ABSTRACT
In the classic sociological theories of Marx and Weber, class was accorded a central theme by virtue of its pivotal role in structuring inequality and politics. For Marx the creation and distribution of wealth and income are an expression of the system of production, characterized in the case of capitalism by workers who receive wages and owners who receive profits. Furthermore, Marx argued that: ‘Political power, properly so called, is merely the organised power of one class for oppressing another’ (Marx and Engels 1848:90). Although Weber also argued that class was fundamental to the distribution of economic power, he differed from Marx in suggesting that at the political level, ‘parties may represent interests determined through “class situation” or “status situation”, and they may recruit their following respectively from one or the other’ (1961:194). In modern parlance, if you want to know about the distribution of wealth or political attitudes and behaviour, and much else besides, such as the patterning of health and illness, the consumption of goods and services, or educational achievement (Reid 1989), class analysis is essential. In this chapter, the sociological significance of the concept of class will be demonstrated in two ways: first with reference to what Westergaard and Resler have called ‘the hard core of class’, namely economic inequality (1975:2); and second with reference to class and voting behaviour.
