Page 265 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Social Stratification

Notes 8. The bourgeoisie has subjected the country to the rule of the towns. It has created enormous
cities.
9. The bourgeoisie keeps more and more doing away with the scattered state of the population,
of the means of production, and of property. It has agglomerated population, centralized
means of production and has concentrated property in a few hands. “Political centralization”
has occurred due to such a situation.
10. The bourgeoisie has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than all preceding
generations together.
In course of time, say in 100 years, too much civilization, too much means of subsistence, too much
industry, too much commerce will deter the development of the conditions of bourgeoisie property.
Consequently, disorder starts coming in the bourgeois society, endangering its existence. “The
weapons with which the bourgeoisie felled feudalism to the ground are now turned against the
bourgeoisie itself.”

Proletariat
Marx and Engels write : “But not only has the bourgeoisie forged the weapons that bring death to
itself, it has also called into existence the new who are to wield those weapons - the modern
working class - the proletarians”. In proportion to the bourgeoisie, the proletariat - a class of
labourers - has developed. They are a commodity, like every other article of commerce, influenced
by the vicissitudes of competition and fluctuation of the market.
“Owing to the extensive use of machinery and to division of labour, the work of the proletarians
has lost all individual character, and, consequently, all charm for the workman. He becomes an
appendage of the machine.” His work is simple, monotonous and easy. He gets simply to survive.
However, the price of a commodity is nearly equal to its cost of production. Repulsiveness increases,
the wage decreases. The burden of toil also increases with increasing use of machine. Working
hours also go up. The following points may be noted regarding the proletariat :
1. There is a sort of despotism. The patriarchal master has become the great industrial capitalist.
Masses are like slaves.
2. With lesser skill required, age and sex become instruments of appropriation. Women supersede
men in factory.
3. In relation to the proletariat, the manufacturer behaves as the landlord, the shopkeeper, the
pawnbroker, etc.
4. The lower strata of the middle class - the small trades people, shopkeepers, retired tradesmen,
handicraftsmen and peasants - all sink gradually into the proletariat because of their diminutive
capital and competition. They become worthless, their creativity finishes.
5. The proletariat lack cooperation.
6. The organization of the proletarians into a class and then into a political party is continuously
disturbed.
7. The moorings of the old society also obstruct the process of class-based polarization.
8. When the decisive victory of the proletariat approaches, a small section of the bourgeoisie joins
the proletariat to sabotage the fruits of revolution.
9. However, the proletarian alone is a really revolutionary class. The industry has produced the
proletariat as its special and essential produce.
Thus, the Marxist concept of class envisions an egalitarian and democratic future for humanity. It
is a charged concept, rooted in ideas of oppression, exploitation and domination. A vision of
classless society is its essence. The empirical validation of the Marxist grand theory is almost
impossible.

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