Class counts: Comparative studies in class analysis

(1997) - Erik Olin Wright

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Abstract

Notes

Gradational vs relational social class

• Ossowski (1963) argued that theories of class could be divided into those based on ''ordering relations'' (Gradational views) and those based on ''relations of dependence'' (relational views

  • ''the class division is conceived as a division into groups differentiated according to the degree in which they possess the characteristic which constitutes the criterion of division, as for instance income-level''[p.145]

  • ''social classes form a system according to their one-sided or mutual dependence, dependence being understood in both cases as a dependence based on causal relations'' [p.146]

• The hallmark of the gradational view is that classes are always characterised as being ''above'' or ''below'' other classes

• Problem of continuous versus discontinuous gradations within systems of stratification- the extent to which these divisions are purely conventional or real

  • Barber's (1957) words, ''divisional units within systems of social stratification''

• Two basic definitions of gradational conceptualisations of social class

  • One defines class gradations primarily in terms of income

    • (Mayer and Buckley 1970) ''in a class system, the social hierarchy is based primarily on differences in monetary wealth and income [p.15]''

      • Class structure identical to income distribution

  • Other primarily in terms of social status

    • Parsons (1970) classes should be defined as ''an aggregate of such units, individual and/or collective, that in their own estimation and those of others in the society occupy positions of approximately equal status [p.24]''

    • Williams (1960) also defines class in status terms: ''the distribution of privileges... Begins to take on full sociological meaning only when it is related to prestige rankings, social-interaction grouping, and beliefs and values held in common.''

• In contrast, relational concepts of social class, define class by their structured social relationship to other classes

  • Not simply defined relative to other classes but in a social relation to other classes

    • The criteria for class is based upon qualitative differences

  • Within a relational perspective, the working class is defined by its qualitative location within a social relation that simultaneously defines the capitalist class

  • Within Weberian theory, workers are understood as sellers of labour power, capitalists as buyers

• It could be argued that implicitly there is within a gradational views of inequality a notion of social relations

  • More social status than someone else requires recognition of that more and what that more entails

• Relational classes insist that the basic structures of inequality in a society are also structures of interests and thus the basis for collective social action. Social relations do not simply define classes, they also determine classes; classes as social forces are real consequences of social relations.

• Gradational class structures are static. They provide a basis to descriptively label. They cannot designate dynamic social forces which determine and transform that distribution