Social stratification from a Marxist perspective

Social stratification is a method of categorising people into different groups within society,
according to Marxists these groups are created based on “the different economic capacities
of individuals and their relationship to the means of production” (-eNotes). According to
Marxists there are two primary strata or classes these being the people who own the means
of production referred to as the bourgeoisie and those who sell their labour to the factory
owners referred to as the proletariat. According to Marx these two groups are in constant
conflict with each other over wealth power and status within society, in this conflict it is the
bourgeoisie who have the upper hand and are actively oppressing the proletariat, they do
this in a number of ways but primarily by creating a state of false consciousness, where the
proletariat believes that through hard work and dedication they can reis up through the
ranks of society and achieve wealth power and status, however according to Marx this is
impossible and the idea of social mobility (moving from one social class to another) is a lie
told by the bourgeoisie to keep the proletariat down. Marx also predicted that one day the
working class proletariat would eventually achieve a state he called “class consciousness”
where they would realise that capitalism has failed and that they are oppressed by the
bourgeoisie, this would lead to a bloody and violent revolution where the bourgeoisie are
overthrown and capitalism is replaced by communism. According to Marx this state would
be achieved by the twin processes of pauperisation and polarisation, Pauperisation is the
process by which the severity of poverty increases over time, essentially the poor getting
poorer and polarisation is the process by which the gap in wealth between the rich and the
poor gets larger.
In conclusion Marx’s viewed society as having two primary social classes where one
oppresses the other in order to keep their wealth power and status, this oppression is
achieved through maintaining a state of false consciousness, however through polarisation
and pauperisation the working class of society will achieve class consciousness and over
throw the bourgeoisie replacing capitalism with communism in a bloody and violent
revolution.
eNotes. (2015) [Online] Available from: https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/karl-marx-
social-stratification-259590 [Accessed: 20 Oct 2019]