HIRE WRITER

Social Class and Status

This is FREE sample
This text is free, available online and used for guidance and inspiration. Need a 100% unique paper? Order a custom essay.
  • Any subject
  • Within the deadline
  • Without paying in advance
Get custom essay

Influence is held greatly upon not only having money, but alsoyet where it comes from. Money is not just a number, it defines who people are and where they stand on the social ladder. One can be heavily influenced through a variety of means that impacts them vastly through family or politically and so forth. With this one can craft through rising up the ranks to embark on success. When at such a low starting point, there is no where to go but up. One’s success determines the future and that future is prevalent in which one is classified over income and career position.

Social class is what establishes a person’s position in society that is broken down into six components: the upper class, upper-middle, lower-middle, the working class, the working poor, and the lower class. This foundation enacts one’s social status asthat is either achieved by merit or ascribed in virtue. Many believe in the There are many beliefs to the distinction of social class and that statusstatus that impacts one’s education, career, health, etc where it is grouped to transform one’s life, ultimately altering what lies ahead.

First, one can identify the upper class as 1%. The middle class as a whole has fallen in size but is still greater than the upper and lower class. Now the lower class is dependent on their income and status in terms of a job or career, such as the working class. Note that the working class has enough to provide for basic necessities yet would also require social status to sustain in whatever receiving income is acquired.

Seeing that the upper class is 1%, Pew Research Center saw that the wealth gaps between upper-income families and lower- and middle-income families in 2016 were at the highest levels recorded (cnbc.com). Upper income has always had more than enough to fulfill needs and it shows of the recent depreciation of the middle class (for now). The middle class is yet to far to reach the income of an upper class household. Pew has also analyzed that the middle class is earning 67%-200% of a state’s median income (businessinsider.com).

Notwithstanding that the middle class is unattainable to more of the finer things, earnings is set up to be between two-thirds and double the median household income. This leaves us with the lower class, to be associated with a socio-economic status of low education, status, and low income that below average. In this case assets are limited, where it is insistent upon the need to save money that can be arduous for some. This limitation serves as a difficulty for the lower income class for in reason of not only securing a job, nonetheless relying remarkably on a job.

Karl Marx defines class around his philosophy as “society operat[ing] in a state of class conflict,” crucial to the centre revolving his theories. From this, Marx is smanifesting in saying one’s power is retained from their socio-economic status. However, he also defines class conflict and struggle as “the economic organization of most societies.” In which follower of Karl Marx, Marxist per se, it is never ending in terms of interest that captivate within workers and the disparity with capitalist.

Therefore, capitalists accumulate wealth by exploiting workers while workers maintain andor advance their own well-being only by resisting capitalist exploitation (thoughtco.com). On the contrary, Max Weber’s concept of his rationalization theory proposes that “bureaucracy is the basis for the systematic formation of any organisation… to ensure efficiency and economic effectiveness.” Weber is saying that it is optimal to put an organisation’s power into play and in also concerning objectivity and subjectivity. He differentiates his own meaning of status byof beholding such “noneconomic qualities [as] honour, prestige, ethnicity, race and religion.”

In stating this, Weber holds it to his own concept of the three-component theory of stratification, also known as “Weberian Stratification.” The Weberian Stratification consist of class, status, and power with an accession to social stratification, where individuals are grouped on occupation, income, wealth, social status, or power either socially or politically. He also argues in an individual’s power deriving from socio-economic status and which is through state of class. Weber also insist that social stratification influence wealth, prestige, and power. For wealth it is to be equipped into owning a variety of buildings, corporations, etc. Prestige is to be respected in acknowledging one’s position. Then there is power, which it to be able to achieve one’s goal by any means, no matter what contending crowd may oppose.

Social class and status correlate within one’s life as to their job. The level of income represents where they stand in the social class. Now, to determine income it is established through what level of position one holds in their occupation, which is called social status. They differentiate through the terms they are described as. Social class is economic, it classifies by categorizing the levels one can be placed through. Social status regards to more of the authority the hold that is seen through power as said with Max Weber.

In Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald idealizes the American Dream, what it mean in the novel. For the novel’s protagonist, Gatsby, he had achieved this American dream in pursuit of his former lover. “It is reasonable to assert that Jay Gatsby was the major literary character of the United States in the twentieth century.”At first he was born into a low income background where he had started off, then he had attempted and succeeded to to become this great, mysterious, rich stature no one had known or seen.

Of course, as it was the “Roaring Twenties,” bootlegging had became popular and Gatsby had achieved this American Dream through illegal means. Right off the bat the readers can see that the main characters represent the upper class such as Daisy and Tom Buchanan, who are made up of old money. Gatsby though is made of new money as he acquired from illegal means mentioned earlier. From such high social status and class, the well being of a person has good health, income, education, yet it is the opposite for most with someone in a low social status and class.

References

Cite this paper

Social Class and Status. (2021, Mar 28). Retrieved from https://samploon.com/social-class-and-status/

We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. By continuing we’ll assume you’re on board with our cookie policy

Hi!
Peter is on the line!

Don't settle for a cookie-cutter essay. Receive a tailored piece that meets your specific needs and requirements.

Check it out