According to the concept of social classes taken from the leading U.S. social class ranking, I belong to the middle class. This article focuses on the ideas of capitalism based on social classes while describing the concepts of perspective, conflict, symbolic interaction, and functionalism.
Regarding functionalist theory, society’s many structures and procedures exist because they serve crucial functions for maintaining society (8.2 Explaining Stratification, 2016). Before my parents were murdered in Sierra Leone in 1997, they used to push me hard to develop the necessary abilities for professional careers. Currently, I work as a mechanical engineer.
Contrarily, the conflict perspective contends that social stratification results from a fundamental conflict between the aspirations and needs of the strong and those of the weak. Initially, our family’s annual income remained consistent before the Sierra Leone civil war, no matter how skilled my parents were. This is due to the requirement to be distinct from the business owner who hired them.
The theory of ideology lends credence to the conflict view theory. It implies that the ruling class wants to prevent the lower classes from feeling oppressed and exerting too much influence over the means of production. I frequently think that my income is adequate for my job; thus, I do not ask my manager for more pay or longer hours.
According to the symbolic interactionism hypothesis, social class impacts how individuals interact with one another and how they view the social environment. Being from the middle class, I frequently associate with other people who share my values. They are the people in the community who struggle to pursue similar careers as mine.
The idea of a shift in capitalism, inspired by the movie “BBC Masters of Money,” indicates that there may be changes in the economic paradigm whereby capitalists no longer control the economy and do not benefit from it (Darth Marston, 2016). For instance, when people from other classes have poor incomes, they might be unable to save enough money to buy things from capitalists. As a result, business owners will have to lower their pricing and incur losses. However, getting a credit card and making purchases on credit is an alternative. The capacity of the capitalist to turn a profit is restored.
References
Darth Marston. (2016). BBC Masters of Money Karl Marx HD [Video]. YouTube. Web.
8.2 Explaining Stratification. (2016). Sociology, University of Minnesota Libraries.