Max Weber’s Stratification Concept Influencing Social Action
Entering university is a decision made by individuals based on the motivation to enter a specific career they are interested in. My choice to enter university was a social action that I carried out with the intentions of eventually becoming a lawyer. My decision to enter university was extremely affected by the influences of Max Weber’s three dimensions of the stratification theory of class, status, and party. This essay will demonstrate the ways in which class, status, and party make up the structure of our society, thus, played an important role in my decision to enter university to achieve the goal of becoming a lawyer.
CLASS
An individual’s class position is determined by the position the individual has in the market place. In other words, class is an economic concept. However an individual is positioned in the marketplace will affect their life chances. Thus, labor markets define your class.
Choosing to enter university with the intentions of eventually becoming a lawyer is an example of instrumental-rational action. Weber describes instrumental-rational action as a social action done after evaluating the consequences and considering the means to achieve the action. An action does not become a social action without a thought process. Before making the decision to apply to university I spent an enormous amount of time thinking of career goals and the ways in which I would achieve these goals. During the thought process I would think of the lifestyle changes I would make when I eventually became a lawyer. This is where class comes into play. Weber explained that class was the opportunity of income that has an effect on an individual’s life chances. With a higher income, an individual would have the opportunity for a better lifestyle and life chances. Unlike most thoughts or theories on class, Weber did not agree that class referred to a group or community. Class rather referred to how an...