Basic Concepts of Class Analysis

1
Concepts forClass Analysis The Two Major
Theorists
I. Karl Marx Class, Class Conflict and Mode of
Production II. Max Weber Classes and Competing
Principles of Group Formation
2

• Why does Gilbert start with the story of the
  Titanic?

3
Titanic Survival Rates
1st Class 2nd Class 3rd
Class Crew Women/Children 93 81 47 87
Men 31 10 14 22 Total 60 42 25 2
4 Absolute dead 130 166
536 85 Male survival rate 20 Female/children
survival rate 71 What do these statistics tell
us?

• social class mattered for life chances
  stratification
• but so did women and children first social
  norms
• solidarity among workers can make a difference
• we see elements of both conflict and consensus

4
Social Class in Marxs Thought

• rooted in societys mode of production
• defined by peoples relationship to the means of
  production.
• not income groups per se. A matter of
  structural position.
• agents of changebased on class consciousness

5

• Class Consciousness
• to be historical actors, classes must acquire
  class consciousness
• not inevitable, but likely under appropriate
  social conditions
• The problem of false consciousness
• The role of intellectuals

Class-in-itself
Class-for-itself
6
Why do Marxists almost never use the terms
upper, middle, and lower to analyze the
class structure?
7
Marxs Base-Superstructure Model
Art Religion Politics Law
Superstructure
Consciousness(Ideology)
Base/Mode of Production
Relations of production
MaterialLife
Forces of Production
An explanation of how the class structure is
reproducedboth political and ideological means
8
The history of all hitherto existing societies
is the history of class struggle.

• class struggle as the dominant mode of struggle
  in society
• class struggle as the major engine of historical
  change
• Social outcomes reflect the state of class
  strugglethe balance of power of class forces
• do these ideas still apply?

9
Some of Marxs Predictions

• Tendency towards class polarization
• Tendency towards concentration and
  centralization of capital
• The expansion of the working class
  (proletarianization)

• Was Marx right or wrong?

10
Max Weber Competing Principles of Stratification
and Group Formation

• class is only one of several types of
  stratification groups
• the importance of class can be reinforced or
  undermined by status groups and parties

11
Competing Principles of Group Formation and
Stratification
SocialClasses
StatusGroups
Parties
Economic Order
CulturalOrder
PoliticalOrder
12
Implicit in Webers approach to stratification
is the idea that status considerations can
undermine the development of class consciousness
and class struggle. (Gilbert, p. 10)

• How has the relationship of status group and
  class played itself out in U.S. society?

13
Discussion Are the various groups discussed in
the People Like Us film social classes or status
groups undermining social classes? Are status
group identities stronger than class identities
in the U.S.?
14

• Two General Points
• Class structure always exists along other types
  of stratification. How they interact, and which
  one is dominant, varies with the society and over
  time
• Social Classes have many dimensions, although
  the economic ones tend to be most fundamental

15
Dimensions of Class

• families are the units of class

16
Gilberts Model One of many possible pictures of
the U.S. class structure