Max Weber's
theory, which develops as a critique of Marx, deals with the connection between
economics and society, but does not place economics at the base of society for
the sake of offering a complex look at the formation of social stratification.
According to
Weber there are 3 arenas of struggle and not one (as Marx claims):
Status - the
struggle at the economic level
Status - The
struggle is for prestige
Party - The
struggle is for power
Class
according to Weber is a social category (a collection of people with similar
characteristics) and not a group (a collection of people with a common
consciousness). The group has awareness of the mutual fate which allows them to
act together.
Weber is
interested in the market and not in the production process. Class is a group of
people with an equal chance of getting goods in the market. Class is a category
of people with a similar amount of money or future potential for making money.
The action
of the class is rational and aimed at maximizing the chance in the market. It
is done at the individual level.
A status
group includes people with a common and conscious interest in achieving
prestige (e.g., the Bar Association). People from different classes can belong
to the status group.
According to
Weber status groups work in two ways:
Closure -
Selectivity that restricts entry to the group. The more you join a particular
group, the more the prestige of the group and its members increases.
Exclusion -
Expenditure
You have to
learn the “Habitus” of the in order to gain access to it.
The parties
direct their action to gain power and fulfill the interest of the group. The
parties try to influence the goals of the society and the distribution of
resources in it. Not necessarily a reflection of status or status.
Power - the
ability of an individual or group to realize their interests, even in the face
of the opposition of others.
The means of
gaining power are various and varied: violence, gathering votes, manipulations,
etc.
· The
various resources are convertible. There are interactions between the elements
(arenas of struggle).
A man
according to Weber belongs to a multiplicity of groups that affect his life.
Consciousness
creates being - culture and social ideas have created the economic world.
See also: religious affiliation and social stratification
- Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
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