Page 266 - DSOC202_SOCIAL_STRATIFICATION_ENGLISH

Unit 13: Changing Dimensions of Social Stratification

The Weberian Concept of Class Notes

Max Weber does not consider “classes” as communities; they merely represent possible, and
frequent, bases for communal action. According to Weber, a “class” is found when (a) a number
of people have in common a specific causal component of their life chances, in so far as (b) this
component is represented exclusively by economic interests in the possession of goods and
opportunities for income, and (c) is represented under the conditions of the commodity or labour
markets.
These points refer to a “class situation”, which is “the typical chance for a supply of goods,
external living conditions and personal life experiences, in so far as this chance is determined by
the amount and kind of power, or lack of such, to dispose of goods or skills for the sake of income
in a given economic order”. The term “class” refers to any group of people that is found in the
same class situation. Like Marx, for Weber too, class is an economic phenomenon. The people,
who are actors in the market for material gains, constitute different classes as determined by their
role and capacity. Market signifies a situation of competition among the actors, namely, buyers
and sellers. The two are not monoliths, hence, some become privileged and monopolists and
others remain loosers. Weber observes that property” and “lack of property” are the basic categories
of all class situations. All this holds true within the area in which true market conditions prevail.
“Property” and “lack of property” are, therefore, the basic categories of all class situations.
Further, class situations are differentiated into two categories : (i) according to the kind of property
that is usable for returns; and (ii) according to the kind of services that be offered in the market.
In the first, the property, which has money equivalence, is included. The propertied may belong
to the class of rentiers or to the class of entrepreneurs. In the second case, those who have no
property but offer services to a recipient, are included. The people offering services in the market
thus constitute a stratum of their own, though they have a wide range of services to offer with
differential significance and value. “Class situation” is, in this sense, ultimately “market situation”.
The credit-debtor relation becomes the basis of “class situation” where a “credit market” is
developed by a plutocracy. In such a situation, “class struggles” begin.
Those men whose fate is not determined by the chance of using goods or services for themselves
on the market, e.g., slaves, are not, however, a “class”. They are, rather, a “status group”.
Every class may be the carrier of any one of the possibly innumerable forms of “class action”, but
this is not necessarily so. In any case, a class does not in itself constitute a community. In the same
class situation, economic interests may compel men to act in a “communal” way, because “class”
is “infallible” about its interests. Though classes as such are not communities, nevertheless class
situations emerge only on the basis of communalization. The communal action that brings forth
class situations, however, is not basically action between members of the identical class; it is an
action between members of different classes. The labour market, the commodities market and the
capitalistic enterprise are the examples of communal actions. These are very specific communal
actions, empowering individuals to dispose over the means of production. In other words, the
utilization of the power of property in the market obtains its most sovereign significance.

A Comparison of the Marxian and Weberian Approaches to Class
The frameworks on class developed by Marx and Weber continue to dominate academic debates
and discourses. However, recently, some scholars have incorporated elements from both Marx
and Weber to arrive at a synthesis of the two positions. For example, Erik Olin Wright mentions
that there are three dimensions of control over economic resources by which major classes can be
identified. These are :
1. Control over investments or money capital.
2. Control over the physical means of production (land, factories, offices, etc.).
3. Control over labour power.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 261