Global Inequalities - Weber (early 1900s) Flashcards
Weber’s society
Power (believes society is organised by levels of this:
- class (economic order)
- status (social order)
- party (political order)
Weber was writing 50 years after Marx and so
His system reflects a more complex society
2 ideas of power:
Macht (coercion) and Herrschaft (authority)
Macht and parts of society
Essentially, the chance of someone or some people to recognise their individuality within a collective system, regardless of others opinions
Class, status
Herrschaft and part of society
Institutionalised authority, obedience
Party
An unequal distribution of power creates…
Divisions in society
Class definition
Group of people with common economic interests and similar control over assets, skills, goods
Three types of class
Property class: social assets
Commercial class: entrepreneurs
Social class: people with similar ability of social mobility
Different class levels from highest to lowest macht
Privileged by property and education
Property-less intelligentsia
Petty bourgeoisie
Working class
Status defined
The claim to a level of social regard with important consequences
Party defined
Require authority, forms of organised power, create order
Will Atkinson argument
Weber sees class as defined by life chances, and so these chances are decided by an individual’s ‘market situation’ - there ability to obtain income from labour markets, good markets, or any other market
Anthony Giddens argument
Weber’s theory questions Marx in that it highlights how his class theories focus too much on economic relationships and too little on political ones
Wendy Bottero studies of status
Lloyd Warner’s study of Yankee City, community studies tradition of 1920s-50s used to measure social class, found that people in the community ranked the social status of who they interacted with and referred to this often, this ranking was based on both income and views (politically and morally)
