The main crux of Karl Marx’s theory of class lies on the notion that “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (Marx et al. 1992). As he sees it, humans have been struggling with class divisions and conflicts resulting from that for thousands and thousands of years. The conflict between the haves and haves not continues to build before tensions erupt and a revolution occurs that restructures the order of society. This has been continuously happening over the course of time and has resulted in the current (for Marx’s time, the 1800s) capitalistic society that divides individuals based on their positions in regard to the means of production (Cosner 1971).
Capitalism
Capitalism is intrinsically linked with …show more content…
Once the workers comes to this realization, Marx proposed that they would revolt against the capitalist system and overthrow the bourgeoisie and replace capitalism with communism. As of today, this revolution has yet to occur. While many revolutions have happened throughout the years since Marx’s theories emerged, they have not involved the proletariat overthrowing the bourgeoisie. As noted above, it’s been peasants and the bourgeoisie themselves involved in the revolutions. Capitalism is still remains to this day and has “shown itself to be remarkably adaptive to integrating the crises and contradictions that challenge its supremacy” (Dillion 2014:70).
Weber’s Theory of Social Class
Weber saw social stratification in a much more complex manner than Marx did. His view had a more diverse look at the stratification system versus Marx’s dichotomized conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. He saw stratification as an interrelated system of power, class, and status/prestige. …show more content…
However, Weber’s theory more accurately describes our current modern society. Struggles in the workforce don’t occur directly between the owner of a company and an employee (majority of the time), they occur in more diverse ways. A cashier at Wal-Mart deals with their store manager, not the President/CEO of the company. There are a lot more complex layers of work positions in between the owner and the worker in our current capitalistic system. Marx’s two-level view of the workforce no longer paints an accurate
Capitalism
Capitalism is intrinsically linked with …show more content…
Once the workers comes to this realization, Marx proposed that they would revolt against the capitalist system and overthrow the bourgeoisie and replace capitalism with communism. As of today, this revolution has yet to occur. While many revolutions have happened throughout the years since Marx’s theories emerged, they have not involved the proletariat overthrowing the bourgeoisie. As noted above, it’s been peasants and the bourgeoisie themselves involved in the revolutions. Capitalism is still remains to this day and has “shown itself to be remarkably adaptive to integrating the crises and contradictions that challenge its supremacy” (Dillion 2014:70).
Weber’s Theory of Social Class
Weber saw social stratification in a much more complex manner than Marx did. His view had a more diverse look at the stratification system versus Marx’s dichotomized conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. He saw stratification as an interrelated system of power, class, and status/prestige. …show more content…
However, Weber’s theory more accurately describes our current modern society. Struggles in the workforce don’t occur directly between the owner of a company and an employee (majority of the time), they occur in more diverse ways. A cashier at Wal-Mart deals with their store manager, not the President/CEO of the company. There are a lot more complex layers of work positions in between the owner and the worker in our current capitalistic system. Marx’s two-level view of the workforce no longer paints an accurate