Sociology: Inequality and Class

Inequality and class

The concept of class has been of interest to sociologists through out history. There has been debate that in postmodern societies the concept of class has become irrelevant, though class based inequality still seems to persist in Australian society. The earlier explanations of class inequality are outdated; instead we need to identify theory's that are more relevant to Australia's postmodern society. Class inequality is still an issue today, and is important to understanding society and more importantly providing equal life chances for all Australians.

Karl Marx (1864-1920) uses the concept of class to explain societies structure of inequality and how society should deal with the issue caused by inequality. Marx explains that class division derived from the production of the basic needs; food, water and shelter in early industrial and capitalists societies. Marx explains that there were two separate classes, the most powerful class, bourgeoisie, the capitalist class who owned most of the wealth and means to production, and the lower class, proletariat, the class that worked for the bourgeoisie (Cuff, Sharrock and Francis 2006: 9-34).

Max Weber (1864-1920) expanded on Marx's theory and speculated that ones class was not only determined by there capital ownership, but also skill and education. An individuals class situation reflects the economic resources they posses and the rewards and social opportunities that they can gain from these resources, Weber calls these rewards 'life chances' (Tumin 1985: 133-135)

Pierre Bordieu (1930-2002) expands on the idea of capital; he explains that there is social, cultural and symbolic capital that influences our life chances. We are socialized into our class, Boudieu uses the term habitus to explain this; habitus is the skills, behaviors and practices passed on from our parents and generations before, Due to our life chances there are meaningful patterns of behavior, such as consumption and lifestyle which determine our social groups. There are certain tastes and practices that are of higher value that seem to cause class divisions. (Germov and Poole 2007: 53-55).

In post modern Australian society majority of people are considered to be in the middle class. a small proportion of society makes up ruling elite class, and only 8.5 percent of people are suffering from poverty. It is seen as a valuable ingredient in a stable society in that elite positions can be contested, avoiding class conflict (Abercrombie, Hill and Turner 2006: 356-357). Michael Gilding explains the ruling elite of Australian society still seems to be an exclusive class; this class consists of elite business leaders who inherit family money, control the wealth and pass it onto the next generation. The people in this class attend private schools and join exclusive clubs.