Editing Social class (section)

==Theoretical models==
Definitions of social classes reflect a number of [[social theory|sociological perspectives]], informed by [[anthropology]], [[economics]], [[psychology]] and [[sociology]]. The major perspectives historically have been [[Marxism]] and [[structural functionalism]]. The common stratum model of class divides society into a simple hierarchy of [[working class]], [[middle class]] and [[upper class]]. Within academia, two broad schools of definitions emerge: those aligned with 20th-century sociological stratum models of [[class society]] and those aligned with the 19th-century [[historical materialist]] economic models of the [[Marxist]]s and [[anarchist]]s.<ref>{{cite book|author=Serravallo, Vincent|chapter=Class|editor=Parrillo, Vincent N.|title=Encyclopedia of social problems, Volume 1|publisher=Sage|year=2008|isbn=978-1-4129-4165-5|page=131|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mRGr_B4Y1CEC&pg=PA131}}</ref><ref name="The American Class Structure">{{cite book | last = Gilbert | first = Dennis | year = 1998 | title = The American Class Structure | publisher = Wadsworth Publishing | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-534-50520-2 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/americanclassstr0000gilb_c7f2 }}</ref><ref name="Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships">{{cite book | last = Williams | first = Brian |author2=Stacey C. Sawyer |author3=Carl M. Wahlstrom | year = 2005 | title = Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships | publisher = Pearson | location = Boston | isbn = 978-0-205-36674-3}}</ref>

Another distinction can be drawn between analytical concepts of social class, such as the Marxist and Weberian traditions, as well as the more empirical traditions such as [[socioeconomic status]] approach, which notes the correlation of income, education and wealth with social outcomes without necessarily implying a particular theory of social structure.<ref>{{cite book|first=John|last= Scott|title=Class: Critical Concepts|date=1996|volume= 2 |page= 310|publisher = Taylor & Francis|isbn = 9780415132985}}</ref>

{{Further|People accounting hypothesis}}

===Marxist===
{{Main|Class in Marxist theory|Communist society}}
{{quote box
| quote = "[Classes are] large groups of people differing from each other by the place they occupy in a historically determined system of social production, by their relation (in most cases fixed and formulated in law) to the means of production, by their role in the social organization of labor, and, consequently, by the dimensions of the share of social wealth of which they dispose and the mode of acquiring it."
| source = —[[Vladimir Lenin]], [http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1919/jun/19.htm ''A Great Beginning''] in June 1919
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}}

For Marx, class is a combination of objective and subjective factors. Objectively, a class shares a common [[relations of production|relationship]] to the [[means of production]]. The class society itself is understood as the aggregated phenomenon to the "interlinked movement", which generates the quasi-objective concept of capital.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Postone |first=Moishe |url=https://libcom.org/article/time-labor-and-social-domination-reinterpretation-marxs-critical-theory-moishe-postone |title=Time, Labor, and Social Domination: A Reinterpretation of Marx's Critical Theory |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |others=via [[libcom.org]] |year=1993 |isbn=0-521-39157-1 |language=En |oclc=26853972 |author-link=Moishe Postone |access-date=27 April 2022 |archive-date=14 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414213635/https://libcom.org/article/time-labor-and-social-domination-reinterpretation-marxs-critical-theory-moishe-postone |url-status=live }}</ref> Subjectively, the members will necessarily have some perception ("[[class consciousness]]") of their similarity and common interest. Class consciousness is not simply an awareness of one's own class interest but is also a set of shared views regarding how society should be organized legally, culturally, socially and politically. These class relations are reproduced through time.

In [[Marxist theory]], the [[class structure]] of the [[capitalist mode of production (Marxist theory)|capitalist mode of production]] is characterized by the conflict between two main classes: the [[bourgeoisie]], the capitalists who own the [[means of production]] and the much larger [[proletariat]] (or "working class") who must sell their own labour power ([[wage labour]]). This is the fundamental economic structure of work and property, a state of inequality that is normalized and [[Base and superstructure|reproduced through cultural ideology]].

For Marxists, every person in the process of production has separate social relationships and issues. Along with this, every person is placed into different groups that have similar interests and values that can differ drastically from group to group. Class is special in that does not relate to specifically to a singular person, but to a specific role.<ref name="Conley, Dalton 2017"/>

Marxists explain the history of "civilized" societies in terms of a [[class conflict|war of classes]] between those who control production and those who produce the goods or services in society. In the Marxist view of [[capitalism]], this is a conflict between capitalists ([[bourgeoisie]]) and wage-workers (the proletariat). For Marxists, class antagonism is rooted in the situation that control over social production necessarily entails control over the class which produces goods—in capitalism this is the [[Exploitation of labour|exploitation]] of workers by the bourgeoisie.<ref name = karl231>Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels. "Manifesto of the Communist Party", ''Selected Works'', Volume 1; London,' 1943; p. 231.</ref>

Furthermore, "in countries where modern civilisation has become fully developed, a new class of petty bourgeois has been formed".<ref name = karl231/> "An industrial army of workmen, under the command of a capitalist, requires, like a real army, officers (managers) and sergeants (foremen, over-lookers) who, while the work is being done, command in the name of the capitalist".<ref>Karl Marx. ''Capital: An Analysis of Capitalist Production'', Volume 1; Moscow; 1959; p. 332.</ref>

Marx makes the argument that, as the bourgeoisie reach a point of wealth accumulation, they hold enough power as the dominant class to shape political institutions and society according to their own interests. Marx then goes on to claim that the non-elite class, owing to their large numbers, have the power to overthrow the elite and create an equal society.<ref>{{cite web|title = Manifesto of the Communist Party|url = https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/|website = www.marxists.org|access-date = 2015-12-09|archive-date = 24 July 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180724053228/https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/|url-status = live}}</ref>

In ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]'', Marx himself argued that it was the goal of the proletariat itself to displace the capitalist system with [[socialism]], changing the social relationships underpinning the class system and then developing into a future [[communist society]] in which: "the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all". This would mark the beginning of a [[classless society]] in which human needs rather than profit would be motive for production. In a society with democratic control and [[production for use]], there would be no class, no state and no need for financial and banking institutions and money.<ref>Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels. "Manifesto of the Communist Party", ''Selected Works'', Volume 1; London,' 1943; pp. 232–234.</ref><ref>Karl Marx ''Critique of the Gotha Program'' (1875)</ref>

These theorists have taken this binary class system and expanded it to include contradictory class locations, the idea that a person can be employed in many different class locations that fall between the two classes of proletariat and bourgeoisie. [[Erik Olin Wright]] stated that class definitions are more diverse and elaborate through identifying with multiple classes, having familial ties with people in different a class, or having a temporary leadership role.<ref name="Conley, Dalton 2017"/>

===Weberian===
{{main|Three-component theory of stratification}}
[[Max Weber]] formulated a [[three-component theory of stratification]] that saw social class as emerging from an interplay between "class", "status" and "power". Weber believed that class position was determined by a person's relationship to the means of production, while status or "Stand" emerged from estimations of honor or prestige.<ref>Weber, Max (2015/1921). "Classes, Stände, Parties" in Weber's ''Rationalism and Modern Society'', edited and translated by Tony Waters and Dagmar Waters, pp. 37–57.</ref>

Weber views class as a group of people who have common goals and opportunities that are available to them. This means that what separates each class from each other is their value in the marketplace through their own goods and services. This creates a divide between the classes through the assets that they have such as property and expertise.<ref name="Conley, Dalton 2017"/>

Weber derived many of his key concepts on social stratification by examining the social structure of many countries. He noted that contrary to Marx's theories, stratification was based on more than simply ownership of [[Capital (economics)|capital]]. Weber pointed out that some members of the aristocracy lack economic wealth yet might nevertheless have political power. Likewise in Europe, many wealthy Jewish families lacked prestige and honor because they were considered members of a "pariah group".
* Class: A person's economic position in a society. Weber differs from Marx in that he does not see this as the supreme factor in stratification. Weber noted how managers of corporations or industries control firms they do not own.
* Status: A person's prestige, social honour or popularity in a society. Weber noted that political power was not rooted in capital value solely, but also in one's status. Poets and saints, for example, can possess immense influence on society with often little economic worth.
* Power: A person's ability to get their way despite the resistance of others. For example, individuals in state jobs, such as an employee of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], or a member of the [[United States Congress]], may hold little property or status, but they still hold immense power.

===Bourdieu===
{{main|Bourdieu#Theory of capital and class distinction}}
For [[Bourdieu]], the place in the [[social strata]] for any person is vaguer than the equivalent in Weberian sociology. Bourdieu introduced an array of concepts of what he refers to as types of capital. These types were economic capital, in the form assets convertible to [[money]] and secured as [[private property]]. This type of capital is separated from the other types of culturally constituted types of capital, which Bourdieu introduces, which are: personal cultural capital (formal education, knowledge); objective cultural capital (books, art); and institutionalized cultural capital (honours and titles).

===Great British Class Survey===
{{Main|Great British Class Survey}}
On 2 April 2013, the results of a survey<ref name="BBC Lab UK Survey">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/the-great-british-class-survey|title=Britain's Real Class System: Great British Class Survey |publisher=BBC Lab UK|access-date=4 April 2013|archive-date=6 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506082604/http://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/the-great-british-class-survey|url-status= live}}</ref> conducted by [[BBC Lab UK]] developed in collaboration with academic experts and slated to be published in the journal ''[[Sociology (journal)|Sociology]]'' were published online.<ref name= Sociology4213>{{cite journal |last1=Savage |first1=Mike |last2=Devine |first2=Fiona |last3=Cunningham |first3=Niall |last4=Taylor |first4=Mark |last5=Li |first5=Yaojun |author6=Johs. Hjellbrekke |author7= Brigitte Le Roux |last8=Friedman |first8=Sam |last9=Miles |first9=Andrew |title=A New Model of Social Class: Findings from the BBC's Great British Class Survey Experiment |journal=Sociology |date=2 April 2013 |doi= 10.1177/0038038513481128 |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=219–250 |s2cid=85546872 |url=http://dro.dur.ac.uk/15884/1/15884.pdf |access-date=11 July 2019 |archive-date=25 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025100216/http://dro.dur.ac.uk/15884/1/15884.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=BBCHugeSurvey4313>{{cite news|title=The Great British class calculator: People in the UK now fit into seven social classes, a major survey conducted by the BBC suggests.|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22007058|access-date=4 April 2013|newspaper=BBC|date=3 April 2013|archive-date=20 April 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180420085749/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22007058 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=BBCMethodology>{{cite news|title=How do you identify new types of class?|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/22001963 |access-date=|newspaper=BBC|date=3 April 2013|last1=|archive-date=24 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224064928/http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/22001963|url-status= dead}}</ref><ref name=BBCResults4213>{{cite news|title=The Great British class calculator: Mike Savage from the London School of Economics and Fiona Devine from the University of Manchester describe their findings from The Great British Class Survey. Their results identify a new model of class with seven classes ranging from the Elite at the top to a 'Precariat' at the bottom.|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/21970879 |access-date=4 April 2013|newspaper=BBC|date=3 April 2013|last1=Savage|first1=Mike|last2=Devine|first2=Fiona|archive-date=10 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171210083506/http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/21970879 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=NYT4313>{{cite news|title=Multiplying the Old Divisions of Class in Britain|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/world/europe/multiplying-the-old-divisions-of-class-in-britain.html |access-date=4 April 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=3 April 2013|last=Lyall|first=Sarah|archive-date=3 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703021923/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/world/europe/multiplying-the-old-divisions-of-class-in-britain.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The results released were based on a survey of 160,000 residents of the [[United Kingdom]] most of whom lived in [[England]] and described themselves as "[[white people|white]]". Class was defined and measured according to the amount and kind of economic, cultural and social resources reported. [[Economic capital#Social science|Economic capital]] was defined as [[income]] and [[Asset (economics)|assets]]; [[cultural capital]] as amount and type of cultural interests and activities; and [[social capital]] as the quantity and [[social status]] of their [[Friendship|friends]], [[family]] and personal and business contacts.<ref name=BBCResults4213 /> This theoretical framework was developed by [[Pierre Bourdieu#Theory of capital and class distinction|Pierre Bourdieu]] who first published his [[La Distinction|theory of social distinction]] in 1979.

===Three-level economic class model===

Today, concepts of social class often assume three general economic categories: a very wealthy and powerful upper class that owns and controls the means of production; a middle class of professional workers, [[small business]] owners and low-level [[managers]]; and a lower class, who rely on low-paying jobs for their livelihood and experience [[poverty]].

====Upper class====
{{Main|Upper class}}
{{See also|Elite|Aristocracy|Oligarchy|Business magnate|Ruling class}}
[[File:Troisordres.jpg|thumb|upright|A symbolic image of three orders of feudal society in Europe prior to the [[French Revolution]], which shows the rural third estate carrying the clergy and the nobility]]
The upper class<ref name="Brown-2009-953">{{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=953|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GcmXgeBE7k0C&pg=PA953}}</ref> is the social class composed of those who are [[economic inequality|rich]], well-born, powerful, or a combination of those. They usually wield the greatest political power. In some countries, wealth alone is sufficient to allow entry into the upper class. In others, only people who are born or marry into certain aristocratic bloodlines are considered members of the upper class and those who gain great wealth through commercial activity are looked down upon by the aristocracy as ''[[nouveau riche]]''.<ref>The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, "nouveau riche French Usually Disparaging. a person who is newly rich", 1969, Random House</ref> 

In the United Kingdom, for example, the upper classes are the aristocracy and royalty, with wealth playing a less important role in class status. Many aristocratic peerages or titles have seats attached to them, with the holder of the title (e.g. Earl of Bristol) and his family being the custodians of the house, but not the owners. Many of these require high expenditures, so wealth is typically needed. Many aristocratic peerages and their homes are parts of estates, owned and run by the title holder with moneys generated by the land, rents or other sources of wealth. However, in the United States where there is no aristocracy or royalty, the upper class status exclusive of Americans of ancestral wealth or patricians of European ancestry is referred to in the media as the extremely wealthy, the so-called "super-rich", though there is some tendency even in the United States for those with old family wealth to look down on those who have accrued their money through business, the struggle between [[new money]] and [[old money]].{{cn|date=March 2025}}

The upper class is generally contained within the richest one or two percent of the population. Members of the upper class are often born into it and are distinguished by immense wealth which is passed from generation to generation in the form of estates.<ref>{{cite book|author=Akhbar-Williams, Tahira|chapter=Class Structure|editor=Smith, Jessie C.|title=Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture, Volume 1|publisher= ABC-CLIO|year=2010|isbn=978-0-313-35796-1|page=322|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=10rEGSIItjgC&pg=PA322|access-date=2 July 2015|archive-date=19 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230219212400/https://books.google.com/books?id=10rEGSIItjgC&pg=PA322 |url-status=live}}</ref> Based on some new social and political theories, the upper class consists of the most wealthy decile group in society, holding nearly 87% of the whole society's wealth.<ref name = baizidi>{{Cite journal|last=Baizidi|first=Rahim|date=2019-09-02|title=Paradoxical class: paradox of interest and political conservatism in middle class|journal=Asian Journal of Political Science|volume=27|issue=3|pages=272–285|doi=10.1080/02185377.2019.1642772|s2cid=199308683|issn=0218-5377}}</ref>

====Middle class====
{{Main|Middle class|Upper middle class|Lower middle class|Bourgeoisie}} See also: [[Middle-class squeeze]]
The middle class is the group of people with jobs that pay significantly more than the [[poverty line]]. Examples of these types of jobs are factory workers, salespeople, teachers, cooks and nurses. There is a new trend by some scholars which assumes that the size of the middle class in every society is the same. For example, in paradox of interest theory, the middle class are those who are in 6th–9th decile groups, holding nearly 12% of the whole society's wealth.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Baizidi|first=Rahim|date=2019-07-17|title=Paradoxical class: paradox of interest and political conservatism in middle class|journal=Asian Journal of Political Science|volume=27|issue=3|pages=272–285|doi=10.1080/02185377.2019.1642772|s2cid=199308683|issn=0218-5377}}</ref>

The middle class is the most contested of the three categories, the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the lower and upper classes.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Middle class|editor=Stearns, Peter N.|title=Encyclopedia of social history|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=1994|isbn=978-0-8153-0342-8|page=621|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kkIeyCEedrsC&pg=PA621}}</ref> One example of the contest of this term is that in the United States "middle class" is applied very broadly and includes people who would elsewhere be considered [[working class]]. Middle-class workers are sometimes called "[[white-collar worker]]s".

Theorists such as [[Ralf Dahrendorf]] have noted the tendency toward an enlarged middle class in modern Western societies, particularly in relation to the necessity of an educated work force in technological economies.<ref>Dahrendorf, Ralf. (1959) Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press.</ref> Perspectives concerning [[globalization]] and [[neocolonialism]], such as [[dependency theory]], suggest this is due to the shift of low-level labour to [[developing nation]]s and the [[Third World]].<ref>Bornschier V. (1996), 'Western society in transition' New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers.</ref>

====Lower class====
[[File:Camden NJ poverty.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|In many countries, the lowest stratum of the working class, the [[underclass]], often lives in urban areas with low-quality [[civil services]]]]
{{Main|Working class |Proletariat}}
{{See also|Precarity}}

The lower class (occasionally described as the working class) are those employed in low-paying [[wage]] jobs with very little economic security. The term "lower class" also refers to persons with low income.

The working class is sometimes separated into those who are employed but lacking financial security (the "[[working poor]]") and an [[underclass]]—those who are long-term [[unemployed]] and/or [[homeless]], especially those receiving [[welfare spending|welfare]] from the [[state (polity)|state]]. The latter is today considered analogous to the Marxist term "[[lumpenproletariat]]". However, during the time of Marx's writing the lumpenproletariat referred to those in dire poverty; such as the homeless.<ref name="Brown-2009-953" /> Members of the working class are sometimes called [[blue-collar worker]]s.