Social Class Does Not Limit Social Mobility

Social Class Does Not Limit Social Mobility

Introduction

Nowadays, there is a great amount of debate going on in the Canadian society about the social mobility and its extent of mobility in the societies of Canada. One of the most important points of this debate is that how and to what extent does the difference in social class and positions affect and determine the occupational, economic as well as educational opportunities for the citizen of Canada.

Discussion

Marxist's view

The Marxists were of the view that class is an economic category. The relation of people to land, labor, machinery and capital determined it. They classified the society into three major classes, capitalists, proletariat and bourgeoisie. Capitalists were the people who owned the factors of production. They used to buy the labor power which rested with the proletariat. The bourgeoisie was the class which included people like professionals, fishers and farmers as well as other producers who owned their small enterprises. The proletariat class used to sell themselves as labor to these two classes. Each class was also further divided into smaller sub units which have a different relation with the means of production.

They also developed a distinction between classes for themselves and classes in themselves. Classes in themselves were those defined by their authority over the factors of production. Classes-in-themselves were developed from Classes-for- themselves, when they developed and understood the position they held in the class structure, understood the differences that they held with other classes and ultimately fought for their rights and interests.

Weberians' point of view

Weberians considered social class as only a factor to influence the chances of life. They argued that status, power and class interact, either enhance or limit the opportunities. They defined class in terms of wealth, in the form of income or property. Status was, for them, the amount of honor or prestige that accorded someone. Power was the ability to control the chances that others had. An uneven distribution of each of these factors occurs in the societies of the world. This group argued that there is much more social ability than the Marxists believe.

There has been a lot of debate over social class and social mobility and that how are they inter related and dependent on each other. We will follow in this essay a point of view, which is against the topic that, social class social class does not limit social ...