He believed that all societies are basically exploited and oppressed by one group to another because of the conflicts of interest and so couldn’t survive forever. E.g.:-
Employers > Employees and Lords > Serfs
He believed only labour produces wealth and in the capitalist society this wealth is created by the working class, but the owners of the means of production take most of this wealth and pay the workers wages far below the actual value that they create. Marx believed that the capitalist society couldn’t sustain the conflict of many workers making individuals wealthy and that the economy couldn’t withstand it. He believed that the forces of production and means of production would become collectively owned and that this would mark a new era in history as the contradictions of dominance and exploitation of the poor by the rich that has brought change throughout history would end, simply because the wealth would be evenly distributed.
Weber on the other hand believed that people were put into order of patterns of inferior and superior ranks. These ranks are formed from the struggle for economic resources as well as prestige and political power. He believed that people should compete to gain advantage of these resources and that each class is defined by the resources or rewards that they receive. He believes that the ‘market value’ of an individuals skills are the most important thing in which class someone belongs, and that high demand job’s receive the benefits of high salaries and rewards. However Marx believed it was purely down to who owned the means of production and who didn’t.
Weber saw capitalism as making people richer and more prosperous due to the expanse of capitalist enterprises and the increase in demand of administration workers there became more ‘white collar’ or middle class. Marx however saw the polarization of the workers, as large companies expanded taking over small businesses and companies, which brought more white collar workers and less and less owners but more and more workers.
Weber unlike Marx didn’t believe in ‘collective class’ and saw no reason as why working class would attempt to organise each other and try to other throw capitalism so they could be a collective class and share the wealth. He did acknowledge it as a possibility as the ‘common market’ formed by the expanse of the capitalist enterprises would make it easier for working class to form groups, but saw it as nothing more than a possibility.
Unlike Marx who thought political power should lie with economic power e.g. as the vast majority of society was working class they formed the economic power and therefore should have the political power as well, Marx saw it as unfair and unjust that the minority of wealthy classes had the majority of political power. Weber though that class is the only basis for power, as he saw the higher classes as being superior and far more intellectual, therefore deserving of the power.
Weber also had another view about how people formed groups which was much more in-depth than Marx’s theory. Weber believed that class was not the only way that society formed groups he believed that ‘status’ formed a large part of the group/groups people believed they belonged to. He saw that there can be many different social statuses in the same class, he saw class as being purely how much money you earn or property you own. Status separated these classes into lifestyles, occupations and religion. People of high status had high degrees of prestige or esteem.
In general he believed that your behaviour reflected your respectability and ‘worth’ judged by other members of society. Examples of this are the ‘newly rich’, people who have recently and often suddenly acquired vast sums of money or assets. These people are often seen as vulgar and having bad manners and so are not awarded a high status in society however Marx’s theory they would be seen as upper class. The status theory can also be seen in other areas of society where people form groups striving for a common goal such as gay pride marches, animal activists and feminist movements all these groups of people come from different backgrounds and classes, Weber saw some of these groups as ‘parties’ of people, not necessarily coming from the same status or class but having a common objective of raising awareness gaining power or membership of their cause for example trade unions, political parties and even the RSPCA.
Also Weber believed that there were different status’s within classes, for example within the working class there can be ‘rough working class’ ‘ordinary working class’ and ‘respectable working class’ Whilst they are all working class they don’t feel they are one group together.
Weber’s theory on status whilst offering more freedom and flexibility than Marx’s theory can also be very restricting. People are very aware of their status and don’t tend to mix with people of other status’s even if they are of the same class, examples of this are people of different races and religions, people who went to public schools mixing only with other public school families and reserving jobs only for people who also attended public school, an extreme example of status being restrictive is the Caste system in India. To a degree this contradicts Weber’s theory of ‘rewards’ being handed to the ‘superior’ as there are other factors involved.
In conclusion Weber seems to break down the barriers of class making people less ‘class conscious’ and weakening class solidarity. Because he sees people grouping themselves by their status it makes it less important. Whilst doing this he is still continuing the progression of the capitalist way of life. He seeked to bring people together by their attitudes, beliefs and values. Marx believed that being a member of a certain community defined by your wealth is what determines people’s values and beliefs, he strived for social equality believing that class is the only element that forms social groups but his views can be seen as naïve and basic. Weber sees people as being in control of their ‘destiny’ and ‘rewards’ not confined to the class they were born into. He believes society has a much more complex and diverse social structure than Marx’s and believes the rewards should only be handed out to people who prove themselves to be superior and not given to groups just because they are the majority.
