Class analysis

Class analysis is research in sociology, politics and economics from the point of view of the stratification of the society into dynamic classes. It implies that there is no universal or uniform social outlook, rather that there are fundamental conflicts that exist inherent to how society is currently organized.

Most known examples are the theory of Karl Marx and Max Weber's three-component theory of stratification.

In a non-Marxist sense, class analysis is a theory of political development, in which political regimes and systems are said to be shaped by the social class structure of the country. The main advocate for this theory is political scientist Barrington Moore Jr. In Moore's theory, Great Britain gradually attained a stable democratic governance, compared to neighboring countries such as France and Germany, due to the rapid displacement of peasantry during the enclosure movement which fully transformed Britain into an advanced, industrial society with a strong bourgeois class, which Moore sees as indispensable for a lasting liberal democracy. In contrast, France had a large peasantry that is stationary on land yet politically volatile, leading to the alternating between violent revolutions and monarchical reactions.

Sociologist Erik Olin Wright splits class analysis into a macro and micro level. The foundation of class analysis on a macro level can be identified with class structure. Examples of such class structure in a macro level can be analyzed within a firm, city, country, or the entire world. On a micro level, class analysis focuses on the effects that the class may have on an individual. Erik Olin Wright exclaims examples of this to be: "Analyses of labor market strategies of unskilled workers, or the effects of technological change on class consciousness, or political contributions of corporate executives". Macro and Micro level events can correlate with one another through different perspectives. Wright proclaims that Macro level events are not created and set on one large effect, but instead processed through multiple individuals in a very intricate and complex pattern. He dictates that Macro class size events are endorsed by an embodiment of multiple micro class events. He also states the opposite effect each size has on each other and how Micro level events relative to class relations can be reinforced by the context of macro level events.

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