What are social classes based on?
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Article shared by : Show Following are the main criteria (attributes) used in the determination of social class: (1) Wealth and Income:Possession of substantial amounts of wealth is the main characteristic distinguishing the upper class from other class groups in society. Persons having more wealth and income generally have higher social position and respect in society. Wealth and income (money), though necessary for upper-class position, yet one’s class position is not directly proportional to his income. A prostitute has less social status than a professor though her income is far greater than the professor. In spite of all its weaknesses, wealth and income are an important determinant of social class, partly because of the way of life it permits or enforces (a social class is basically a way of life), and partly because it suggests about one’s family life and way of life. Upper-class children have a better chance, and for their grandchildren, a secure upper-class status is practically assured. Wealth and income, over a period of time, usually gains upper-class status. In his analysis of class divisions, Karl Marx argued that social class is based entirely on wealth. (2) Occupation:Occupation is an exceedingly important aspect of social class and as such it is another determinant of class status. It is a well-known fact that some kinds of work are more honourable than others, e.g., doctors, engineers, administrators, professors and lawyers hold a higher position than a car mechanic or manual worker. The high-prestige occupations generally receive the higher incomes, yet there are many exceptions. Occupation is also one of the best clues to one’s way of life, and therefore to one’s social class membership. It affects many other facets of life (values, beliefs, marital relations) other than determining the social class. (3) Education:There is a close reciprocal relationship between social class and education. To get a higher education one needs money plus motivation. Upper-class children already have money for the finest schools and colleges. They also have family tradition and social encouragement. One’s amount and kind of education affects the class rank he will secure. Thus, education is one of the main levers of a man’s social class. (4) Prestige:It refers to the respect and admiration with which an occupation is regarded by society. Prestige is independent of the particular person who occupies a job. Sociologists have tried to assign prestige rankings to various occupations. Besides wealth, occupation and education, there are certain other criteria which help a person to attain higher social status in the society. These are family background, kinship relations, location of residence etc., but education, occupation and expanded income are the most fairly visible clues of social class. With these are associated most of the other behaviour characteristics which make one ‘belong’. Most of the social scientists have used these three criteria in dividing people into social classes for research purposes. Class, economic class, socio-economic class, social class. What's the difference? Each refers to how people are sorted into groups—specifically ranked hierarchies—in society. There are, in fact, important differences among them. Economic ClassEconomic class refers specifically to how one ranks relative to others in terms of income and wealth. Simply put, we are sorted into groups by how much money we have. These groups are commonly understood as lower (the poorest), middle, and upper class (the richest). When someone uses the word "class" to refer to how people are stratified in society, they are most often referring to this. The model of economic class we use today is a derivation of German philosopher Karl Marx's (1818–1883) definition of class, which was central to his theory of how society operates in a state of class conflict. In that state, an individual's power comes directly from one's economic class position relative to the means of production—one is either an owner of capitalist entities or a worker for one of the owners. Marx and fellow philosopher Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) presented this idea in "The Manifesto of the Communist Party," and Marx expounded in much greater length in volume one of his work called "Capital." Socio-Economic ClassSocio-economic class, also known as socioeconomic status and often abbreviated as SES, refers to how other factors, namely occupation and education, are combined with wealth and income to rank a person relative to others in society. This model is inspired by the theories of German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), who viewed the stratification of society as a result of the combined influences of economic class, social status (the level of a person's prestige or honor relative to others), and group power (what he called "party"). Weber defined "party" as the level of one's ability to get what they want, despite how others may fight them on it. Weber wrote about this in an essay titled "The distribution of power within the political community: Class, status, party," in his 1922 book "Economy and Society," published after his death. Socio-economic class is a more complex formulation than economic class because it takes into account the social status attached to certain professions considered prestigious, like doctors and professors, for example, and to educational attainment as measured in academic degrees. It also takes into account the lack of prestige or even stigma that may be associated with other professions, like blue-collar jobs or the service sector, and the stigma often associated with not finishing high school. Sociologists typically create data models that draw on ways of measuring and ranking these different factors to arrive at a low, middle, or high SES for a given person. Social ClassThe term "social class" is often used interchangeably with SES, both by the general public and by sociologists alike. Very often when you hear it used, that is what it means. In a technical sense, however, social class is used to refer specifically to the characteristics that are less likely to change, or harder to change, than one's economic status, which is potentially changeable over time. In such a case, social class refers to the socio-cultural aspects of one's life, namely the traits, behaviors, knowledge, and lifestyle that one is socialized into by one's family. This is why class descriptors like "lower," "working," "upper," or "high" can have social as well as economic implications for how we understand the person described. When someone uses "classy" as a descriptor, they are naming certain behaviors and lifestyle and framing them as superior to others. In this sense, social class is determined strongly by one's level of cultural capital, a concept developed by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002) in his 1979 work "Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste." Bourdieu said that levels of class are determined by the attainment of a specific set of knowledge, behaviors, and skills that allow a person to navigate in society. Why Does It Matter?So why does class, however you want to name it or slice it, matter? It matters to sociologists because the fact that it exists reflects unequal access to rights, resources, and power in society—what we call social stratification. As such, it has a strong effect on the access an individual has to education, the quality of that education, and how high a level he or she can reach. It also affects who one knows socially, and the extent to which those people can provide advantageous economic and employment opportunities, political participation and power, and even health and life expectancy, among many other things. Sources and Further Reading
How do you determine social class?A focus on objective social class entails a direct determination of a person's social class based on socioeconomic variables -- mainly income, wealth, education and occupation. A second approach to social class, the one that occupies us here, deals with how people put themselves into categories.
Where does social class come from?The term class first came into wide use in the early 19th century, replacing such terms as rank and order as descriptions of the major hierarchical groupings in society. This usage reflected changes in the structure of western European societies after the industrial and political revolutions of the late 18th century.
What is a class based society?A class-based system places people on a power hierarchy based on social stratification. Explore systems of stratification, slavery, caste, estate, and class-based systems, social classes in the United States, and a definition and explanation of open and closed stratification systems.
What are the 3 methods used to identify social class?Sociologists use three techniques to determine social class: the reputational method, the subjective method, and the objective method. in the United States: the upper class, the upper middle class, the lower middle class, the working class, the working poor, and the underclass.
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