Key Arguments

• Weber specifies three dimensions of what a class position entails: 'the typical Chance 1. of provision with goods, 2. of outer social standing, 3. of inner personal fate', indicating that class is simultaneously economic, social, and biographical.
• He grounds class position in the distribution and usability of key resources: it follows 'from the extent and nature of a power of disposition (or the absence of such power) over goods, education, and skills (Leistungsqualifikationen), and from the given form in which they might be valorised in seeking access to income or revenues within a given economic order.'
• He then defines class as a grouping by identical position: 'A “class” is a group of men and women who find themselves in the same class position.', clarifying that 'class' denotes shared typical situations, not necessarily conscious organisation.
• He emphasises that various forms of control over consumer goods, means of production, wealth, acquisition means, and qualifications each 'constitutes a particular class position', underlining that there are multiple analytically distinct class situations.
• He notes that only those 'completely “unskilled,” propertyless, and reliant for work on casual employment form a unitary class position.', implying that most other positions are differentiated and overlapping.

Source Quotes

1. Concepts §1. The “class position” of an individual is the typical Chance 1. of provision with goods, 2. of outer social standing, 3. of inner personal fate that follows from the extent and nature of a power of disposition (or the absence of such power) over goods, education, and skills (Leistungsqualifikationen), and from the given form in which they might be valorised in seeking access to income or revenues within a given economic order. A “class” is a group of men and women who find themselves in the same class position. a) A propertied class is a class for which the primary determinant of class position is differences of property. b) An acquisitional class (Erwerbsklasse) is a class for which the primary determinant of class position is Chancen for the market valorisation of goods or services. c) Social class is the totality of those class positions, between which a α) personal or β) generational change is easily possible, and which typically tends to occur.

The “class position” of an individual is the typical Chance 1. of provision with goods, 2. of outer social standing, 3. of inner personal fate that follows from the extent and nature of a power of disposition (or the absence of such power) over goods, education, and skills (Leistungsqualifikationen), and from the given form in which they might be valorised in seeking access to income or revenues within a given economic order. A “class” is a group of men and women who find themselves in the same class position. a) A propertied class is a class for which the primary determinant of class position is differences of property. b) An acquisitional class (Erwerbsklasse) is a class for which the primary determinant of class position is Chancen for the market valorisation of goods or services. c) Social class is the totality of those class positions, between which a α) personal or β) generational change is easily possible, and which typically tends to occur. Sociations of those sharing class interests (class organisations) can form on the basis of all three class categories.

But this does not have to happen: class position and class denote in themselves only the actual existence of equal (or similar) typical interest situations in which individuals and very many others find themselves. In principle, the power of disposition over all kinds of consumer goods, means of production, wealth, means for gainful acquisition, educational and technical qualifications each constitutes a particular class position, and only those who are completely “unskilled,” propertyless, and reliant for work on casual employment form a unitary class position. The transitions from one to the other are variable in ease and fluidity, while the unity of the “social” class is consequently expressed in very different ways. a)70 The primary significance of a positively privileged propertied class consists in α) the monopolisation of highly priced (high-cost) consumption goods through purchase, β) the monopolistic situation and possibility of deliberate monopolistic sales policy, γ) the monopolisation of the Chance to accumulate wealth through unconsumed surpluses, δ) the monopolisation of the Chancen that of accumulating capital through saving, hence the possibility of investing wealth as loan capital, and so access to the leading posts in business, ε) the possession of an educational position owed to the privilege conferred by social rank, insofar as these are very costly.

Key Concepts

• §1. The “class position” of an individual is the typical Chance 1. of provision with goods, 2. of outer social standing, 3. of inner personal fate that follows from the extent and nature of a power of disposition (or the absence of such power) over goods, education, and skills (Leistungsqualifikationen), and from the given form in which they might be valorised in seeking access to income or revenues within a given economic order.
• A “class” is a group of men and women who find themselves in the same class position.
• In principle, the power of disposition over all kinds of consumer goods, means of production, wealth, means for gainful acquisition, educational and technical qualifications each constitutes a particular class position, and only those who are completely “unskilled,” propertyless, and reliant for work on casual employment form a unitary class position.

Context

Opening sentences of Chapter Four, §1 'Concepts', where Weber gives his foundational definition of 'class position' and 'class' as used in his stratification theory.