Social Divisions and Class Divisions in New York - Essay Example

May 12 Social Divisions and Divisions in New York Social depicts diversities of individuals in relation to the resource they have access to depending on several factors that include but not limited to wealth power and prestige. These differences can be based on one exclusive factor or a combination of many of them depending on who one chooses to compare with whom. The more quantities of the aforementioned factors one acquires or has, the higher their status/class in society goes up and more status one gains. Some people are born into a status while others ascribe to a status by virtue of the fact that they inherited the wealth from their rich forbearers. Others acquire status because of hard work and investments that paid off while others ascribe to one through work. Considering these distinctions, the society is dived into several classes that consist of the upper middle and lower class. This distinction are built on the primary assumption that the upper class generally monopolize the factors of production while the middle class since supplies specialized skills supplies skill such as medicine law and the lower faction on the other hand, supplies the manual labor. The social stratifications of modern day are chiefly based on the great disparities in resources, and this is made possible by the diverse wants and resources man has access to in modern day. However, the early man was short on this and the only thing they had were basic needs like food and a few tools. As such, wealth or lack of thereof would not have been a relevant criterion for social divisions. The social structure underwent a paradigm shift when in the wake of the agrarian revolution, the lifestyle became more complicated, and several variables came into play. The concept of wealth and ownership of property was first evidence of the social inequalities that began to emerge as some people begun to produce more on their land than others do. They would have a surplus that resulted to their engaging in the first economic activities. Furthermore, there was now a class consisting of a few people who owned the most productive land and the rest were compelled to provide labor to survive in the new conditions. The inequalities became glaring with the onset of the industrial revolution when the society became irrevocably divided between those who had the means, who had the skills and ultimately who could through possession of any or either of the two afford to live a better life than the rest. Social structure and societal divisions are means by which societies are divided either systematically by social forces by the individuals own actions. These divisions occur in three levels namely, macro, measo and micro. Micro has to do with the societies social economic positions and division are the way societies or individuals are divided in the society systematically either by forces in the society itself or the action of the individual. It mainly occurs in three different levels; the macro scale that is determined by the socioeconomic situation of the society as a whole, the measo scale relating to the individual’s relation to social institutions and on the micro scale, based on the actions and behaviors of the individual in a given social structure. Social Stratification by Karl Marx In an attempt to explain social class and social stratification, Karl Marx divided society into two main groups; the bourgeoisie that consisted of the rich who controlled most of resources and the lower class which he dubbed the proletariat. Then in his summation, Karl held that in the upper class is being those who are in possession of the major factors of production such as machinery and human and material capital. He believed that the rich exploited the poor to maintain the status quo and have them remain poor for continued service at minimum wages while at the same time helping ensure the rich remain so. This is because the latter would work long hours a day, maximizing their bosses’ surplus while he/she exploits them. According to him, the poor cannot own any means of production but provide work force to the upper class in the process thinking they are well off and become content with their position in society. There also developed another class Marx called the petty bourgeoisie who contributed to the bourgeoisie surplus by providing specialized skills to keep the factors of production running. They included the professionals who were trained but were not property owners like the bourgeoisie who include doctors and accountants among others. They earned their living by selling their labor to the upper class because they too, could not own the factors of production. The distinctive factor between the two is the upper classes owned means of production and accumulated surplus that the lower classes produced for them (Shortell 1 ). Social Stratification by Marx Weber On the other hand, Marx divided the society into classes’ he believed, believed that society is divided into groups, which separated into three conspicuous classes. These Marx divisions were based on class/economic position, status and property/power, as he claimed that society is divided according into class as per ownership of property and means of production. The owners of the factors of production are of higher social class than those who do not possess any factor of production at all, moreover, status in society according to Weber was determined by people’s lifestyles and to some extent wealth. Those who have wealth and high income are classed with higher status are equated with certain material things, while those with lower income could only affording certain lifestyles. He also asserts that society can also be divided into property and power in that those who owned property could make the ones who did not do their will. Weber believed that movement in these classes was possible for individuals; in this case, a person from a low-income family with no property can get the proper education and job enabling him to earn more, have a better lifestyle therefore, changing his class status (Peter pp5-6). Social Classes/Divisions in New York In New York, while the social classes may not be an apparent at a cursory glance, there are several stratifications dividing the residents of this metropolis. Ideally, the social classes new Yorkers can be categorized into classes depending on the individual’s wealth and property accumulation. A persons’ success is often relative to their financial standing since those who have immense wealth are considered the wealthy class. Then there is the level of an individual’s income, and finally ones influence and finally the personal appearance of the individual in relation to society. According to William Thomson, classes consist of upper, upper middle and lower class (Jarrahi 1). The Divisions in these classes are often determined by ones financial, social and or educational background. The financial aspect of individuals is often based on the family’s ability that in turn controls other factors such as education. For instance, if someone’s parent are wealthy, they will probably attend a high cost school and their will get better quality education. This will result in them ending up in good colleges and ultimately good jobs in posterity. Considering everyone wants to rise above their current state and unless one has education it will be hard to rise above your level. This maintains the status quo as the rich will become white-collar works while the children of the lower class parents will attend poor performing public schools and may finally end up with dismal performance and likely becoming blue collar workers like their parents. This gives rise to social classifications along occupational lines. Several of those classified herein are in respectable and professions such as lawyers and engineers since they are highly educated and are members of professional bodies makes them look more prestigious than the ordinary blue-collar jobs. New Yorkers can also be classified based on various occupations; first, there are the highly paid professionals who comprise of lawyers, doctors and just to mention a few. Due to their extensive academic credentials, they are in careers that not only pay a lot of money but are also prestigious. According to education, there are the highly educated, those who have higher education degree or doctorates and those with normal education like college level on the other class. In addition, the level of education that one can attain depends on the income level of the family, for example, families with high income can afford to give their children the high level of education in private education institutions. Those who have lower income take their children to public institutions, which offer low quality education making them get blue-collar jobs. Blue-collar workers on the other hand, are more likely to wear uniforms or overall than suits. They include truck drivers, plumbers and police officers since their pay is often lower than the white-collar workers are although there are exceptions. The two classes even when they do not vary in finances vary in lifestyle. With different social groups comes different culture and each group has expectations from its members indeed should one move up or down their social class a lot about them, their habits and beliefs is likely to will change too (Nasseri para8). The other distinction in social classes in New York would be between the rich with old money the noveroua rich, the middle class and the low income. The first class is those who have inherited money from their forbearers, as many in this status despite having been to school do not need to work and they lead lavish lifestyles. The second group consists of the newly rich who have wealth but not inherited. They include celebrities, like musicians, footballers and businesspersons like Bill Gates. The other class is made up of workers who hold professional jobs and majority have been to college. They make up about a third of American population and they are the middle class, they include doctors and lawyers. While not exceptionally wealthy, they are well off enough to look after their needs and look after their families since many have had to study long years in college and pay off student loans. Finally, the social group at the bottom is the poor who have no job training and hence cannot expect to find steady work. They often hired to do menial jobs like cleaning people’s houses and similar jobs. They at times hold down more than one or two jobs so they manage their upkeep since often they are not able to afford such services as medical insurance. They are at the bottom and live in perpetual poverty with basic needs as food and clothing being a struggled to come by. Thus, clearly social divisions and classes in New York is majorly based on possession of wealth or income and their professions. The stratifications in this State can be best explained using both Weber and Karl prepositions of social stratifications in a society. Works cited Nasseri, Hedyeh. Social Class in America. Web. January 12 2008. Jarrahi, “Social Class in the United States. Web. January 21 2008. Peter Saunders . Social Class and Stratification. New York: Routledge, 1990. Print. Shortell, Timothy. “Weber’s Theory of Social Class”. Web. n.d. Read More