SA 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Common Purpose, Lumpenproletariat, Proletariat
8 Jun 2018
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Chapter 7: Social Inequality
Social Inequality
•The long-term existence of opportunities and significant differences in access of good and
services among social groups
•This is based on factors such as class, ethnicity, and gender. There are many factors and they
can combine: classism, racism, ethnocentrism and sexism
Think Intersectionally
•The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class and gender as they
apply to a given individual or group creating overlapping systems of discrimination
Kimberle Williams Crenshaw
•Coined intersectionality in 1989
•Critical legal race scholar
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
•Engels (philosopher/ economist)
•Communist Manifesto— “the history of all hitherto to existing society is the history of class
struggles”
•Marx described class as “relational in that it reflects ones relation to the means of production”
•Owners of production: bourgeoise
•Workers: proletariat
•Capital: money needed to build factories, purchase raw materials, and pay laborers to turn
those raw materials into manufactured products
•Petty bourgeoise: small business owners
•Lumpen-proletariat: small-time criminals, beggars, unemployed
Class as a Social Identity
•Marx — class is a real social group with a distinct social identity
•Common purpose
•Class consciousness: awareness of what would best benefit your class
•Under capitalism, proletarians and the bourgeoise don’t share the same interests
Class Consciousness
•Upper class had class consciousness and produced laws and regulations that benefitted their
class
•The working class did not (yet) have this awareness
•Marx+Engels: “workers of the world unite! You have no thing to lose but your chains”
False Consciousness
•The idea that something is in one’s best interest when in fact it is not
Max Weber (1864-1920)
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Document Summary
Social inequality: the long-term existence of opportunities and significant differences in access of good and services among social groups, this is based on factors such as class, ethnicity, and gender. There are many factors and they can combine: classism, racism, ethnocentrism and sexism. Think intersectionally: the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class and gender as they apply to a given individual or group creating overlapping systems of discrimination. Kimberle williams crenshaw: coined intersectionality in 1989, critical legal race scholar. Class consciousness: upper class had class consciousness and produced laws and regulations that benefitted their class, the working class did not (yet) have this awareness, marx+engels: workers of the world unite! You have no thing to lose but your chains . False consciousness: the idea that something is in one"s best interest when in fact it is not. !4: critique of marx (believed his ideas were too simplistic, 3 separate elements that separated class, wealth, prestige, power.
