Social Classes: A Sociological Analysis

To fully comprehend social classes in today's British society, as well as in the past, it is necessary to be aware of the theories on classes elaborated by some of the most respectable philosophers. In this section, attention is paid to three prominent philosophers concerning with sociology and to their point of view on class. In order to provide objective and compact picture of class perception throughout the history, two sociologists from the nineteenth and early twentieth century and one from late twentieth and early twenty first century were chosen in order to explain different class theories. The first is Karl Marx, the second one is Max Weber and the last one is Pierre Bourdieu.

Karl Marx, a German philosopher of nineteenth century is

Unlike Karl Marx, who understood class being based on economy only, Max Weber perceived class in a broader sense (Max Weber – Summary of Theories, 2014). He claimed that social stratification is seen as interrelationship within three parts: class, status and party. Class, similarly to Marx's belief, is connected to economic wealth – that is to say, as difference between manual workers of working class and capitalists of middle class. Status stands for inequality caused by non-economic factors, for instance, female workers and certain ethnic minorities can get lower salaries in their jobs than male workers or ethnic majority. Finally, party is related to politics and those dissimilarities which are caused by engagement in different political domains (Max Weber on Social Inequality, 2014). In connection to class, Weber introduced four divisions of class regarding positions of individuals due to job market: “the dominant, property-owning and commercial class; the white collar intelligentsia; the petty burgeoisie (owners of small businesses); the manual working class“ (Max Weber's Theory of stratification – summary, 2014). Aforementioned distinction is based upon theory of life chances proposed by Max Weber and can be explained as opportunities (chances) and skills (qualifications) one has or does not have in order to succeed in employment, education,

Similarly to Max Weber, Bourdieu explained class in its broader sense. As he understood that class cannot be explained from economical point of view alone, Bourdieu presented three forms of capitals, based on which social class stratification is elaborated: economic, cultural and social capital. Economic capital is described in a typical way in connection with financies and the ownership of the means of the production. Due to the fact that cultural capital includes various aspects of life such as taste of food, film preferences, use of spare time, usage of language, way of wearing clothes, etc., it can be, according to Bourdieu, further subdivided into three subtypes: embodied, objectified and institutionalized cultural capital (The Forms of Capital, 1986). Andy Blunden, in his article Bourdieu on Status, Class and Culture, explains what cultural capital means in connection with one's social class:

the bourgeois child knows the price of an Impressionist painting at auction and where it should hang in the drawing room, like the working class boy knows who won the World Cup and how to eat a pie. Professionals know from an early age who is a good director, like a young working class girl knows the actors and actresses of popular cinema (Bourdieu on Status, Class and Culture,