Social group and classes history of inequality - Essay Example

Since many social constructs stem from such inequalities, a clear understanding of the different perspectives and theories of various philosophers associated with social inequalities is imperative to a student of sociology. This essay is an attempt in that direction. It shall explore the ideas of four modern day thinkers, viz. Karl Marx, Max Weber, W.E. B. Du Bois, W. M. Mills and F.D. Roosevelt. The essay shall compare and contrast the theories in their works, discussing the sources of inequality, social groups, the consequences of inequality, and social location of inequality in each.

While Marx, has provided the broad and bigger structure of communism within which other philosophers have sculpted their own, much like the 'matrioshka', or the Russian nesting dolls (http://russian-crafts.com/nest.html), which has smaller replicas of itself, buried within it. However, there is a slight difference in that the philosophers have not made exact replicas of the Marx; they have rather focused on some individual aspects of the Marxian model, and added their own distinctive touch to it.

Thus, the essay shall argue that, even though all the philosophers have all dealt with the subject of social inequality and poverty in modern capitalist societies like the US, they differ in the ways they have dealt with it. Karl Marx (1818-1883) was one of the few modern day philosophers who could come out with original analyses of social problems like poverty, and the inequalities in social classes. According to Marx, the origins of change and revolutions are all materialistic in nature, and all through the ages, one social system has always replaced the previous ones due to the inherent conflicts arising from the inequalities in the system, "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles" (Marx, CM 3).

The feudal society has been replaced by the present day capitalist society or the 'bourgeois society'. The word 'bourgeoisie' stands of the 'modern capitalist' or the rich-moneyed section of the society. Capitalism, according to Marx, consists of both shared enterprise and unequal distribution of rewards. Therefore, the basic difference in the structure of economic production has changed the way we live, and gives rise to conflict. This is the source of struggle or 'conflict' - the tension, between the working class - the 'Proletariats' and the 'Bourgeoisie' (Marx, CM 3-5).

While the former etched a living by selling their labor for 'wages', the latter who are the moneyed-capitalists; Marx differentiates between money and 'Capital' in his Economic Manuscripts thus "As soon as money is posited as exchange value which not merely makes itself independent of circulation (as in hoarding) but maintains itself inside it, it is no longer money, for money as such does not extend beyond the negative determination; it is capital" (Marx, EM I,14) and those who made use of such capital for their profit were 'capitalists.

' Proprietors, owners of manufacturing industries exploited the former and made a profit from 'surpluses' of their labor. Latin American immigrants working on the orchards and construction projects in the US, being paid poor wages, without social security or insurance coverage, and their relatively rich contract companies, may be cited as a contemporary example of such exploitation. The