What means a Social Class?

Introduction

Social class is the existence of hierarchies or dissimilarities in society based on a number of factors. There are two basic categories that exist when a society has been divided according to social classes. These are the subordinates and the elites. It is also common to find that the powerful use their position of influence to maintain the positions they have. It should however be noted that not all societies have class distinctions. Such kinds of societies are called cephalic societies. These kinds of societies are usually characterized by a high degree of morality and are very religious. They normally protect the seemingly weaker members of society. (Glencoe, 1951)

Examples of factors that can cause class distinctions include educational differences, occupational differences, income and wealth. In line with these distinctions, a particular society can have middle class, lower class or upper class citizens. Most of the members of specific class posses’ qualities that portray what kind of class they belong to. Some of these include; manner of dressing, language spoken, upholding reputations, tastes and sensitivities. These factors are not common to all societies as some societies may value certain qualities while others may be repelled by those same qualities.

3 major perspectives of social class

Marxist perspectives on social class

This is best explained by the Conflict theory. Karl Marx believed that there root of struggle within society is due to the fact that there are differences that arise when controlling the means of production. This meant that all the people who had strong influence in labour and production were the ones who possessed wealth and had power in society. He also believed that the wage workers had the ability to exchange this power struggle by introducing communism. Marx believed that class struggles were brought about by the existence of capitalism. (Garpike, 1967)

The conflict theory’s main idea is that there exists a constant struggle in society and every entity in society is trying to make the most of their reimbursement consequently bringing about social change. This change can come in form of revolutions or it may be political. It focuses on coercion by groups and individuals to alter or control others’ actions. The theory helps us to understand why ideologies like socialism and capitalism. There is a constant struggle within society for paybacks. This theory can be analyzed from two angles. The first angle is a radical one; society will forever be in conflict while the second angle is that conflict combines with struggle to make up society. This moderate angle is best explained by the functionalism. The latter mentioned theory postulates that every member of society has a specific role to play.

Conflict theory can best be perceived as a pyramid. Influential people are at the top and they impose their will upon less powerful people who happen to be the majority. This implies that people in power are taken to be superior and they are the ones responsible for modern day laws, institutions and traditions. This theory can be stretched to explain how morality or deviance is defined. The powerful individuals in society label deeds or actions as immoral if those actions challenge their influence and power.

Conflict theory also attempts to explain stratification in society but from an individualistic point of view. It looks at individuals needs instead of society’s needs as a whole. Every individual tries to struggle for respect, goods and services as well as power; these are all very scarce. In this light therefore, individuals belong to organizations that represent their own interests. The theory views organizations as entities that are mostly influenced by external rather than internal factors. (Goff man, 1958)

In the theory, there are a number of conflicts that fall under. These include;

• Class
• Race and ethnicity
• Gender
• Religion

Marx believed that class conflict was caused by differential ownership of property. However, this theory was later challenged by other sociologists who believed that there is more to class than property ownership. These sociologists believe that this is only one aspect. Racial conflict has its root cause in differential power. According to the theory, superior races are those one who are well endowed with power, prestige and education.

There are four basic assumptions in this theory. The first is that there is inequality in society’s structures, secondly there is revolution as a result of struggle between a numbers of social classes, thirdly there is competition for resources and lastly war exists to unify or divide society.

Conflict can take the form of a strike where workers struggle to gain back control after it has been taken from them by their employers. Another form of a conflict could be through wars. Wars usually represent clashes between social classes. Taking the case of military coups, this is an example of a conflict between the main population and the military. (Durkheim, 1915)

Weber’s perspectives on social class

This theory has its history in the late nineteenth century. It was pioneered by a sociologist from Germany called Marx Weber. The theory is best known for its subjectivity rather than its objectivity. Integrationists focus on individuals rather than on society as a whole. They perceive human beings as creatures whose behaviors are reactive or subject to the approval of others. This is because all actions, according to them, are like symbolic actions which are interpreted differently according to one’s perspective. This theory also looks at human beings as symbolic objects who can think and react to situations. This means that individuals within a society are active participants of their society. They determine what happens to them. Sociologists adhering to this theory believe that we are not passive entities who must mould themselves to society’s rules and standards.

This theory focuses on external issues and simple interactions. It cannot be used to interpret deeper social settings like capitalism. It is also quite crucial to note that this theory perceives society’s norms as transient and constantly changing. Stability and order in society is determined by negotiations. The systems themselves are not stable but the means by which these systems in society are created is stable. (Merton, 1968)

The theory therefore points one on the direction of roles played by people in society. The theory places importance in role making and role taking. This means that individuals must put themselves in a certain perspective in order to understand another person’s point of view. Studies on interactions are therefore done through active role taking. This is because they believe that one must interact thoroughly with another party in order to understand the reason why they made their decision.

However critics have claimed that the theory is too narrow and cannot be applied to macro situations. It has also been criticized for its impressionism during research methods. (George, 1964)

Functionalism

The theory was pioneered by a French sociologist called Emile Durkheim back in the mid to late nineteenth century. This theory compares the individual with his/her society and also scientific method of analyzing society. This implies that one can be able to study the social world using observation and analysis. It also assumes that studies of society can be done freely and without any bias.

Another crucial aspect of the theory is the organic aspect of society. It compares society to an organism; that there are various parts of the body that each has its own function. This is analogous to society and its members. It is also important to note the homeostatic nature of interactions. This theory looks at society as a system that must remain in equilibrium. Any deviation from this is corrected by a number of mechanisms like gossip or even imprisonment depending on the scenario. In light of the above facts, the theory explains social classes as a way in which individuals try to fulfill their role of contributing to organic nature of society.

Weber believed that social classes arise because of three major reasons i.e.

• Status
• Politics
• Class

He believed that these three factors were responsible for who was able to control the means of production. Because he believed that individuals adjusted in order to maintain equilibrium, these three factors interacted differently depending on the kind of society under consideration. (Joan, E. & Jeffrey, A. 2003)

3 examples of how social class affects individuals, groups or communities

Underdevelopment in society

Existence of social classes brings about differences in accessibility to factors that increase production implying that not all the members of a given population can fully participate in nation building activities. Consequently, power and wealth falls in the hands of the privileged few and society will not be able to achieve its full potential developmentally.

Research in many countries has shown that underdevelopment is caused and perpetuated by a set of power relations that deny life-skills, assets and resources to people of certain populations thus depriving them of their basic needs and leading to violation of their rights especially the rights of inequity and injustice particularly in the distribution and access to the resources. Generally a country such as the UK can claim that it has been able to distribute national resources equitably among all its citizens but it has not been able to eliminate poverty. In order to address the issue of poverty and income inequality, then much of the concentrations should be directed on development.

It is a quite common to find that most underdeveloped countries are characterized by inequality in wealth through existence of social classes. Such societies have most of their country’s economy being controlled by a handful of individuals. This is the reason why those societies/countries are underdeveloped.

Another aspect that brings underdevelopment when social inequalities exist is the fact that increases in incomes are usually among the elites rather than all members of society.

Source; Richard, A. (2001): Resource Abundance and Economic Development. Oxford- Oxford University Press

Political influences

Existence of social classes brings about discrepancies in power/political sharing. This is normally achieved through lobbying and political influence of people by those who are economically empowered

Corporations have been known to participate in political processes through the monetary contributions which they have made.

A research done by the Institute for Policy Studies in the year 2000 showed that there are about eighty two companies that made contributions in the United States during their last election. The sum total of money contributed by these corporations was about thirty three million dollars. This was the largest contribution made by any entity in the election. Compared to the next highest contributor in the elections; Labour Unions, Corporations exceeded the first runners up by a ratio of fifteen to one. This is a large determinant on who governs the country. The shape of politics in most economies favors candidates who are financially stable. This is because they will have the ability to do campaigns, advertisements and other activities related to their election pledge. This was supported by the fact that research done by this same company showed that senators and other representatives who secured contributions from corporations qualified to parliament. It was found that ninety four percent of those individuals were elected.

In light of the latter mentioned facts, corporations can impose a ruler who they want by contributing to their campaigns thus demeaning the definition of democracy. (Anderson, 2000) This can bring about social unfairness. Social stratification denies rightful leaders access to governing the country or a community if they do not have the right economic and social clout. It may also bring social unrest because the economically disadvantage will feel like their rights are not being respected, they may also get severely disgruntled.

Access to social facilities

Social stratification affects the way people can gain access to social amenities and resources. This feature is quite predominant in developing countries. This does not meant that there are no such cases in developed countries.

It is a common phenomenon to find that most people living in low income regions of a country have very few public amenities. In such communities, it may take individual hours to gain access to the nearest health facility. Areas where low income earners live do not have proper legal systems in place or if laws have been instituted, it may be common to find that laws are not implemented in these areas. Such people are isolated and left to protect themselves against bandits or any other type of criminals. Hospitals or health centers in such areas are characterized by poor equipment and low number of staff. Infrastructure is another issue that receives neglect when social stratification is deeply rooted within any given society. It is common to find that roads have deteriorated in areas where poor people live and other public amenities are normally in dilapidating conditions. (Lecaillon, 1984)

The opposite occurs when one examines areas in which the elite live. They have well equipped hospitals with adequate staff, they also have proper roads. The law applies in such communities in that police and other legal implementers are fast on their feet. Criminal activity is very low in such areas and most amenities can be found there. Because public facilities are supposed to benefit all members of a population, the less privileged in society are sidelined and denied their constitutional rights. This undermines their quality of life and makes their standard of living low unfairly.

How the government classifies people according to occupation

There government uses a hierarchical model to classify members of the United Kingdom society. This has its roots in the twentieth Century. The first time the government attempted to classify society according to social classes was in the year 1913; here the government released the Registrar Generals social classes. This has continued since and occupations are classified according to their status in the social realm or economic realm. About six years ago, the government began introducing a number of issues that affect how people are ranked in society. One such issue is labour conditions, others are security and income.

The first category or the highest social distinction is the one composed of managerial occupations and employers that employ a large number of employees under their wings. The second category consists of posts belonging to managers who are lower in rank. These are people who do not employ a large number of personnel under their wing. The third category is composed of occupations that are intermediate in nature. This is closely followed by accounts workers who work independently and employers who deal with a small number of people. Then there occupations that are technical in nature. Some of these include laboratory work and mechanical staff. In this latter category, there are also occupations that are supervisory in nature. The sixth rank comprises of occupations that are semi routine. Such kind of occupations is normally characterized by some elements of creativity but this may not be a common occurrence at all times because these occupations only allow a minimal level. This occupation is followed closely by the routine occupations which is the second lowest rank in all occupations in the country. The last category that exists is composed of those who have never worked before or those that are employed on a long term basis. (Merton, 1968)

It should be noted that are other elements that affect what kind of social class a person belongs to other than occupations. This is the major defect with this kind of model because there are many other factors that determine one’s social status. These other schemes will be examined in detail in the subsequent section.

Other aspects that can be considered are like the Labor model. In this model, there are various factors that are considered in classification other than occupation. These are

• Education
• Residence
• Occupation

This model uses a number of people of people who are evenly distributed so that chances of incurring an error are minimized. Members of society are classified either as upper class, working class, lower class and lower middle class.

Conclusion

Societies are mostly divided along social lines. Theories have been brought forward to try and explain why these socials classes exist. Marx believed that conflict is the main reason why society has class distinctions. These conflicts arose as a result of differences that existed in acquisition of wealth. This theory was criticized for placing too much emphasis on wealth yet there were other factors that could cause social differences. Weber believed that individuals behave the way they do because they are trying to survive in society. Functionalists believe that individuals basically act to fulfill their role in society. Critics have claimed that this theory is not macroscopic. (Parsons, 1951)

Existence of social classes brings about some negative effects. It has caused underdevelopment because of inequality, it has also diminished democracy because the elite influence who gains positions of leadership. Lastly, it has influenced how people access social and public amenities.

The government has used occupation to place people in social classes. This system may be criticized for being one dimensional and other models should be considered. One of the models that are all encompassing is the Labor model. This means that it is possible to have class distinctions based on other factors like education and residence.