LU 3: Class

Question 1

What does Social Class refer to?

Answer 1

Divisions in society based on economic and social status

Social Class encompasses various factors such as wealth, education, occupation, and income levels.

Question 2

What are some characteristics shared by people in the same social class?

Answer 2

Similar level of wealth, educational achievement, type of job, and income

These characteristics contribute to the social dynamics and interactions among individuals within the same class.

Question 3

What is class?

Answer 3

The concept of class refers to the way in which people in society are divided into social layers or groups or layers, each of which share similar experiences, orientations and habits.

Question 4

What does the term “social stratification” refer to according sociologists?

Answer 4

• The concepts of race & gender
• The concept of class has been used as a prism through which fundamental lines of division of society have been drawn.

Question 5

True or false:
Class has been presented as a factor that not only stratifies society into social groups, but shares almost every aspect of our lives.

Answer 5

True.

Question 6

True or false:
It doesn’t include non- economic factors such as culture or race and economic conditions in which people share.

Answer 6

True.

Question 7

What is class according to MARX?

Answer 7

• key word: exploitation.
• defines class in relation to production.
• focus is on ownership and non- ownership of economic resources “means of production.”

Question 8

What is class according to WEBER?

Answer 8

• defines class in relation to the consumption of goods and service available on the market.
• it is about the opportunities available to an individual in a society dominated by the market.

Question 9

What was MARX’S focus of CLASS?

Answer 9

• class as a starting point
• class formation
• class as a relation
• class conflict and class struggle
• class consciousness
• class and material inequality
• class and politics.

Question 10

What was WEBER’s focus of CLASS?

Answer 10

• rationalization and class
• Webber’s definition of class
• class interests and social action
• status and party

Question 11

What was the INTERGRATED PERSPECTIVES of CLASS?

Answer 11

• Erin Olin Wright and class.
• Michael Buraway and The politics of production
• EP Thompson and the making of the English working class.

Question 12

Define class as a starting point according to Marx:

Answer 12

• According to Marx, there were no social classes in communal societies.
• Classes only emerged as social relations became more complex with the division of labour & as the ancient communal mode of production gave way to feudalism and then capitalism.
• As a capitalist society matures and the influence of the landowners fades- the concept of class becomes more clearly defined in relation to production & the economy.
• The bourgeoise and proletariat emerged as the 2 primary and fundamental social groups in a capitalist society.
• Marx further identified 2 subordinate groups, the petty- bourgeoise (small traders, teachers) & the lumpen- proletariat (homeless, unemployed).
• Marx’s use of the concept changed and developed along with changing social and economic conditions.

Question 13

Define class formation according to Marx:

Answer 13

• Human beings must relate to one another in order to produce what society needs to survive.
• What starts out a series of SOCIAL RELATIONS OF PRODUCTION between people soon turns into relationships between different social groups.
• For Marx, class identifies the antagonisms between social groups which arise in this historical process in successive modes of production.
• For Marx, the proletarian movement is the self- conscious, independent movement of the immense majority, in the interests of the immense majority.
• Every class struggle is a political struggle: while the two primary classes are locked into antagonistic social relations in order to produce an economic surplus for society, they cannot survive without each other.

Question 14

Define class relation according to Marx:

Answer 14

• Society is a whole.
• Class is hence not a thing, For Marx, but rather expresses A RELATION.
• For Marx, the relational nature of class is defined in terms of who owns the MEANS OF PRODUCTION: this refers to the land, raw materials, tools, equipment, machinery etc; needed when work is being performed.
• The social relations of production emerge when work is performed.
• The productive forces (FORCES OF PRODUCTION) in society don’t only consist of the means of production but also include the development of machinery and technology.
• Class, for Marx, captures how, historically, the 2 major social classes are organized and stand to opposed to one another, particularly under capitalism.
• Social classes undergo continual change: at a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come in conflict with the existing relations of production.
• The formation of social classes is hence rooted in conflict.

Question 15

Define class conflict & class struggle according to Marx:

Answer 15

• The conflict between capitalists & workers is known as CLASS STRUGGLE.
• Causes a clash in direct producers and those who own and control crucial economic resources- THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION.
• This group of people can use their ownership & control to benefit from the labour of the direct producers- Marx refers to such benefits as SURPLUS VALUE: what capitalists get from the process on top of their investment.
• He regards it as being a form of EXPLOITATION: profits made at the expense of the workers’ efforts.
• Marx hoped to forever change the dominant social relations of production in capitalist society & the need for class struggle.
• “Motor of history”- the dynamic structural tension that proples any class divided society forward and lies at the heart of social change.
• While the social relations of production are primarily economic in nature, they have social, political & ideologies dimensions as well.
• The multiple dimensions of social relationships between classes mean that the class struggle can acquire different forms:
  *economic dimension: union organization, strikes, other forms of protest.
• social dimension: community- based organization & civil society alliances.
• political dimension: class- based political parties & their work on relevant legislation & policy.
• ideological dimension: struggles over the content of education, media & campaigns- shape CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS.
• In the process of class struggle, those who belong to a particular class will come, for Marx, to understand themselves in relation to those in a different class and understand themselves as a definable social group or class.
• Classes have existence only in the class struggle as they attempt to advance their class interests. This brings us to the issue of how class understands itself.

Question 16

What is class consciousness?

Answer 16

The understanding a particular group of people has of itself. Marx used the concept in an objective and subjective sense.

Question 17

What does the class concept “in- itself” refer to?

Answer 17

Refers to a specific group of people who belong to either the working or the capitalist class.

Question 18

What does the class concept “for- itself” refer to?

Answer 18

This means that such a social group becomes aware & conscious of its class belonging and acts to consolidate and advance itself.

Question 19

Describe the “objective” or “in- itself” as a form of class consciousness:

Answer 19

• Working/ capitalist class.
• Marx argues that people who share the same objectively definable material conditions will most likely share the same CLASS INTERESTS.
• Stressing the “objectivist” reading of class, however, often suffered the fate of boiling down or REDUCING everything to the single notion of class.

Question 20

Describe “class reductionism?”

Answer 20

When class is defined in economic terms to the virtual exclusion of any other key non- economic factors- especially true in the South African context. What this means is that class doesn’t capture other facts, like race, in which people think of (or are aware of) themselves as a group.

Question 21

Describe the “subjective” or “for- itself” as a form of class consciousness:

Answer 21

• This means that such a social group becomes aware & conscious of its class belonging and acts to consolidate & advances itself.
• Only when the working class became AWARE of & came to understand how their combined labour power was exploited under capitalism & understood themselves as a distinct class & acted on the basis of that self- understanding- that capitalism could be overthrown
• Marx thought that this could lead to a classless society.

Question 22

What is a class- less society?

Answer 22

One free of oppressive social relations.

Question 23

If the working class did not, however come to the collective awareness & realization that they constituted a class “for- itself” or there was an absence of awareness of their common class interests, members of a class may suffer from what Marx called FALSE CONSCIOUSNESS:

Answer 23

This is a distorted vision of reality, their place within it, & their real needs. The struggle between true and false consciousness is waged in the education system, public media, arts and culture & other spheres of society.

Question 24

In South Africa, what was the experience of class as a BLACK WORKING CLASS:

Answer 24

• Workers felt themselves oppressed collectively because they were being discriminated against in terms of race.
• Class consciousness was expressed in terms of being oppressed as Africans, as black, or as a nation of people.

Question 25

In South Africa, what was the experience of class as a WHITE WORKER:

Answer 25

• Understood themselves as a class, but understood this in starkly racialised & hence, contradictory terms.
• This was because they rejected their working class comrades on the other side of the racial divide.
• It is therefore the bourgeoisie who seem to have understood themselves more clearly as a class “for- itself” by virtue of their immense economic, political & social power in society.
• As the bourgeoisie class felt that they were leading & changing society, they became ever- increasingly conscious of the need to pursue their own interests as a class “for- itself.”

Question 26

Describe material inequalities:

Answer 26

Refer to inequalities of income, assets and access to services.

Question 27

Describe class and material inequality:

Answer 27

• Access to productive resources, between those who own them & those who don’t, & the extraction of surplus value.
• Although, some workers may reactive high wages & can afford to buy consumer goods, STRUCTURALLY they occupy an inferior position, having to work for employers who exploit them.
• The combination of material inequalities & different degrees of consciousness- born in class struggle- leads to political Organisation & a struggle over power.
• Economic power under capitalism couldn’t be separated from political power which the bourgeoisie usurped in their own class interests- to the detriment of not only the working class but SOCIETY AS A WHOLE.

Question 28

Describe class and politics:

Answer 28

1. Political power & class interests:
   - The classical Marxist view that the bourgeoisie directly controls political power has evolved.
   - In democratic regimes, political parties claim to represent various class interests to gain support, but their genuine advocacy varies.
   - Trade unions are more direct in representing workers’ interests against employers & operate within specific sectors and workplaces.
2. Political influence & class struggle:
   - both political parties & trade unions participate in power struggles, influencing government policy to reflect class interests.
3. Marx’s vision of class transformation:
   - Marx anticipated that political forces aligned with the working class would eventually shift power dynamics, favoring workers over capitalists.
   - This shift would lead to the collapse of the capitalist state and the emergence of a new regime- the working class = classless society.
4. Class as a dynamic concept:
   - He emphasized its role in shaping future political transformations.
5. Criticism & future analysis:
   - societal analysis to class alone- oversimplifies complex social structures

Question 29

Describe Weber’s theory of class:

Answer 29

• More complex, multidimensional view of social stratification- the division of society into social groups.
• If one social group or class has access to the productive forces in society (as for Marx) or one social group enjoys better life chances on the market due to owning property (as for Weber), these social groups possess significantly more power than a social group or class that doesn’t have access to material resources.
• According to Weber, power is the ability to make others do what you want them to do whether they like it or not
• Weber claimed that in order to UNDERSTAND SOCIETY, it was important to recognize how POWER underpinned the way in which society was socially stratified.

Question 30

What are the 4 aspects of Class for WEBER:

Answer 30

1. Rationalization & class
2. Weber’s definition of class
3. Class interests & social action
4. Status and poverty

Question 31

Describe rationalization & class:

Answer 31

• The only way to organize an increasingly complex industrial society is to continually improve and amend the rules, procedures & laws by which the various bureaucratic systems & structures administer & regulate society.
• Weber even attributed the demise of slavery to the lack of RATIONALITY & CALCULABILITY in the economy under slavery.
• In order to develop & thrive, society must increasingly become increasingly rational.
• As industrial society became more complex, so the number of social groups proliferated & became more differentiated from one another.

Question 32

What is Webers definition of class?

Answer 32

• For Weber, class is primarily an economic category, but it is defined in terms of an individual’s market position and life chances.
• Specifically, class refers to groups of people who share similar access to goods, opportunities, and income based on their market relationships.

Question 33

Describe life chances:

Answer 33

Are based on people’s ability to compete in the market. This competition favours those who possess property or other assets. Those without property have ti sell their labour in order to survive, and are thus at a disadvantage.

Question 34

Describe class interests and social action according to Weber:

Answer 34

• For Weber, classes are specifically related to interests linked to the market, which involve an exchange of property, skills & abilities for income and other assets.
• COMMUNAL ACTION: action which is oriented to the feelings of the actors that belong together.
• SOCIETAL ACTION: action oriented to a rationally motivated adjustment of interests.
• For Weber, how social action is organised is crucial to understanding the relation between class as rooted in the market economy & the extent to which society as a whole is becoming increasingly rationalized.
• Organised social action: such as workers strike, interpreted as an expression of its class situation.

Question 35

Define class situation:

Answer 35

Communal & societal action- which both have their base in shared interests and which are both related to the market- will depend on the way people INTERPRET the situation & the extent to which it SHAPES THEIR CONSCIOUSNESS.

• For any social group to be a community- as opposed to a class sharing a similar set of life chances- they must feel they share common ways of life, meanings and doing things.
• Unlike Marx, Weber didn’t assume that outsiders, or insider- activists speaking in the name of the class, could determine how interests would be interpreted & what action should be taken. In this sense, Webers approach is more FLEXIBLE & OPEN TO DIVERSE OUTCOMES.

Question 36

Describe Webers approach to status & party:

Answer 36

Weber defined status as the social honor or prestige that a group or individual holds in society, which is distinct from their economic position.

Key Features of Status:
- Basis of Status: Status is determined by factors such as lifestyle, education, family background, or cultural prestige.

• Status Groups: A status group consists of people who share similar levels of prestige and a common lifestyle. Members of the group often distinguish themselves through specific behaviors, dress codes, or cultural practices.
• Status and Social Exclusion: Status groups may enforce social boundaries to maintain their prestige. This can include restricting access to certain professions, institutions, or social class
• Conflict Between Class and Status: Someone may belong to a high-status group but not have significant economic resources (e.g., an artist) or vice versa (e.g., a wealthy entrepreneur with low social prestige).

Question 37

Discuss Webers “party” approach to status and party:

Answer 37

Weber defined party as an organized group that seeks to influence social action, particularly within the political sphere. Unlike class and status, which are rooted in economic or social positioning, parties operate within the realm of power and political organization.

Key Features of Party:
- Purpose: Parties aim to achieve specific goals, such as influencing policy, acquiring political power, or advancing the interests of a particular group.

• Types of Parties: These can include political parties, labor unions, advocacy groups, or even informal networks that mobilize for a cause.
• Party and Power: Party affiliation provides individuals with access to political influence and decision-making processes, which may not align directly with their class or status.
• Competition for Power: Parties often compete for control over political institutions, using power to shape laws, policies, and social structures.