitalist societies such as the Knights of European Feudalism, the Chinese Mandarins, and the Japanese Samurai although he did also refer to the high social status of the UK aristocracy in the early C20th. Marx believed that because of the conflict between laborers and employers, society is divided into two classes of people: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Rationalisation and bureaucratisation in both the private and public sectors would promote overall efficiency but Weber also recognised that this would come at a significant cost. He argues that neither of the views is to be left to explain social sciences.
