Marx and Weber’s Conception of “Class”

MARX AND WEBER’S CONCEPTION OF “CLASS”
Name
Professor’s Name
Institution
Course
Due Date
Marx and Weber’s Conception of “Class”
Introduction
The subject of the class is a key aspect of the social field. The various opinions as provided by Karl Marx and Max Weber regarding class are considered a potential foundation of debate over the years. This discussion inclines towards a critical comparison of the views held by Marx and Weber, a thorough examination of the major opinions and arguments from the theorists concerning the conception of class as a subject and a concept within social circles. According to Marx, economic factors alone determine the idea of class, while on the contrary, Weber provides for the fact that the definition of social strata cannot be based solely on class as well as economic factors influencing class relationships (Wright, 2019). Eventually, there will be the provision of existing major differences and similarities between the two theories.
Main differences between Marx and Weber’s conception of “class”
Summary
Whereas Marx utilizes the term class to indicate the main strata across the various stratification systems, Weber believes that other factors besides ownership and non-ownership of various properties influence class stratification. Such differences in the opinion of the theorists help society to consider social stratification from different perspectives. Further, Marx holds that the main causes of class division are purely economic factors, while Weber argues that the definition of social networks and levels is possible by the use of status, party as well as class. Yes, while Marx only identifies two classes of division, Weber observes that there could be more, hence identifies four: manual workers, the wealthy, those without properties, and the ruling entrepreneurs. The other difference occurs in the opinion concerning a proletarian revolution, whereby Weber does not support such an occurrence as a possibility. Notably, from the previous class discussion, Weber further expressed a different opinion concerning the Marxist idea whereby political powers override the economic power and further disagrees with the opinion that influence from politics is a derivative of wealth.
Critical Analysis of Marx and Weber
From the perspective of Marx, a social group represents members that share similar relationships towards means of production (Blom and Kivinen, 2017). Conversely, Weber’s theory of class anchored partly upon detailed views from the predecessor (Marx) provides different perspectives on the social system. Weber opines that class is a representation of only one of the many forms of levels that include other perspectives such as status as well as party (Livingstone and Mangan, 2019). While such an opinion seems valuable to the current society, Marx’s proposal points to the idea that there are only two major social classes across all stratified societies: the superior class that rules and the class that is subject to the rule, which also reflects some idea from the contemporary society. Similarly, Weber shares the opinion of Marx on the ground that the main levels of class result from economic differences that define individuals in terms of wealth possession, including income because of work from the labor market (Wacquant, 2019). Interestingly, Weber shares a similar opinion with Marx concerning ownership versus non-ownership that creates the main platform of class levels.
In the opinion of Marx, the definition of these classes takes the form of ownership and non-ownership of the various resources. For instance, the ruling class majorly wields power from ownership and control of productive forces, leading the rulers to exploit the subject class. Such division ultimately creates some form of basic conflict of interest between the two groups (Parkin, 2018). Yes, the nature of the capitalist society of today recognizes these two classes as comprising of capitalists owning the process and the workers who provide labor for the wealthy class in return for wages to the capitalists (Parkin, 2018). However, Marx acknowledges the fact that the development of class results in a more complex structure of classes alongside relations than the suggestions by the model. Further, within each class exists various factions having different interests alongside existing values.
From a finer perspective, Weber seems to provide the opinion on the distinction between class and status. In his case, status refers to evaluation by others regarding social positions that eventually breeds positive or negative social esteem. Notwithstanding, the existing distinctive differences between class and status could mean that a class is a representation of discriminative wealth distribution, while status represents discriminative social honor distribution. This is because Weber’s way of thinking alludes that status is an important element since it provides social groups with common grounds such as interest and identity. From a broader perspective, such existence of different status groups may weaken the strength of class, therefore lowering the potential related to class-conscious development. Notably, the analysis of contemporary society reflects that the current formation of political parties may possibly consider the influence of power on class and status.
Despite Marx utilizing the term class as an indication of the main strata across the various stratification systems. The theory provides that a class represents a social group where members share a common link to the means of production (Wright, 2019). According to Marx, members of a class have dependence and conflict as the main connection point in common. The current setup provides that the common reliance existing between the two classes is not a guarantee of equal or balanced means. Such contravenes Marx’s belief that capital is under the private ownership of the capitalist class, who are the minority. Such inclination as reflecting power definition may probably necessitate maximum exploitation of the population in terms of the working class where individuals are classified in terms of wages. However, from his sentiments, Marx argues that only labor can produce wealth but not capital, with workers receiving wages as compensation for the goods produced for the capitalist class, which may be true or not depending on the current societal beliefs (Blom and Kivinen, 2017).
Marx opines that classification pertaining to class levels inclusive of the differences that occur in the form of conflict relates to historical variables associated with previous occurrences in former societies ...