Editing Social class (section)

{{short description|Hierarchical stratification of societies}}
{{Redirect|Class system|the role-playing game concept|Character class}}
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A '''social class''' or '''social stratum''' is a grouping of [[people]] into a set of [[Dominance hierarchy|hierarchical]] social categories,<ref>{{cite book |author=Grant, J. Andrew |chapter=class, definition of |editor=Jones, R.J. Barry |title=Routledge Encyclopedia of International Political Economy: Entries A–F |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-415-24350-6 |page=161 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a29qBofx8Y8C&pg=PA161}}</ref> the most common being the [[working class]] and the [[Bourgeoisie|capitalist class]]. Membership of a social class can for example be dependent on education, wealth, occupation, income, and belonging to a particular subculture or social network.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Class Structure in the U.S. {{!}} Boundless Sociology|url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-sociology/chapter/the-class-structure-in-the-u-s/|access-date=2021-03-05|website=courses.lumenlearning.com|archive-date=28 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228012522/https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-sociology/chapter/the-class-structure-in-the-u-s/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Class is a subject of analysis for [[sociologists]], [[political scientist]]s, [[anthropologists]] and [[Social history|social historians]]. The term has a wide range of sometimes conflicting meanings, and there is no broad consensus on a definition of class. Some people argue that due to [[social mobility]], class boundaries do not exist. In common parlance, the term social class is usually synonymous with [[Socioeconomic status|socioeconomic]] class, defined as "people having the same social, economic, cultural, political or educational status", e.g. the [[working class]], "an emerging professional class" etc.<ref>Princeton University. [http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=social+class&sub=Search+WordNet&o2=&o0=1&o8=1&o1=1&o7=&o5=&o9=&o6=&o3=&o4=&h=0 "Social class"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203052534/http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=social+class&sub=Search+WordNet&o2=&o0=1&o8=1&o1=1&o7=&o5=&o9=&o6=&o3=&o4=&h=0 |date=3 December 2013 }}. WordNet Search 3.1. Retrieved on: 2012-01-25.</ref> However, academics distinguish social class from [[socioeconomic status]], using the former to refer to one's relatively stable cultural background and the latter to refer to one's current social and economic situation which is consequently more changeable over time.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Rubin, M. |author2=Denson, N. |author3=Kilpatrick, S. |author4=Matthews, K.E. |author5=Stehlik, T. |author6=Zyngier, D. |year=2014 |title="I am working-class": Subjective self-definition as a missing measure of social class and socioeconomic status in higher education research |journal=Educational Researcher |volume=43 |issue = 4|pages=196–200 |doi=10.3102/0013189X14528373|s2cid=145576929 |hdl=1959.13/1043609 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

The precise measurements of what determines social class in society have varied over time. [[Karl Marx]] defined class by one's relationship to the [[means of production]] (their [[relations of production]]). His understanding of classes in modern [[capitalist society]] is that the [[proletariat]] work but do not own the means of production, and the [[bourgeoisie]], those who invest and live off the surplus generated by the proletariat's operation of the [[means of production]], do not work at all. This contrasts with the view of the sociologist [[Max Weber]], who contrasted class as determined by economic position, with [[social status]] (''Stand)''<!--German term, could be confused with English word, so italics needed--> which is determined by social prestige rather than simply just relations of production.<ref>Weber, Max (1921/2015). "Classes, Stände, Parties" in Weber's Rationalism and Modern Society: New Translations on Politics, Bureaucracy and Social Stratification. Edited and Translated by Tony Waters and Dagmar Waters, pp. 37–58.</ref> The term class is etymologically derived from the Latin ''classis'', which was used by [[census]] takers to categorize citizens by wealth in order to determine military service obligations.<ref>{{cite book |author=Brown, D.F. |chapter=Social class and Status |editor=Mey, Jacob |title=Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics |publisher=Elsevier |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-08-096297-9 |page=952 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GcmXgeBE7k0C&pg=PA952}}</ref>

In the late 18th century, the term class began to replace classifications such as [[Estates of the realm|estates]], [[Nobility|rank]] and [[Religious order|orders]] as the primary means of organizing society into hierarchical divisions.{{Fact or opinion|date=April 2022}} This corresponded to a general decrease in significance ascribed to hereditary characteristics and increase in the significance of wealth and [[income]] as indicators of position in the [[social hierarchy]].<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Class, Social |editor=Kuper, Adam |title=The social science encyclopedia|publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-415-32096-2 |page=111 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2oES3pJufP4C&pg=PA111}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Penney, Robert |chapter=Class, social|editor1=Christensen, Karen |editor2=Levinson, David |title=Encyclopedia of community: from the village to the virtual world, Volume 1 |publisher=SAGE |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7619-2598-9 |page=189 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t1geOjQ6R0MC&pg=PA189}}</ref>

The existence of social classes is considered normal in many societies, both historic and modern, to varying degrees.{{cn|date=October 2024}}