Two earlier sociologists who had a lot to say aboutinequality were Max Weber and Karl Marx.
Weber examined the interplay between wealth, power andprestige in society. According toWeberÉ
Wealth determinedthe Social Class in which aperson lived.
Prestige is therespect or regard with which a person or status position is regarded byothers. Those who share similarlevels of prestige belong to the same status group regardless of income.
Power is the abilityto carry out oneÕs own wishes and goals despite opposition from others.
As you might surmise, the interplay between these factorscreates a situation such that wealth, power and prestige become concentratedamong a few individuals. However,in a socially mobile society, it also provides for an instruction set in how tomove.
This concentration of wealth, power and prestige was ofgreat interest to Karl Marx.
Probably most famous as the author of the CommunistManifesto, Karl Marx can be called the Father of the Conflict Perspective.
According to Marx, class is determined by the kind of workone does and by oneÕs relationship with the means of production.
Marx felt that people were either part of the bourgeoisieor Capitalist Class
A basic conflict exists as the Capitalist Class wishes toexploit the labor of the Working Class at a profit. Each wants to maximize income to themselves, but increasesin one leads to decreases in the other. Thus the basic mechanism for the conflict perspective is that it isunfair that individuals can own the means of production and exploit others.
(Now you can probably see why Marx developed Communism as asocial-economic order that would eliminate the ownership of the means ofproduction in favor of collective ownership, thus there would be noexploitations.)
Current Weberianmodels outline the US class structure along the same lines of wealth, power andprestigeÉcreating the common labels for the class system here.
Upper class
Upper-middle class
Middle class
Working class
Working poor
Underclass
Our own access to degrees of wealth, power and prestigeallow us some mobility (life chances such as health and family ties still playa major role) within this structure.
Current Marxianmodels outline placement in social class in the following manner:
The Capitalist Class: Inherited fortunes, own majorcorporations, are top executives, or own major amounts of stock incorporations.
The Managerial Class: Supervisors and professionals who donot participate in company wide decision-making, may supervise the work ofothers.
The Small-Business Class: Small business owners,craftspeople, some doctors and lawyers who may also hire some people.
The Working Class: Typically blue-collar workers, unskilledworkers and laborers, and white-collar workers who do not own the means ofproduction, do not control the work of others, and are relatively powerless inthe workplace.
As you can see, these contemporary classifications retain anemphasis on the ownership and manipulation of the means of production and onwhat one does for work.
Considering the importance placed on occupation in the US,it is clear why some status positions within our society are much more highlyesteemed than others.