Marxist Theory And Social Class - 1238 Words

In contemporary Western societies, there is a social division due to stratification and classes. Strydom (2005) defines social class as group of individuals that share similarities like power and prestige. Saunders (2001) states that stratification is the presence of distinct social groups which are ranked. Therefore, the major difference is that stratification shows diversity while social classes defines an inequality. In Marxist theories, society is divided between two classes, and social stratification is the conflict between them. To illustrate this, China has faced communism for over a decade, in which has caused major social inequalities within the society. In fact, China is one of the few countries that the forces of communism and capitalism are involved. In this essay,it will describe the main idea of Marxist theory and other theories about social class ,then make an assessment of the use of Marxist theory in today’s world. For Marx there were two distinct groups in society; the ruling and subject group. The ruling class are those who own the means of production distribution and exchange, they also called the Bourgeoisie, but the subject class is those who must sell their labour in the market place in order to live, they could be called the Proletariat. Marx believed that the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat was in permanent opposition, the bourgeoisie exploits the proletariat as the wages workers receive for their labour is a fraction of the market value of theShow MoreRelatedNeo-Marxist Contribution to Theories O Social Class Inequality884 Words   |  4 PagesHow far would you say that Neo-Marxist have contributed to the continuing relevance of theories of social class inequality today? Social class inequality can be defined as the existence of socially created inequalities among and within classes. 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