Compare and contrast the contributions of Marx and Weber on social stratification in capitalist society. (UPSC CSE Mains 2019 - Sociology, Paper 1)
For social stratification, Marx adopts a single standard of division, defining whether or not to possess the means of production and how much to possess (i.e. economic basis) as the principle. “He used ‘class’ to divide the social member’s ownership and the social level in which he belongs to, and thus his social power is often referred to the class stratification paradigm”). Meanwhile, Marx believes that due to the differences of possessing production materials in the production process, the society is increasingly divided into two opposing classes: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. And capitalist society is a bipolar society, despite the existence of an intermediate class, it will certainly belong to the bourgeoisie or the proletariat over time, so society will return to the situation -- ‘two levels of opposition’ again.
Compared to Marx’s simpler stratum division criteria, Weber adopted multidimensional criteria based on ‘market’. That is, social stratification based on three dimensions -- “Economical order, Social order, and Political order”. “An individual’s stratification position depends on their overall location in all three orders, but their class, status and party positions may not be identical”.
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Marx on class
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Weber on class
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• Class refers to a social group whose members sharing the same relationship to the means of production.
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• Class is a social group of individuals who share a similar position in a market economy and therefore receive similar reward i.e. individuals class is determined by the income that he is able to draw by working in the market economy.
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•There are only two classes the haves (owners) and the have notes (non owners)
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• These are 4 major classes
(a) Propertied upper class
(b) Property less white collar workers
(c) Petty Bourgeoise
(d) Manual working class
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•Factors like ownership non- ownership of property are significant in the formation of classes
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• Factors et-her than ownership and non-ownership of property are.-significant in the formation of classes. Different skills result in different economic returns. Thus leading to the formation of different classes.
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• Classes existed in pre-industrial societies also
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• Classes emerged only in modern industrial societies based on market economy. Pre-industrial societies were status based.
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Intermediate classes will polarise as capitalism matures
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no evidence of polarisation of classes rather there will be expansion of Middle class as capitalism develops.
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• Proletariat will unite and will lead the Proletariat revolution, leading to establishment of communism
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• Weber saw no reason why those having a similar class situation should necessarily develop a common identity and launch class struggle. For example a civil servant and a cab driver earning equally are of same class but low will their interest unite.
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• Communist society will be completely
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• In communist society bureaucracy will be very powerful. Therefore power inequality will remain
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• egalitarian society
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•ever if there is economic equality
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Although the theories are frequently contradicted to each other, they may be described as complementary rather than mutually exclusive.
Complementarities
Weber attempted to modify Marx’s theory of stratification in the following ways-
(i) Marx saw social stratification primarily in economic sphere whereas to Weber there can be three independent basis of social stratification and they are as follows- (a) Economic base – class dimension of :stratification (b) Social base- Status dimension of stratification (c) Political base – Power dimension of stratification
(ii) Like Marx, Weber also saw class in economic terms but he defined it differently.
(iii) Mars advocates that Proletariat revolution is inevitable to resolve the conflict. Weber argued that the workers who are dissatisfied with their class situation need not necessarily launch a revolution. They may simply go on strike. Weber saw revolution as only one of the possibility. Marx saw social stratification as not desirable and not inevitable whereas Weber considers social stratification as not desirable but inevitable.
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