ABSTRACT
The Marxian approach to social stratification focuses on the ownership of property as the key. In modern capitalism, the ownership of capital (in the form of technology, buildings, machinery, money, etc.) is critical, and for Marxists this issue leads to a class struggle between capitalists and workers. For Marx, the capitalist class struggle was the key to the functioning of the capitalist economy and the capitalist stratification system. Max Weber, a famous German sociologist who lived just after the time of Marx, thought that the emphasis on the class struggle alone led to a considerable oversimplification.
