ABSTRACT
The relationship between property ownership and class structure lies at the heart of most theories of social stratification. In both the Marxist and the Weberian traditions, for example, ownership and non-ownership of property is identified as the key to understanding class inequalities and class conflicts. The concept of property, however, is used in a very specific sense in both of these theoretical traditions. For Marx, it represents expended labour-power or capital ; and classes therefore arise according to their relationship to capital - whether they are buyers or sellers of labour-power. For Weber, on the other hand, property refers to the command over resources which can realize a return in the market, and classes therefore arise (at least in part) according to the differential degree of market power enjoyed by different groups with different degrees of access to profitable material resources.
