Stratification & Differentiation

1. Stratification & Differentiation Theory

2. System v Action theories • Draw here Tamara!

3. Today’s study is Father Christmas

4. Actually it is Marxism He didn’t really believe in Father Christmas he felt that religion was just another form of ‘ideological control’ • So you can’t remember what this is? Click here and utilise this sociological dictionary from the website Find the old man reading the book and click there! Essentially try to think of brainwashing ‘the imposition of ideas upon people’

5. A lot of Marxists talk about drugs Marxism ‘Religion is the opium of the masses’

6. Lenin also talked about drink 'Religion is a kind of spiritual gin in which the slaves of capital drown their human shape and their claims to any decent life' `

7. But in the main if we look at the family we can see that they don’t just talk about drugs and drink To begin with any analysis of a Marxist view you have to understand his view on society. You have covered a little of this already. So the Christmas man begins with Our economic system is referred to as the ‘Capitalist economic system” The economic system

8. Capitalist society The bourgeoisie (the capitalists, or class that own & control the means of economic production) In your Sociology in Focus this group is referred to as the “Ruling Class” This group in modern societies are the private owners of banks, factories basically your fat cats of industry. The ‘power’ (a central concept in sociology) is held in the hands of a few.

9. Mr Christmas’s words ‘The Proletariat’S.I.F words ‘the subject class- the workers’ The Ruling class exploit the working class • They work for the Ruling Class producing goods, and services and are paid a pittance. The rewards for all their hard labour are placed in the hands minority Ruling class!

10. Conflict So Marx based his ideas on conflict between the ruling class and the subject class. The cause of the tension was economic inequality like functionalists he saw that social institutions in society helped maintain the status quo of society.

11. Society is made up Social Institutions The family is one of these institutions which works to maintain the existing relations within society. Outline in what ways you see the family maintaining the existing state of society. Think how Marx would think, examine the economic relations!

12. End analysis He is just here for cuteness! Capitalists use the family as a way of increasing their economic profits, and their oppression and control of the proletariat.

13. Marx’s friend the feminist Engels The Origin of private property and the State 1884 Examined the evolution of family over time. He felt that the nuclear family emerged to deal with the problematic of male inhertance. Develop this idea forward yourself

14. Cooper • Marxists have also pointed out how the family is an "ideological conditioning unit" (Cooper) which trains children to have attitudes which are acceptable to capitalism. The family also consumes goods which help the capitalist system increase profits. Even our ideas about sexual jealousy and the "double standard" of sexual morality can be traced by Marxists to the idea of private property: men "own" women, and this was originally a device to make sure they passed their wealth to their sons.

15. Marxism: Engels So let me do my rant “men controlling women” Monogamy providing the most effective way of enforcing this Made from his rib Adam’s Eve was inferior to him and likely to engage in sinful activities

16. Marxism The ownership and control of the ‘means of production’ is the main source of power and wealth

17. Weber: pronounce this beginning with a v • From your Theory and Methods module you will have heard of Mr Weber and his need for deep empathy in the study of social action….’Verstehen’ • He felt that study of social action should be on the experiences and motivations of the individual • We will now examine a little Weberian Social thought

18. Weber: pronounce this beginning with a v Weber was born 46 years after Mr Christmas the world of social thought was a buzz the dramatic influence of Marxist thought. He felt that the class structure of capitalist society had become far more complex than Marx’s interpretation more to it than two polarising classes

19. Weber He felt that we should be examining the position of the economic market place and not as Marx suggested that the ‘means of production’ should be the main feature of class German social theorist born 1860, died 1924 as we all do

20. Weber: Life Chances Weber identified 3 types of stratification important to capitalist societies • Firstly, Class: economic order • Secondly, Status: ‘effective claim to social esteem’ • Status groups are communities which develop a sense of belonging (love me) and have distinctive patterns of consumption (did someone mention shopping?) and life-style. Is status class restrictive?

21. Weber having a party again! His third aspect is Party “This is a group that forms in order to gain power and in so doing reflects and promotes the interests of any social group” Kidd, Abbot & Czerniawski (2004) Examples of this would be Greenpeace, Trade Unions and even Outrage

22. Weberian theories of class Class then is the economic order Status refers to the social order Status groups are communities which develop a sense of belonging (love me) and have distinctive patterns of consumption (did someone mention shopping?) and life-style.

23. Weber & status • Cuts across class divides • Can divide groups

24. Weber: movin’ on • Yet he distinguished differences within the proletariat • A persons class position could be defined in terms of their market position: economic & conditions of work

25. Class & Weber

26. Weber & Power • His approach shows us that not only are class boundaries too simplistic but that also they are also about power • We can use his theory to illustrate gender and ethnic disadvantage • Also although you can categorise someone’s class they may not agree with this..give examples

27. Weber and future social thought Embourgeoisement In your summaries of debates go to this article and read through it. We can discuss how we can then link this to Weber in Wednesday’s session