Social class: the story on HearLore

Social class

In the ancient world, a man of humble origins could ascend to a high post, defying the rigid hierarchies that would later define modern class systems. This fluidity existed in Ancient Egypt, where the position of the elite was characterized by literacy and the wealthier people sat at the top of the social order while common people and slaves occupied the bottom. Yet, the ancient Egyptians viewed men and women, including people from all social classes, as essentially equal under the law. Even the lowliest peasant was entitled to petition the vizier and his court for redress, a legal right that suggests a level of social mobility rarely seen in later centuries. Farmers made up the bulk of the population, but agricultural produce was owned directly by the state, temple, or noble family that owned the land. These farmers were subject to a labor tax and were required to work on irrigation or construction projects in a corvée system, a form of forced labor that bound them to the state's projects. Artists and craftsmen held a higher status than farmers, yet they were also under state control, working in the shops attached to the temples and paid directly from the state treasury. Scribes and officials formed the upper class in ancient Egypt, known as the white kilt class in reference to the bleached linen garments that served as a mark of their rank. The upper class prominently displayed their social status in art and literature, creating a visual language of power that distinguished them from the rest of society. Below the nobility were the priests, physicians, and engineers with specialized training in their field. It is unclear whether slavery as understood today existed in ancient Egypt, as there is a difference of opinions among authors. Although slaves were mostly used as indentured servants, they were able to buy and sell their servitude, work their way to freedom or nobility, and were usually treated by doctors in the workplace. This early form of social stratification set the stage for the evolution of class systems, where the definition of class would shift from hereditary status to economic power.

Marx And The Means Of Production

Karl Marx defined class by one's relationship to the means of production, a concept that fundamentally altered how sociologists and political scientists understood social hierarchy. His understanding of classes in modern capitalist society is that the proletariat work but do not own the means of production, and the bourgeoisie, those who invest and live off the surplus generated by the proletariat's operation of the means of production, do not work at all. This contrasts with the view of the sociologist Max Weber, who contrasted class as determined by economic position, with social status which is determined by social prestige rather than simply just relations of production. For Marx, class is a combination of objective and subjective factors. Objectively, a class shares a common relationship to the means of production. The class society itself is understood as the aggregated phenomenon to the interlinked movement, which generates the quasi-objective concept of capital. Subjectively, the members will necessarily have some perception of their similarity and common interest. Class consciousness is not simply an awareness of one's own class interest but is also a set of shared views regarding how society should be organized legally, culturally, socially and politically. These class relations are reproduced through time. In the Communist Manifesto, Marx himself argued that it was the goal of the proletariat itself to displace the capitalist system with socialism, changing the social relationships underpinning the class system and then developing into a future communist society in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all. This would mark the beginning of a classless society in which human needs rather than profit would be motive for production. In a society with democratic control and production for use, there would be no class, no state and no need for financial and banking institutions and money. Marx makes the argument that, as the bourgeoisie reach a point of wealth accumulation, they hold enough power as the dominant class to shape political institutions and society according to their own interests. Marx then goes on to claim that the non-elite class, owing to their large numbers, have the power to overthrow the elite and create an equal society. These theorists have taken this binary class system and expanded it to include contradictory class locations, the idea that a person can be employed in many different class locations that fall between the two classes of proletariat and bourgeoisie. Erik Olin Wright stated that class definitions are more diverse and elaborate through identifying with multiple classes, having familial ties with people in different a class, or having a temporary leadership role.

Common questions

What defined social class in ancient Egypt?

Social class in ancient Egypt was defined by literacy, wealth, and state control. The elite class, known as the white kilt class, consisted of scribes and officials who wore bleached linen garments, while farmers and slaves occupied the bottom of the social order. Even the lowliest peasant had the legal right to petition the vizier for redress, suggesting a level of social mobility rarely seen in later centuries.

How did Karl Marx define social class?

Karl Marx defined social class by one's relationship to the means of production. He argued that the proletariat work but do not own the means of production, while the bourgeoisie invest and live off the surplus generated by the proletariat's operation of the means of production. Marx believed class is a combination of objective factors regarding production and subjective factors regarding class consciousness.

What is Max Weber's three-component theory of stratification?

Max Weber formulated a three-component theory of stratification that saw social class as emerging from an interplay between class, status, and power. He believed class position was determined by a person's relationship to the means of production, status emerged from estimations of honor or prestige, and power was a person's ability to get their way despite the resistance of others. Weber noted that political power was not rooted in capital value solely, but also in one's status.

When did the term class begin to replace estates and rank?

In the late 18th century, the term class began to replace classifications such as estates, rank, and orders as the primary means of organizing society into hierarchical divisions. This shift corresponded to a general decrease in significance ascribed to hereditary characteristics and an increase in the significance of wealth and income as indicators of position in the social hierarchy. Class society or class-based society is an organizing principle society in which ownership of property, means of production, and wealth is the determining factor of the distribution of power.

How does social class affect educational opportunities and health outcomes?

A person's social class has a significant effect on their educational opportunities and physical health. Upper-class parents can send their children to exclusive schools that are perceived to be better, while lower-class people experience a wide array of health problems as a result of their economic status. Statistics support this assertion and results are found in life expectancy and overall health, such as the 18-year difference in life expectancy between the poor and less-well-educated inhabitants of Stockholm suburbs and the highly educated and more affluent inhabitants living near Danderyd.

Weber Status And The Pariah Group

Max Weber formulated a three-component theory of stratification that saw social class as emerging from an interplay between class, status and power. Weber believed that class position was determined by a person's relationship to the means of production, while status or Stand emerged from estimations of honor or prestige. Weber views class as a group of people who have common goals and opportunities that are available to them. This means that what separates each class from each other is their value in the marketplace through their own goods and services. This creates a divide between the classes through the assets that they have such as property and expertise. Weber developed many of his key concepts on social stratification by examining the social structures of various countries. He noted that, contrary to Marx's theories, stratification was based on more than just ownership of capital. Weber pointed out that some members of the aristocracy lacked economic wealth yet still possessed political power. Similarly, in Europe, many wealthy Jewish families lacked prestige and honor because they were considered part of a pariah group. Class is a person's economic position in a society. Weber differs from Marx in that he does not see this as the supreme factor in stratification. Weber noted how managers of corporations or industries control firms they do not own. Status is a person's prestige, social honour or popularity in a society. Weber noted that political power was not rooted in capital value solely, but also in one's status. Poets and saints, for example, can possess immense influence on society with often little economic worth. Power is a person's ability to get their way despite the resistance of others. For example, individuals in state jobs, such as an employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or a member of the United States Congress, may hold little property or status, but they still hold immense power. This tripartite model allowed for a more nuanced understanding of social hierarchy, acknowledging that economic wealth was not the only determinant of one's place in society. The interplay between these three factors created a complex web of social relations that could not be reduced to simple economic categories. Weber's insights remain crucial for understanding how social stratification operates in modern societies, where economic power, social prestige, and political influence often diverge.

The Bourgeoisie And The Proletariat

In the late 18th century, the term class began to replace classifications such as estates, rank and orders as the primary means of organizing society into hierarchical divisions. This corresponded to a general decrease in significance ascribed to hereditary characteristics and increase in the significance of wealth and income as indicators of position in the social hierarchy. The existence of social classes is considered normal in many societies, both historic and modern, to varying degrees. In class societies, class conflict has tended to recur or is ongoing, depending on the sociological and anthropolitical perspective. Class societies have not always existed; there have been widely different types of class communities. For example, societies based on age rather than capital. During colonialism, social relations were dismantled by force, which gave rise to societies based on the social categories of waged labor, private property, and capital. Class society or class-based society is an organizing principle society in which ownership of property, means of production, and wealth is the determining factor of the distribution of power, in which those with more property and wealth are stratified higher in the society and those without access to the means of production and without wealth are stratified lower in the society. In a class society, at least implicitly, people are divided into distinct social strata, commonly referred to as social classes or castes. The nature of class society is a matter of sociological research. Class societies exist all over the globe in both industrialized and developing nations. Class stratification is theorized to come directly from capitalism. In terms of public opinion, nine out of ten people in a Swedish survey considered it correct that they are living in a class society. The upper class is the social class composed of those who are rich, well-born, powerful, or a combination of those. They usually wield the greatest political power. In some countries, wealth alone is sufficient to allow entry into the upper class. In others, only people who are born or marry into certain aristocratic bloodlines are considered members of the upper class and those who gain great wealth through commercial activity are looked down upon by the aristocracy as nouveau riche. In the United Kingdom, for example, the upper classes consist of the aristocracy and royalty, with wealth playing a less important role in class status. Many aristocratic peerages or titles come with seats attached to them, where the titleholder and their family act as custodians of the house but are not the owners. Maintaining these estates often requires significant expenditures, so wealth is typically necessary. Many aristocratic peerages and their homes are part of larger estates, owned and managed by the titleholder, with income generated from the land, rents, or other sources of wealth. However, in the United States where there is no aristocracy or royalty, the upper class status exclusive of Americans of ancestral wealth or patricians of European ancestry is referred to in the media as the extremely wealthy, the so-called super-rich, though there is some tendency even in the United States for those with old family wealth to look down on those who have accrued their money through business, the struggle between new money and old money. The upper class is generally contained within the richest one or two percent of the population. Members of the upper class are often born into it and are distinguished by immense wealth which is passed from generation to generation in the form of estates. Based on some new social and political theories, the upper class consists of the most wealthy decile group in society, holding nearly 87% of the whole society's wealth.

The Middle Class And The Glass Floor

The middle class is the group of people with jobs that pay significantly more than the poverty line. Examples of these types of jobs are factory workers, salespeople, teachers, cooks and nurses. There is a new trend by some scholars which assumes that the size of the middle class in every society is the same. For example, in paradox of interest theory, the middle class are those who are in 6th to 9th decile groups, holding nearly 12% of the whole society's wealth. The middle class is the most contested of the three categories, the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the lower and upper classes. One example of the contest of this term is that in the United States middle class is applied very broadly and includes people who would elsewhere be considered working class. Middle-class workers are sometimes called white-collar workers. Theorists such as Ralf Dahrendorf have noted the tendency toward an enlarged middle class in modern Western societies, particularly in relation to the necessity of an educated work force in technological economies. Perspectives concerning globalization and neocolonialism, such as dependency theory, suggest this is due to the shift of low-level labour to developing nations and the Third World. The lower class occasionally described as the working class are those employed in low-paying wage jobs with very little economic security. The term lower class also refers to persons with low income. The working class is sometimes separated into those who are employed but lacking financial security the working poor and an underclass those who are long-term unemployed and or homeless, especially those receiving welfare from the state. The latter is today considered analogous to the Marxist term lumpenproletariat. However, during the time of Marx's writing the lumpenproletariat referred to those in dire poverty such as the homeless. Members of the working class are sometimes called blue-collar workers. In the UK, a 2015 government study by the Social Mobility Commission suggested the existence of a glass floor in British society preventing those who are less able, but who come from wealthier backgrounds, from slipping down the social ladder. The report proposed a 35% greater likelihood of less able, better-off children becoming high earners than bright poor children. This phenomenon highlights the persistence of class barriers even in modern societies that claim to be meritocratic. The conditions at a person's job vary greatly depending on class. Those in the upper-middle class and middle class enjoy greater freedoms in their occupations. They are usually more respected, enjoy more diversity and are able to exhibit some authority. Those in lower classes tend to feel more alienated and have lower work satisfaction overall. The physical conditions of the workplace differ greatly between classes. While middle-class workers may suffer alienating conditions or lack of job satisfaction, blue-collar workers are more apt to suffer alienating, often routine, work with obvious physical health hazards, injury and even death.

Health And The Life Expectancy Gap

A person's social class has a significant effect on their educational opportunities. Not only are upper-class parents able to send their children to exclusive schools that are perceived to be better, but in many places, state-supported schools for children of the upper class are of a much higher quality than those the state provides for children of the lower classes. This lack of good schools is one factor that perpetuates the class divide across generations. Nevertheless, certain actions developed in schools, known as Successful Educational Actions, can avoid the continuation of this class divide, improving the outcomes of students and increasing their future employability. A person's social class often affects their physical health, their ability to receive adequate medical care and nutrition and their life expectancy. Lower-class people experience a wide array of health problems as a result of their economic status. They are unable to use health care as often and when they do it is of lower quality, even though they generally tend to experience a much higher rate of health issues. Lower-class families have higher rates of infant mortality, cancer, cardiovascular disease and disabling physical injuries. Additionally, poor people tend to work in much more hazardous conditions, yet generally have much less if any health insurance provided for them, as compared to middle- and upper-class workers. Societies with large class differences have a greater proportion of people who suffer from mental health issues such as anxiety and depression symptoms. A series of scientific studies have demonstrated this relationship. Statistics support this assertion and results are found in life expectancy and overall health; for example, in the case of high differences in life expectancy between two Stockholm suburbs. The differences between life expectancy of the poor and less-well-educated inhabitants who live in proximity to the station, and the highly educated and more affluent inhabitants living near Danderyd differ by 18 years. Similar data about New York is also available for life expectancy, average income per capita, income distribution, median income mobility for people who grew up poor, share with a bachelor's degree or higher. In class societies, the lower classes systematically receive lower-quality education and care. There are more explicit effects where those within the higher class actively demonize parts of the lower-class population. Social classifications can also determine the sporting activities that such classes take part in. It is suggested that those of an upper social class are more likely to take part in sporting activities, whereas those of a lower social background are less likely to participate in sport. However, upper-class people tend to not take part in certain sports that have been commonly known to be linked with the lower class.

Rousseau And The Birth Of Inequality

Jean-Jacques Rousseau had a large influence over political ideals of the French Revolution because of his views of inequality and classes. Rousseau saw humans as naturally pure and good, meaning that humans from birth were seen as innocent and any evilness was learned. He believed that social problems arise through the development of society and suppress the innate pureness of humankind. He also believed that private property is the main reason for social issues in society because private property creates inequality through the property's value. Even though his theory predicted if there were no private property then there would be wide spread equality, Rousseau accepted that there will always be social inequality because of how society is viewed and run. Later Enlightenment thinkers viewed inequality as valuable and crucial to society's development and prosperity. They also acknowledged that private property will ultimately cause inequality because specific resources that are privately owned can be stored and the owners profit off the deficit of the resource. This can create competition between the classes that was seen as necessary by these thinkers. This also creates stratification between the classes keeping a distinct difference between lower, poorer classes and the higher, wealthier classes. In Ancient Greece, when the clan system was declining, the classes replaced the clan society when it became too small to sustain the needs of increasing population. The division of labor is also essential for the growth of classes. Historically, social class and behavior were laid down in law. For example, permitted mode of dress in some times and places was strictly regulated, with sumptuous dressing only for the high ranks of society and aristocracy, whereas sumptuary laws stipulated the dress and jewelry appropriate for a person's social rank and station. In Europe, these laws became increasingly commonplace during the Middle Ages. However, these laws were prone to change due to societal changes, and in many cases, these distinctions may either almost disappear, such as the distinction between a patrician and a plebeian being almost erased during the late Roman Republic. In class societies, class conflict has tended to recur or is ongoing, depending on the sociological and anthropolitical perspective. Class societies have not always existed; there have been widely different types of class communities. For example, societies based on age rather than capital. During colonialism, social relations were dismantled by force, which gave rise to societies based on the social categories of waged labor, private property, and capital. The existence of social classes is considered normal in many societies, both historic and modern, to varying degrees. India, Nepal, North Korea, Sri Lanka and some Indigenous peoples maintain social classes today. In class societies, class conflict has tended to recur or is ongoing, depending on the sociological and anthropolitical perspective. Class societies have not always existed; there have been widely different types of class communities. For example, societies based on age rather than capital. During colonialism, social relations were dismantled by force, which gave rise to societies based on the social categories of waged labor, private property, and capital.