Weberian view of inequality

What is Weberiansim?

• Max Weber (the founder of Webariansm) was a social action theorist that has been described as the 'ghost of Marx'. He wanted to understand the meanings behind people's actions and gain veresthen.
• He agreed with Marx that the ownership of property and capital were important dimensions of privilege within society, however not the only dimensions.
• Weber argued that social inequality was largely a product of three dimensions; class (ecomominc conditions such as a persons income, wealth and occupation), status (a persons social standing within society/community), and power (political dimesions and issues of power).
• Using his definition Weber identified 4 social classes:
  • 1) The privileged by virtue of property and or/education
  • 2) The petit-bourgeoisie (shop keepers and small business men)
  • 3) White collar workers (technicians, clerks and managers)
  • 4) Blue collar workers (the manual working class)

Webarian veiw on inequality

• Webarians belive that a person's life chances (the opportunities a person has to have a decent education, housing, health and employment) are severly affected by inequality and class, status and power.
• Class
  • This is concerend with the production of goods and the ownership, or non owership, of economic resources as well as occupational skills.
  • A person's class is based on what they bring to the 'market place'.
  • This market place consists of many positions which vary according to the source, amount of money, education and skills. those with more will acheive more (meritocracy).
  • Homogeneous classes are not a given, so within a class there are several layers.
  • People can be socially mobile.
  • The…