29 Replies to “Week 2 – Class Structure and Inequality”

  1. Marx.
    “Oppressor and oppressed”
    I found this quote to be specifically important because of the significance it holds throughout time. The struggle of there being a class structured system has been apparent in our society since the Rome area. For example, there were knights and there were slaves. Even in the Middle Ages, there were fuderal lords and and we had peasants. Even nowadays, we have the rich, the middle class and the poor. No matter what era, society seems to follow a similar social structure, in which it differentiates people based on social status. This social status also labels a person ” worth” in society.

  2. -Karl Marx
    “Differences of age and sex have no longer any distinctive social validity for the working class.” I believe this captures the message for social structure today because no matter if you’re female or male, old , young. We all belong in the social class according to what we deserve not what society thinks we deserve.

  3. “In the earlier epochs of history, we find almost everywhere a complicated arrangement of society into various orders, a manifold gradation of social rank” This capture a great message of social structure because social class has been around for a very long time. Unfortunately the social class that you are in plays a major role in your life and may be the explanation to many reasons.

  4. “There’s too much civilization, too much means of subsistence, too much industry, too much commerce”. This quote tells us the bourgeoise society moves too fast, constantly destroying what it created which shows that there’s no real control. This effects the lives of the people in that society in deadly ways.

  5. “Modern industry has converted the little workshop of the patriarchal master into the great factory of the industrial capitalist. Masses of labourers, crowded into the factory, are organised like soldiers. As privates of the industrial army they are placed under the command of a perfect hierarchy of officers and sergeants. Not only are they slaves of the bourgeoisie class, and of the bourgeoisie State; they are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine, by the over-looker, and, above all, by the individual bourgeois manufacturer himself. ” (43)

    This capture the imperfect of modern industrial society, which seem to be so advanced, so developed compare to other arrangements of society in history such as in the ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, etc. However, the more extensive use of machinery leads to the greater gap between the middle and working classes. While middle class is gaining more and more profit through the “gigantic means of productions and exchanges,” the working class is losing its labor value, “the work increase, the wage decrease.” The bigger gap between these two classes, the more modern industrial society convert itself back into the previous forms or arrangements of society. The working class become more and more oppressed by the middle class, who now control not only the financial, but also social and political goods. In other words, society seem to be constantly revolutionizing, which actually establish new structure of the same classes, new conditions of the same oppression, and new forms of the same struggle.

  6. “The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connexions everywhere.”

    This applies to the modern bourgeoisie today or the rich, which own the majority of the wealth in the world. They own multi billion dollar companies that need to expand with the goal of acquiring more profits each year to satisfy shareholders and investors. The sheer greed to gain may come to harm by exploiting loopholes or oppositions. Evading taxes is a common theme, polluting wildlife without consequences, raising prices on life saving drugs to as high as 300%, and having people in another country manufacture products at low wages.

  7. “But not only has the Bourgeoisie forged the weapons that bring death to itself;it has called into existence the men who are to wield those weapons-the modern working class-the proletarians.”(Marx p.5) This quote shows that the working class is what keeps a society going. If that class is not treated fairly they can use what has been given to them by the upper class to change what they want .

  8. March 11, 2019
    “The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones.”

    This remind me of our current class struggles in society that has arise from the rule of our father finders, new way has been created to oppress the poor class while the upper class continues to take advantages of this rules or policies established for the enrichment of one class the upper class.

  9. “The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation” (Marx 40)

    Karl Marx suggests that the wealthier class don’t value their offspring with the means of being emotionally attached with them but rather an investment later on. When their children are to grow up, they will have similar riches as them that would pile onto their family name.

  10. In the earlier epochs of history , we find almost everywhere a complicated arrangement of societyin various order , a manifold gradation of social rank….society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps , into two freat classes directly facing eachother”

     

    This made me realize that the time that manifesto was made that society it self was ranked depending on social class and it still does till this day . you would think they that the rich and the middle class would be willing to come together and be different from how it was many years ago but by reading this , it makes me think that nothing really changed and this continues to be a issue . Two great classes continuously fighting over who gets what

  11. “IN a society as unequal as ours, people tend to interact almost exclusively with people who share similar educational histories, incomes and occupations ”

    This quote talks about our society having different social levels such as low class, middle class and upper class and that we often seem to just interact with people who do things similar to us and exclude everyone else.

  12. “Differences of age and sex have no longer any distinctive social validity for the working class. All are instruments of labour, more or less expensive to use, according to their age and sex.” (Marx pg.43)

    This quote shows that sex and age doesn’t really matter as long as you can do the labour. This correlates to the fact that women in this modern age wants equality from the workplaces. For example, the WNBA players wants the same salary as like NBA players.

  13. “Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild master and journey man, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an interrupted now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary re constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes’. This quote captures the message because through out history as karl marx states there has always been a rich class and a poor class, when these classes become imbalanced a revolution is bound to happen, such as the russian revolution of 1917 that lead to the rise of the soviet union. Which dismantled the tsarist autocracy and was replaced by a provisional government.

  14. “The bourgeoisie, wherever it got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his “natural superiors,” and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous “cash payment.””
    This is very evident in today’s society. Many people differentiate others based on their class. As long as people are getting paid a certain amount they feel they are above others without regard to morals. People believe they are a certain value based on the paper value they receive and only associate with others of that value. I think this means this has caused us to be torn from our “natural superiors” or in other words be torn from right and wrong as long as we receive a certain amount of cash payment.

    1. “In Ancient Rome we have patricians, knights, plebeians, slaves.”

      In today’s society we can still see throughout the world that there is still social class heiarchys. They may not be exsistent to the point where government is public announcing the social classes but people are still being put in lower, middle, and high classes based upon race and financial income.

  15. “The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones.” (Marx & Engels pg. 39) Although modern bourgeois have evolved from how social classes were in the past, those placed in middle classes today still face many of the same original issues. People in the middle class are still categorized to be beneath those of the high class, still face unequal opportunities and still have to worker harder to make a living. This quote suggests that yes, we may have grown as a society but nothing has changed.

  16. Marx
    “The bourgeoisie, historically, has played a most revolutionary part.”
    I chose this quote because I believe one of the articles main focuses was how the bourgeoisie strongly impacted this time period whether it be creating and changing rules, or shaping the government itself. One way or another it had its hand, metaphorically speaking, in or around this growing society.

  17. The Manifesto of class struggle. Pg. 41. ” The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and there by the relations of production and with them the whole relations of society.” I believe this captures an overall thought on the reading “The Manifesto of class struggle”, for the fact that society must advance or revolutionize one way or another. Failing to do so can be ineffective for economic growth and for humane and moral growth as well.

  18. The Manifesto of class struggles, pg 39. ” In the earlier epochs of history, we find almost everywhere a complicated arrangement of society into various orders, a manifold gradation of social rank”. I think this explains a clear understanding of Marx & Engels concept on how early the hierarchy began to be used making it difficult on society.

  19. “The modern bourgeoisie society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done a way with class antagonism. It has but established new classes, new conditions, of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones. Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie possess, however, this distinctive feature : it has simplified the class antagonisms: Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.”

  20. “The worker becomes all the poorer the more wealth produces, the more his production increases in power and range.” I think the wealthy is getting richer from the poor because the poor are the ones that does all the labor and get paid less. The more money wealthy the makes the greedier they get and the less they pay, which give them more power.

  21. in the article written by Bob Herbert: Losing Our Way the author said” the economy seemed to work only for the very wealthy”
    the author has a communist view. he explained that the capitalism is the main reason of the poverty and the dysfunction of the society in the united stat is related to the economic system supported by the political government and make the wealthy class richer. i believed that the people struggling because of the capitalism. the wealthy class still using the low class. for them benefit. the new form of the social structure in the 21 century, is related to the economic aspect. the society is divided into high class represented by the wealthy class who had the access without limited to everything. the economy work well for them. the low low class represented by the low income family who struggle to get the minimum necessary of life.

  22. ” In proportion as bourgeoisie, i.e., capital is developed, in the same proportion is the proletariat, the modern working class, developed a class of laborers, who live only as long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labour increases capital.” This quote from page 43 sum it up that finding a job in modern day is very difficult someone can work as long as the company is making benefit or increase economically.

  23. “In Ancient Rome we have patricians, knights, plebeians, slaves etc.”
    I found this short sentence important to understand because speaks of different time and its people, basic being the same. Although what we call them as changed. What there really are and stand for as not. It is still to this day the poor and the rich/ strong and the weak

  24. “Veiled by religious and political illusions, it has substituted naked,shameless, direct, brutal exploitation”(Marx P40). In the feudal society, the governors always used the religions controlled people’s mind and constrained their behaviors. But in the society of bourgeoisie, the main character was “ free trade” in the market. Market plays an important role in the demand and supply. With the development of expanding colonies and economy,more and more capitalists tried to extend working hours and lower wages to exploit working class. The gap between working class and capitalists became a clear sign in society. The oppression and repression were pushing the society move forward.

  25. “It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom- Free Trade.” I chose this quote because it speaks to me how society has set up their values today. We no longer enjoy life so to speak, our main goal is now to make as much money as possible so we can be comfortable in life and try to achieve that American Dream that everyone else is chasing.

  26. The quote that I chose is from Bob Herbert ” After so much neglect and so many bad policy decisions, we ended up with a government and an economy incapable of meeting the human needs of a complex and diverse nation of more than 300 million people”, in the book of “Losing Our Way” this quote is interesting for me, because Mr. Herbert describes how an individual person is affected by the system and how difficult is for ordinary people is to make the dream a reality. I also chose this quote, because U.S government worked years prior to have a strong government an to avoid the issues that are affecting us in the actuality.

  27. “The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones.” (Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels pg. 39) I feel that modern bourgeois has changed over the year but we are still have a lingering hold on the past and its systems. Modern day people are still in classes and the middle class is looked down at as the low class. As the rich still remain in the high class of society.

  28. “Modern industry has converted the little workshop of the patriarchal master into the great factory of the industrial capitalist. Masses of laborers, crowded into the factory, are organized like soldiers.”
    -Karl Marx
    This line here signifies the “evolution” of the industrialization of the world, where it was once run by gender, has now dissolved into who has/makes the big bucks. And as a result of that, the care/need for the working class’ well being was washed away, to only be seen as “soldiers”: replaceable and disposable if you so choose to fall out of line, whether it be asking for paid leave, better conditions, as much as wanting to be treated decently.

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