Compare and Contrast Marx and Weber's view on Stratification

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200301327

Sociology Essay for Nisrine Mansour

Compare and Contrast Marx and Weber’s view on Stratification

The grouping of people together according to their status within society in relation to the groups they belong to is as old as society itself. Social stratification has been the starting point of many arguments about how and why societies are divided. Sociologists speak of social stratification to describe inequalities that exist between individuals and groups within human societies. Often stratification is thought of in terms of assets and property, but it can occur on the basis of other attributes, such as gender, age or religious affiliation.

Karl Marx and Max Weber are two of the most important writers of their times. Their work laid the foundations for many contemporary writers today. In the field of social stratification, there are both similarities and differences in their work. Marx believed that in all stratified societies there are two major social groups: a ruling class and a subject class. Furthermore he states that the principle difference between these groups is the ownership and control of the means of production, which causes a conflict of interest between the two classes. Weber did not disagree with this viewpoint but saw important differences in the market situation of the property less groups in society and he believed that there exists a more complex interaction of factors when it comes to determining social stratification than Marx claimed.

For Marx, systems of stratification derive from the interaction of social groups to the means of production. Marx used the term ‘class’ to refer to the main strata in all stratification systems. He believed a class is a social group whose members share the same relationship to that means of production.

In a feudal epoch, there are two main classes distinguished by their relationship to the land, which is the central part of the means of production in an agricultural society. They are the feudal nobility who own the land, and the land serfs who work the land. Similarly, in a capitalist era, there are two main classes: the bourgeoisie who own the means of production, and the proletariat whose members own only their labour which they hire to the bourgeoisie in return for wages.

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Marx made a clear distinction between a ‘class in itself’ and a ‘class for itself’. A class in itself is simply a social group whose members share the same relationship to the means of production. Marx argued that a social group only becomes a class when it becomes a class for itself. At this juncture, its members have class consciousness (full awareness of the true situation) and class solidarity. Members of a class will develop a common identity, recognise their shared interests and unite, so creating class solidarity they may then come to the realisation that only with collective action ...

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