Marx, as a sociologist, used the idea of class within his work fairly extensively but often assumed the knowledge of his reader when it came to a definition. The lack of an actual definition of class by Marx, when it was so fundamental in much of his work was strange but he did write about the topic fairly extensively.

Marx analysed class in relation to the means of production and the ownership of the capital. He looked at class by dividing the population into who owned property and who was propertyless, the capitalists and the proletariat. However class for Marx wasn't simply a division of income or functional positions in the labour force but he saw classes as a social force with the strength to change society. Marx thought that production was so important in the creation of class because it creates a hierarchy.

"In production, men not only act on nature but also on one another."

He believed that classes were created when production involves a "division of labour, which allows surplus production that can be appropriated by a minority group." In short I wou

The difficulty in the allocation of modern classes could be put down to a number of factors. Some sociologists argue that social class is no longer significant in the making of modern society and that more important factors include social mobility. This is a highly debatable phenomenon and many may feel it doesn't really exist.

Five hundred years ago class division in Britain would have been fairly straightforward. There would be the Aristotle (e.g. landowners), the professionals (e.g. Doctors) and the workers. Although this statement is highly simplified and sweeping, the idea that classes in Britain have become harder to allocate to within the last century has to be a realistic one.

A 750 - word account of the significance or irrelevance of "class in Britain today."

People in Britain, according to attitude surveys know that classes still exist and they are seen to be important when looking at social differences and social justice. This is a worrying factor that people see class as an influence on social justice and shows that people probably aren't always judged individually but collectively with the rest of there "class."

Some may argue that class has disappeared to a certain extent with the building of new, historyless urban and suburban conglomerations (Milton Keynes). I feel history plays a huge part in the significance of class and when someone smashes the class divide their history is nearly always levelled at them in either a negative or positive way. As stated earlier history and the class your born into does have an effect on what happens and what 'life chances you

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1076
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)