CHAPTER I

AN ATTEMPT TO DEFINE CLASS AND SOCIAL CLASS

The word class and especially the term social class have been and remain a source of great confusion in social science. It is the intention of this chapter to contribute to social theory by systematically analyzing these terms in a more comprehensive manner than has been heretofore attempted. A full understanding of social class is prerequisite to an extended discussion of social class rigidity and mobility.

Sombart 1 believes the time has come for social scientists to come to an understanding as to the meaning of class (Glierdun nach Ständen). The present confusion may be attributed to the many meanings of the word and to the fact that this has never been recognized, he says.

Some economists have been reluctant to use the descriptive terms "economic classes" and "occupational classes" and have preferred to refer to such divisions as "social classes." This has been one source of confusion.

Economic Aspects of Definition of Class and Social Class

People speak of propertied and property-less classes, of productive and unproductive classes, and of the working class.

Mombert 2 states that such general terms leave the word class quite empty of meaning.

Simkhovitch 3 defines classes as groups with similar sources of income. They are conscious of similar or identical economic interests. A social class is, for him, an organized body of individuals whole economic interests coincide. This formulation is quite Marxian, and it considers the class as a pressure group.

L. Von Stein 4 divides the classes of society into ownership classes, legal classes, and honorific classes. It is this last-mentioned category which many modern authorities would identify with social classes.

Although this is not his conclusive explanation, Ginsberg at one point states: 5

The primary determinants of social stratification are without doubt largely economic in character. Economic conditions determine an individual's occupation, and this in turn is generally a fair index of his mode of life and educational attainments, from which again may usually be inferred the sort of people whom he would meet on equal terms, the range of individuals from among whom he would normally choose his partner in marriage, and so forth.


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1. Werner Sombart, Deutscher Sozialismus (Berlin, 1934) p. 219.

2. Paul Mombert, "Zum Wesen der sozialen Klasse," in Hauptprobleme der Soziologie, vol. II (Munich, 1923) p. 239.

3. As reported in: ibid., p. 241

4. Lorenz von Stein, Die Gesellschaftslehre (Stuttgart, 1856) p. 273.

5. Morris Ginsberg, "Class Consciousness," Ency. of the Social Sciences, vol. III (New York, 1937) p. 537.