Can We Speak of a ‘Classless Society’

jackpot we speak of a contourless society? Stratification is a concept we argon faced with on a occasional basis, whether it is a conscious or subconscious element of our lives. Class has been a dominant form of brotherly social stratification in traditional views of society, but mans evolution in thought, behaviour, out find, organisation and culture has guide to critical criticism questioning the very existence of bod itself Does split yet exist? Can we speak of a classless society? Analysing the role that class does or doesnt play in upstart society is interesting because we are our very induce sources.Through first hand experiences of class we throne determine the role it plays in our eachday lives. Class can be viewed both subjectively depending on how we appreciate of ourselves, or objectively dealing with how we are structurally located in society. (Milner, 1999) Therefore, combining our subjective, micro-level cause of class with a macro-level, objective analys is of class, we can determine the degree to which class persists in raw society. The view of stratification and class will continuously persist as it provides a foundation for organization and identity in society.Although the word class will never die, the traditional role class plays in society has certainly died. Social Class is the class of today it has followed the death of the rigid, traditional and intolerant class of yesterday. Today throng are much em office staffed and can take control of their social standing, an idea supported with the current social mobility and emergence of the middle class. Social class classifies people in ground of gender, ethnicity, race, age, culture etcetera Naturally, economic class continues to play its role in society, but it does so in harmony with other sentiments of social class. Class is disintegrating because people are becoming much undividedistic. What matters today is how people see themselves, as opposed to how they are viewed by society. (Pakulski, et al. , 1996). Traditionally, society consisted of inherited classifications between masters and slaves, and lords and peasants etc. , which constituted the natural way of association. There are certain parts of the world where people lighten live by their inherited class. In India for example there is a clique System, in which every individual is categorized into divisions (colour, ancestors, rank).There are four main clubs with various sub-castes and each have a heavy(p) amount sub castes within them, further more outside the caste system are the Un strikeables who are loaded and viewed as impure all the time. The four main castes Brahminspriests Kshatryaswarriors Vaishyastraders Shudraslaborers A significant classical view of class is that of Marx. His traditional view of class contained two distinct classes Bourgeoisie or the capitalist class, who own their own means of production, and the Proletariat or working class, who own their own labour. Marx, et al. , 1848) Exploitation between these two social groupings in the capitalist production process defined Marxist class (Pakulski, et al. , 1996). The Marxist view is echt and objective, furthermore its concerned with the different strata as a whole kinda than the individuals within them (Saunders, P. 1990). For Marx, social power was achieved rigorously by dint of economic class. He viewed class as a rigid and arrangemental aspect of society. Hence, his interpretations of class failed to account for the fluidity of modern class.Conversely, Webers view of class is much more synonymous with the role class plays in modern society. He looks at class in toll of the cultural and social roles it plays in society and focuses more on stratification through consumption rather than production. (Pakulski, et al. , 1996) He juxtaposes class as an economic relation with class as a social relation, strange Marx who predominantly focused on economic class. Weber analysed class in terms of status and stratification in the light of property, ownership, occupational skills, religion, legal rights, lifestyle and consumption.This view of class is still relevant in todays society and therefore Webers view of class is non all told classified under the dead or dated outlook on class. Weber did also look at class in terms of economic relations and the possessions of economic goods, as well as market position. He believed that life chances are determined by how one is positioned in the market. (Weber, 1922) This relates to the Indian Caste systems where members of a high caste (Brahmans) enjoy more wealth and opportunities members of a low caste (untouchables) suffice unwanted menial jobs.The Untouchables world the lowest stratum are regarded as underprivileged, demoralized and backward, accordingly given the jobs such as sweeping, garbage collector and regarded as impure individuals- the idea that once they touch another individual there needs to be a cleansing as the u ntouchables are nasty. Individuals were relatively powerless, as they could not acquire wealth or status through changing position in a market place. Today, however, hard work and merit allows for social mobility and people have a stronger influence over their position in society. Milner, 1999) Having said that, some individuals do not get the luck of social mobility- due to the fact that they are either uneducated or the fact that they do not have the right social networks.Gandhi named the Untouchables Harijians (Children of God)- by doing this he tried upward mobility by trying to enkindle their status through different means (befriending and eating with the impure). Underclass in general tend to father multiple deprevisation, as they are dependent on state welfare (if given) and have low levels of statement hence making it harder for upward mobility (Saunders, P. 990) Social mobility and individual control over social standing has been greatly strengthened through the modern preoccupation with fosterage. The increased priority given to exposing larger proportions of society to education has empowered individuals, allowing them to use their educations as a tool to overcome class barriers. Overall, the ability to move up and down the social ladder in present day society makes class that is classified purely in an economic sense irrelevant. Economic class is no longer a steady, inherited, and life-long, concrete concept, as people can change their economic standing within their own life span or across generations. The concept of the middle class has also arisen through the idea of social mobility and empowerment through education, and does not concur with Marxs traditional view of class. Today, the proletariat of traditional Marxism is being replaced by machinery as the advancement in technology has made some manual work redundant.Furthermore, the idea that many modern companies do not solely rely on legal ownership of a company, but instead hire people due to technical competence, gives people the opportunity to hold managerial positions that have a lot of power. This is the idea of recruitment via meritocrality and hints at the death of classical conventions of class. Therefore, the idea of objective class being defined as the relationship between the ownership and non-ownership of productive resources has greatly dissolved (Lee, et al. , 1996).Having said that in India the opportunity of mobility is limited it all comes down to the status, power or class of the individual- this is due to the fact that India is still developing and full of politics, an individual would have to have the right connections in order to do or acquire anything but most most-valuable factor in accomplishing anything in India would be money. Furthermore if an individual is a Shudras they would have less capital compared to the Brahmans, hence decreasing their chance of opportunities they can take.Within the Indian caste system most people remain in one caste their entire life and sweep up within their caste. Although class is viewed differently today, it does not necessarily mean that modern views of class are more equitable. In fact, there is still a strong lack of equity within the different classifications of gender, ethnicity, sex activity etc furthermore there are parts of the world where class is a vital aspect in their everyday life and interaction. The difference being that in contemporary society people are more attached to individualist and consumerist forms of discrimination and inequality.It can be said that today consumption is more important than production, class is no longer a lifetime experience, but instead thought close to as an individual biography, and exclusion from the labour market is the more appropriate way to think about poverty. Although the concept of class is ever-present, the objective and subjective role it plays in society has been greatly alter within the western society, thereby accounting f or the death of classical class theories.Having said that India could never be a classless society as people are not acting constructively to make do class divisions, this is due to the fact that most underclass cannot undergo upward mobility, as they do not have the opportunity or resources. Class is a social relationship that invades each individuals lives. There has been a death of traditional class within the western society as individuals are acting constructively to escape class divisions and go towards a classless society, however an evolved definition of class continues to dominate the 21st century.Bibliography Saunders, P. 1990. Social Class and Stratification, USA, Rutledge. Pakulski J and Malcolm W. (1996) The Death of Class. London Sage. Milner, A. (1999) Class. London Sage. Weber, M. 1922 Class, Status and Party. tear from Economy and Society in W. G. Runciman ed. (1978) Max Weber Selections in Translation. Cambridge Cambridge University Press. Pp. 43-56. Giddens, A . (1994) Beyond Left and Right. Cambridge Polity. Pp. 139-48 Marx, K. and Engels, F. 1848 Bourgeois and proletarians, plane section 1 of The Communist Manifesto, in D. McLellan ed. (1977) Karl Marx Selected Writings. Oxford Oxford University Press. Pp. 222-231. Prandy, K. 2002. Ideal Types, Stereotypes and Class. The British Journal of Sociology, Volume 53 number 4, page14. Brahman. (2010). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved October 06, 2010, from Encyclopedia Britannica Online http//www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/77093/Brahman Harijans. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved October 06, 2010 from Encyclopedia. com http//www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1E1-Harijans. html