Week 8 (midterm) blog - "Class stratification" / posted by So Jeong Yeon (연소정)

1. Introdution

 

In this week’s class, we learned about class stratification. We already learned social stratification briefly when studying social structure. I think class stratification and social stratification are a little bit different but this week’s topic is basically an extension of last classes.

 

 2. What I learned

 

The definition of stratification is the structuring of society by level of command over resources like wealth, power and prestige.
 

There are two theories related to class stratification. Karl Marx and Max Weber modeled stratification in different ways.

     



Karl Marx
soure:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx

Max Weber
soure:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber





















Karl Marx divide all of society into two hierarchical social classes. Marx’s model of social stratification is based on control over the wealth, in particular, MEANS OF PRODUCTION(resources, capital). The BOURGEOISIE who control the means of production have the power. They exploits the PROLETARIAT who are workers and ensure they never get enough power.

 

In this class, I realized false consciousness. The proletariat are not necessarily aware of their status as a disadvantaged group. So Marx argued that if people would realize that a small group is manipulating them, they would rebel, overthrow the system and create a more classless society. I couldn’t think about this respect. Before, I thought simply that proletariat are always aware of their status as disadvantaged.

 

Unlike Karl Marx, Max Weber modeled stratification in three dimensions. CLASSES are economic, IDENTITIES are social, and PARTIES are political.

 

 

3. My opinion of the question

 

Q. In many places, including Korea, there is a strong relationship between education and social class, why?

 



who is an upper class?
soure:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Social_class

I think the more people get education, the higher the chance that people belong in the upper class is. People who receive high quality education and have a good educational background usually may be more likely to hold a white collar job.

 

I think, of course, a higher education does not necessarily prove that the person is competent. A person should be judged by their actions, ability, potential and dedication-not their educational background. However, Sadly, a person's educational background is all-important in many counties including Korea. Therefore, people who get a higher education are considered as capable and have a white collar job. And in general, white-collar jobs bring with it status and a high income than blue-collar jobs do.

 

Like this, education and financial status are related and social class is highly related to one’s income. As we learned in class, social class refers to grouping people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being ‘the wealth’ based division into upper, middle, and lower classes.