Key Arguments

• He lists as social classes: 'α) the workforce as a whole, the more automated the labour process becomes, β) the petty bourgeoisie, and γ) the propertyless intelligentsia and those with specialised training (technicians, commercial and other clerical staff, and officials, who are all probably very different from each other socially, distinguished by the costs of training), δ) the propertied classes and those privileged by education.', assembling broad strata beyond narrow property or acquisitional categories.
• Discussing Marx, he notes that 'The unfinished conclusion to Karl Marx’s Das Kapital, Bd. III, was clearly intended to address the problem of the class unity of the proletariat in spite of its qualitative differentiation.', highlighting the issue of unity within a differentiated working class.
• He stresses technological change: 'Of importance here is the increasing importance, within quite a short period of time, of the displacement of “skilled” labour by semiskilled work aided by machinery, also sometimes involving “unskilled” labour as well.', yet acknowledges that semiskilled capabilities 'can often be monopolised'.
• He observes declining upward mobility into petty bourgeois status: 'A transition to an “independent” petty bourgeois occupation was once every workers’ dream, but this possibility is one that is increasingly rare.', indicating structural closure of that mobility path.
• He notes some remaining mobility: 'Between generations, it is relatively easy for both a) and b) to “rise” into social class c) (technician, clerk). Within class d), money increasingly buys everything—at least in terms of succeeding generations. Those in class c) have Chancen of rising into banks and financial institutions; officials have Chancen of rising into d).', outlining generational and intra‑class mobility routes.
• He then specifies the conditions under which 'Sociated class action is easiest to to bring about': 'a) against those with directly adverse interests (workers against employers, and not against shareholders, who really do receive an income without working for it; nor also peasants and farmers against landowners), b) where there is a typically mass basis to equality of class position, c) where technical possibility makes it easy to come together, especially a working community concentrated in one place (workplace community), d) where there is guidance to clear and obvious aims usually imposed or interpreted by those not belonging to the class (the intelligentsia).', thus identifying opposing interests, mass similarity, spatial concentration, and intellectual leadership as key facilitators of class action.

Source Quotes

Independent farmers and craftsmen here represent “middle classes” between I and II. Also very often there are a) officials (public and private), b) the category of professionals listed under I.f) and the workers listed under I.g). c)71 Social classes are α) the workforce as a whole, the more automated the labour process becomes, β) the petty bourgeoisie, and γ) the propertyless intelligentsia and those with specialised training (technicians, commercial and other clerical staff, and officials, who are all probably very different from each other socially, distinguished by the costs of training), δ) the propertied classes and those privileged by education. The unfinished conclusion to Karl Marx’s Das Kapital, Bd.

III, was clearly intended to address the problem of the class unity of the proletariat in spite of its qualitative differentiation. Of importance here is the increasing importance, within quite a short period of time, of the displacement of “skilled” labour by semiskilled work aided by machinery, also sometimes involving “unskilled” labour as well. Nonetheless, semiskilled capabilities can often be monopolised (at present, weavers typically reach their peak of efficiency after five years!).

Nonetheless, semiskilled capabilities can often be monopolised (at present, weavers typically reach their peak of efficiency after five years!). A transition to an “independent” petty bourgeois occupation was once every workers’ dream, but this possibility is one that is increasingly rare. Between generations, it is relatively easy for both a) and b) to “rise” into social class c) (technician, clerk).

A transition to an “independent” petty bourgeois occupation was once every workers’ dream, but this possibility is one that is increasingly rare. Between generations, it is relatively easy for both a) and b) to “rise” into social class c) (technician, clerk). Within class d), money increasingly buys everything—at least in terms of succeeding generations. Those in class c) have Chancen of rising into banks and financial institutions; officials have Chancen of rising into d). Sociated class action is easiest to to bring about a) against those with directly adverse interests (workers against employers, and not against shareholders, who really do receive an income without working for it; nor also peasants and farmers against landowners), b) where there is a typically mass basis to equality of class position, c) where technical possibility makes it easy to come together, especially a working community concentrated in one place (workplace community), d) where there is guidance to clear and obvious aims usually imposed or interpreted by those not belonging to the class (the intelligentsia). §3.

Those in class c) have Chancen of rising into banks and financial institutions; officials have Chancen of rising into d). Sociated class action is easiest to to bring about a) against those with directly adverse interests (workers against employers, and not against shareholders, who really do receive an income without working for it; nor also peasants and farmers against landowners), b) where there is a typically mass basis to equality of class position, c) where technical possibility makes it easy to come together, especially a working community concentrated in one place (workplace community), d) where there is guidance to clear and obvious aims usually imposed or interpreted by those not belonging to the class (the intelligentsia). §3. The position afforded by social rank typically involves a claim to positive or negative privilege in social estimation, based on a) the manner in which life is conducted, and so b) formal mode of cultivation (Erziehungsweise), whether α) empirical instruction or β) rational instruction and on the possession of the corresponding forms of living; c) prestige of birth or of occupation.

Key Concepts

• c)71 Social classes are α) the workforce as a whole, the more automated the labour process becomes, β) the petty bourgeoisie, and γ) the propertyless intelligentsia and those with specialised training (technicians, commercial and other clerical staff, and officials, who are all probably very different from each other socially, distinguished by the costs of training), δ) the propertied classes and those privileged by education.
• Of importance here is the increasing importance, within quite a short period of time, of the displacement of “skilled” labour by semiskilled work aided by machinery, also sometimes involving “unskilled” labour as well.
• A transition to an “independent” petty bourgeois occupation was once every workers’ dream, but this possibility is one that is increasingly rare.
• Between generations, it is relatively easy for both a) and b) to “rise” into social class c) (technician, clerk). Within class d), money increasingly buys everything—at least in terms of succeeding generations. Those in class c) have Chancen of rising into banks and financial institutions; officials have Chancen of rising into d).
• Sociated class action is easiest to to bring about a) against those with directly adverse interests (workers against employers, and not against shareholders, who really do receive an income without working for it; nor also peasants and farmers against landowners), b) where there is a typically mass basis to equality of class position, c) where technical possibility makes it easy to come together, especially a working community concentrated in one place (workplace community), d) where there is guidance to clear and obvious aims usually imposed or interpreted by those not belonging to the class (the intelligentsia).

Context

Later part of §2 (continuation of §1c), where Weber names major 'social classes', reflects on Marx's concern with proletarian unity, notes changes in labour and mobility, and finally specifies sociological conditions that facilitate collective class action.