Critical perspectives on Marx's approach to Social Classes in Society

Scientific Essay from the year 2016 in the subject Sociology - Social System and Social Structure language: English abstract: Social class issues have taken a crucial role in the social sciences (Martti 2000). The term 'social class' was developed in the 18th and 19th centuries and has been used widely particularly by sociologists and political-economic theorists such as Thomas Hobbes John Locke Jean Jacques Rousseau Karl Marx Max Weber Ralf Dahrendorf and so on (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2012). It is clear that societies have been stratified into various classes (Roberts 2001). Social inequality and the differences between people are two such obvious characteristics in every society that it has become necessary to classify society into the different classes (Crompton and Gubbay 1980). Furthermore Steenberge (2012) states that normally individuals are grouped into classes based on their economic positions and similar political and economic interests within their culture. Inequalities can be seen as being stratified on the basis of social class and this has been a main area of Marx's theory. Social class is a key to comprehending the different social opportunities available to different social groups and individuals in societies (Marsh et al 2000).In the Communist Manifesto Marx saw the whole of society as likely to have just two huge classes; Bourgeoisie and Proletariat which come into direct conflict with one another especially in capitalist societies (Crompton 1993). Whilst Weber's viewpoint about social class is analogous with Marx perspective he supposed that having private property could have a role in the formation of social classes in societies (Reid 1981). He also assumed that the variances between social classes in society might be a source of social conflict between them but viewed the conflict in a different way to Marx as Weber had seen that the social struggle between the classes over making goods as a normal conflict in al