What defines an individual’s social class?

What defines an individual’s social class? How many social classes are there and is it possible to move and change the social class that a person is born into? Max Weber, Karl Marx and Robert Purrucci and Earl Wysong have all, to some extent, answered these questions, although in some respects they are different they also share many similarities. Marx and Purrucci and Wysong believe there are only two social classes, while Weber believes there are an intermediate number. There are in fact five social classes that allow mobility among classes, in addition the following will be used to determine an individual’s social class: occupation, income, wealth, education and status.

“People with common occupations, earning approximately similar incomes, constitutes a class.” (Marger 39) “People often speak of their occupation or their job as what they do for a living.”(Purrucci and Wysong 146) Purrucci and Wysong believe that an occupation shows the influence one has on a society’s economy and their relationship to the means of production. Weber pointed out that although people may work in the same place people can have different jobs and have “distinctly different class positions.” (Marger 38) “Class structure is related to his or her occupation but not determined by that occupation,” (Purrucci and Wysong 151) which means that there are other key elements that can influence the social class an individual is considered to be in.

Income “provides people with the means to sustain life.” (Purrucci and Wysong 146) Marx pointed out that “workers have no choice but to continue to work for less than their fair share of the product,” (Marger 31) because in a society “inequality is not only inevitable, but necessary,” (52) for it to run smo...

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...th and hold status in their community and among other colleagues of the same prestige. The rich class includes business owners and CEO’s; they also could have inherited their wealth. They are well known figures with a top status. Although a person could be in the comfort class, but have a high status in their town or come into a large sum of money, both of these could potentially allow them to change social classes.

Social classes are very complex, but “the relationship between power and wealth is undeniable.” (Marger 40) People can change the social class they are in, but it is not simply one factor that determines one’s social class. Occupation, income, wealth, education, and status are all major factors that can help determine which of the five social classes a person belongs. An individual can change his or her social class if they have the desire to do so.