SOC 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Labour Power, Bourgeoisie, Proletariat
Document Summary
What it is, exactly, that determines one"s place in a class system has been a matter of great debate. One of the first to take a stand on this matter was karl marx. According to marx, the most important thing about any society was its economic system, especially the means by which it produced the stuff that people needed to survive. In the earliest days of humanity, the means of production was hunting and gathering; in the middle ages, it was agriculture; in modern times, it is industry. Marx said that to understand an individual"s resources, personality, values, and beliefs, we need to understand where he or she stands relative to the means of production. From marx"s perspective, people in a fully developed capitalist society fall into one of two classes: the proletariat the bourgeoisie. The proletariat are those whose place in the means of production is to labor; they have only their labor power to sell.
