Question

What is the dynamic “capital” view of social class compared to the status view?

Answer 1

Weber developed a different approach to the study of social groups and classes than did Marx. For Marx, there were two primary groups in society and these were classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, whose contradictory social relationship is the motive force for change in capitalism.

Max Weber (1864 – 1920) argued that stratification and social class were more complicated than this. He argued that social class was based on a person's market position which is basically how much money or wealth they have and their bargaining power to get this.

Weber describes social class as having three components: property, prestige, and power. Property is considered wealth and includes not just owners of factories or corporations, but also the individual managers who work in these systems.

The term ‘class’ refers to any group of people that is found in the same class situation”. Together these three aspects define the class situation, and those with a common class situation form a class. For example, the working class is a social class for Weber, since this is a grouping of people who each have the same relationship to labour markets, and their connection to this market determines their life chances.

In contrast to classes, status groups are normally communities. They are, however, often of an amorphous kind. In contrast to the purely economically determined ‘class situation’ we wish to designate as ‘status situation’ every typical component of the life fate of men … is determined by a specific, positive or negative, social estimation of honor.