Editing Social class (section)

===Marxist===
{{Main|Class in Marxist theory|Communist society}}
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| 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"/>