ABSTRACT
Contemporary polish sociologists are interested in people's class identification. This chapter deals with classes, class relations, and social differences in a single town. Social classes can be defined using either objective or subjective criteria, or by using both criteria. It is the end the definition serves and the role it plays in the theory that are important. In terms of social class consciousness, the chapter focuses on three factors: opinions on the existence, or lack, of social classes in contemporary Poland; the number and kinds of existing classes; and self-identification with a given class. A marked predominance of positive evaluations characterizes the relations between workers and other classes. From the materialist perspective it is irrelevant whether people are aware of the existence of social classes. Awareness becomes significant only when we assume that a constitutive element of social class is the presence of class consciousness.
