PPE Notes Sociological Theory Notes
Notes on ideology, class, and methodology. Including summaries of Bourdieu, Durkheim, Weber, Zizek, Marx and Giddens....
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Max Weber - Class, Status, Party
2. Determination of Class-Situation by Market-Situation
Classes are not communities - they represent possible and frequent bases for communal action
A class situation is:
the chance for a supply of goods, external living conditions and life experiences where this chance is determined by power to dispose of goods or skills for the sake of income.
essentially, where goods and living conditions depend on market power and action
A class is:
a group of people with a specific causal component of their life chances in common, where this component is represented:
in economic interests in possession of goods and income opportunities
under the conditions of the commodity/labour markets
Disposition over material property in an exchange market creates life chances
this advantages owners over non-owners, owing to the law of marginal utility
market exchange advantages those who do not have to sell over those who do, and the latter group are forced to sell their services cheaply as a result
hence property and lack of property are ‘the basic categories of all class situations’
Within the two categories of ‘property’ and ‘lack of property’, classes are differentiated according to the kind of property available, and the kind of services available
The concept of class presupposes the game of chance in the market, and hence the existence of a market
possession is not a category upon which classes are formed, whereas property is
the fate of slaves is not determined by market activity, and hence slaves are not a class, but a status group
3. Communal Action Flowing from Class Interest
So, classes are created by economic interest, and even at at only by those interests tied up in the market
but these interests are somewhat ambiguous, and do not necessarily lead to certain types of action
direction of interests may vary according to whether communal action has followed from the common economic interest e.g. through a trade union
the degree to which mass (and disparate?) actions are translated into communal and societal action will depend upon cultural and intellectual conditions
In order for class action to occur, classes must not just see the contrast in life chances at the market exchange, but recognise it as the result of:
the given distribution of property
basis of class action in antiquity, middle ages, feudalism etc (when food and agriculture were exploited for profit)
or the structure of the concrete economic order
as in the case of the modern proletariat
4. Types of ‘Class Struggle’
Hence a class may form the basis for class action, but will not necessarily do so
Class is not the same as community
denigratory comments about the idea that an individual can be in error as to his interest, but a class is infallible
The communal action from which classes originate is action between members of different classes, in the market exchange, namely
the labour market
the commodities market
the capitalistic enterprise (cf. Marxist views on class and exploitation)
this presupposes a legal order to protect property rights
historically, class action began through essential items in the commodities market, and as time has gone, has moved to wage disputes in the labour market
Class antagonisms are usually displayed between those that participate on the markets, not necessarily those with the most opposing interests
for example, between workers and manufacturers/business executives (cf. Olin Wright on managerial class position) rather than between workers and share-holders/bankers
this has led to ‘patriarchal socialism’ and alliances between the proletariat and other status groups (e.g. nobility??) against the bourgeoisie
5. Status Honour
In contrast to classes, status groups are normally communities
status refers to the components of a person’s fate that rest on social estimation of honour
property may or may not be regarded as a status qualification
often status ‘stands in sharp opposition to the pretensions of sheer property’
e.g. equality status of American ‘gentlemen’ - outside of business, even the richest man must treat the poorest (within the club) without condescension
6. Guarantees of Status...
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Notes on ideology, class, and methodology. Including summaries of Bourdieu, Durkheim, Weber, Zizek, Marx and Giddens....
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