Lecture Notes on Stratification
erePerspective on stratification Karl Marx
“No theorist stressed the significance of class for society… more strongly than Karl Marx”
-argued that human survival depends on producing things
-How we as a society organize ourselves to do this and how we distribute the rewards is what Marx called the mode of production
The organization of society to produce what we need to survive
-First sociologist to make class the foundation of his theory Modes of Production Imagine ways we can organize society to produce what we need to survive:
1.One person owns everything, we take what we need and leave the rest for everyone else
2. Everyone owns everything, and you simply take what you need and leave the rest for others
3. Few people have far more than what they actually need and a large majority have very little.
*The particular mode of production in a given society determines which group or groups own/control the resources and how those resources, that we need to survive, are distributed **Marx believed this: with Ownership comes Control
Example- if you own all the cornfields in town, everyone has to listen to you or go without corn Two types of people: -Owners -Workers
Bourgeoisie- Wealthy/ Elite (Capitalist) Owned/Controlled the means of production Proletariat- Poor (working class) Forced to become wage laborers or starve to death
***Marx argued that in capitalist societies where the maximization of profits was the primary goal, the working classes were exploited/taken advantage of by Wealthy/Elite and often gives wages that was barely enough to live on survive This conflict of interest leads to exploitation Essentially Marx believed there would ultimately be a revolution
Trickle down Economics
Karl Marx view of class differentiation
Social relations depend on who controls the primary mode of production
Capitalism: economic system in which the means of production are held largely in private hands
“No theorist stressed the significance of class for society… more strongly than Karl Marx”
-argued that human survival depends on producing things
-How we as a society organize ourselves to do this and how we distribute the rewards is what Marx called the mode of production
The organization of society to produce what we need to survive
-First sociologist to make class the foundation of his theory Modes of Production Imagine ways we can organize society to produce what we need to survive:
1.One person owns everything, we take what we need and leave the rest for everyone else
2. Everyone owns everything, and you simply take what you need and leave the rest for others
3. Few people have far more than what they actually need and a large majority have very little.
*The particular mode of production in a given society determines which group or groups own/control the resources and how those resources, that we need to survive, are distributed **Marx believed this: with Ownership comes Control
Example- if you own all the cornfields in town, everyone has to listen to you or go without corn Two types of people: -Owners -Workers
Bourgeoisie- Wealthy/ Elite (Capitalist) Owned/Controlled the means of production Proletariat- Poor (working class) Forced to become wage laborers or starve to death
***Marx argued that in capitalist societies where the maximization of profits was the primary goal, the working classes were exploited/taken advantage of by Wealthy/Elite and often gives wages that was barely enough to live on survive This conflict of interest leads to exploitation Essentially Marx believed there would ultimately be a revolution
Trickle down Economics
Karl Marx view of class differentiation
Social relations depend on who controls the primary mode of production
Capitalism: economic system in which the means of production are held largely in private hands