8.2.1: Updating Marx As Figure

 8.2.1: Updating Marx As Figure 

8.4 illustrates, Marx argued that there are just two classes—capitalists and workers—with membership based solely on a person’s relationship to the means of production. Sociologists have criticized this view, saying that these categories are too broad. 

For example, because executives, managers, and supervisors don’t own the means of production, they would be classified as workers. But what do these people have in common with assembly-line workers? 

The category of “capitalist” is also too broad. Some people, for example, employ a thousand workers, and their decisions directly affect a thousand families. 

Others, in contrast, have very small businesses. Consider a man I know in Godfrey, Illinois, who used to fix cars in his backyard. As Frank gained a following, he quit his regular job, and, in a few years, he put up a building with five bays and an office. Frank is now a capitalist: He employs five or six mechanics and owns the tools and the building (the “means of production”).

 Figure 8.4 Marx’s Model of the Social Classes But what does this man have in common with a factory owner who controls the lives of one thousand workers? 

Not only is Frank’s work different, so are his lifestyle and the way he looks at the world. To resolve this problem, sociologist Erik Wright (1947–2019) suggested that some people are members of more than one class at the same time. 

They occupy what he called contradictory class locations. By this, Wright (1985) meant that a person’s position in the class structure can generate contradictory interests.

 For example, the automobile-mechanic-turned-business-owner may want his mechanics to have higher wages because he, too, has experienced their working conditions. At the same time, his current interests—making profits and remaining competitive with other repair shops—lead him to resist pressures to raise their wages. 239 Because of such contradictory class locations, Wright modified Marx’s model.

 As summarized in Figure 8.5, Wright identified four social classes: (1) capitalists, business owners who employ many workers; 

(2) petty bourgeoisie, small business owners; 

(3) managers, who sell their own labor but also exercise authority over other employees; and

 (4) workers, who simply sell their labor to others. 

As you can see, this model allows finer divisions than the one Marx proposed, yet it maintains the primary distinction between employer and employee. 

Figure 8.5 Wright’s Modification of Marx’s Model of the Social Classes Capitalists Petty bourgeoisie Managers Workers 

Problems persist, however. For example, in which category would we place college professors? And as you know, there are huge differences in the power of managers. An executive at Toyota, for example, may manage a thousand workers, while a shift manager at McDonald’s may be responsible for only a handful. They, too, have little in common.