A Social Definition of Class

Articles, Divide and Rule, The Lies that Bind Us

Original Publish Date: November 24th, 2007

By Susan Rosenthal

Class is commonly defined on the basis of income, wealth, education, and occupation. However, these individual characteristics tell us nothing about the relationship between the classes.

A social definition of class would measure two variables: the control that people have over their own work and the control that they have over other people’s work. Using these criteria, society can be divided into three classes: the class that rules (the capitalist class); the class that obeys (the working class); and the class in between (the middle class).

The class that rules

The capitalist or ruling class has the most power because it owns or controls the natural resources required to create wealth, the process of creating wealth and the wealth that is created. Because it controls all these things, the capitalist class decides the overall direction of society, determining what will be produced, how it will be produced and who will have access to the resulting goods and services./.../