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Social Class Essay

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According to the traditional definition, a class is usually defined as a group of people who occupy a similar position in the economic system. Based on this definition, sociologists suggest that there are currently three classes, which are upper class, middle and lower class. Besides the traditional definition of class, there are also different views on the actual definition of class. Karl Marx, a famous philosopher suggested a theory of class based on the premises that the ‘’history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.’’ According to him, there are two great classes, which are the owners and the workers. Owners or capitalists should have power over workers due to the fact that they paid waves to workers and could …show more content…
There are many variations and things happen in life that we can’t just label someone as this or that. If a person who is a CEO of a big company today end up losing his home and live on the street the next day, then what would we consider him as? I think both of these definitions are trying to make the concept as standard and simple as possible. Additionally, I think both of these definitions do play a role in the continuing discrepancy between the rich and poor. For a person who is labeled as lower class, he would have a hard time finding a job and gaining the respect he deserves compared to those who belong in the middle and higher class. Even though we say that we welcome people from different backgrounds and circumstances, the truth is that we will always look at those who are poor with different eyes, as if they are inferior or not worthy. Despite their similarities, there are also some differences between the two definitions. The definition of poverty was based solely on the concept of Mollie Orshanky in the mid-1960s with some adjustments for inflation here and there. Other the other than, rather than focusing on simply just one concept, the definition of class is a combination of different ideas and concepts of many different sociologists, such as Karl Marx, Max Weber and Joseph

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