Party class

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The sociologist Max Weber formulated a three-component theory of stratification in which he defined party class as a group of people (part of a society) that can be differentiated on the basis of their affiliations with other engaged members in the political domain.

Max Weber German sociologist, philosopher, and political economist

Maximilian Karl Emil Weber was a German sociologist, philosopher, jurist, and political economist. His ideas profoundly influenced social theory and social research. Weber is often cited, with Émile Durkheim and Karl Marx, as among the three founders of sociology. Weber was a key proponent of methodological anti-positivism, arguing for the study of social action through interpretive means, based on understanding the purpose and meaning that individuals attach to their own actions. Unlike Durkheim, he did not believe in mono-causality and rather proposed that for any outcome there can be multiple causes.

Three-component theory of stratification

The three-component theory of stratification, more widely known as Weberian stratification or the three class system, was developed by German sociologist Max Weber with class, status and power as distinct ideal types. Weber developed a multidimensional approach to social stratification that reflects the interplay among wealth, prestige and power.

A political party is an organized group of people, often with common views, who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the collective good or furthering their supporters' interests.

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Summary

Unlike communities, where problems arise and are solved by those within the group, parties are formed when individuals seek out support beyond their immediate spatial environment. Status groups such as communities, or groups of individuals in similar class situations, become parties only when their means of mobilizing and assembling in pursuit of power becomes structured. A teachers' union is one example of a party drawn from a collective communal body. While the party may not represent the will of each individual member, it forms on the basis of rational collective interests and the assignment of outside individuals to protect those interests. [1] For instance, when taxpayers in a geographic region mobilize to vote against support for allocation of resources to local schools, the teachers' union may enter the political realm to protect the interests of its members. These pursuits are thought[ by whom? ] to be rational in that they only represent the demands of the members insofar as they relate to the reason for that party's congregation. While all members of the same union may support protection of local wildlife, those interests would be pursued via a separate party.

Unlike power formed on the basis of wealth or status, parties tend to most successfully aggregate and mobilize when their members represent a range of environments and social statuses. While a party's objective may ultimately be the protection of financial capital or the status of its members, parties initially form to represent a range of group interests. A party's political program represents both the key issues that party members decide on once congregated, and pull issues aimed at attracting members who share detached but similar interests. [2] For instance, the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity may use political leverage to obtain funding from the local government, but the homebuilding it provides in low-income neighborhoods draws grassroots support for the organization's efforts. While parties always seek to maintain political leverage, the local environment provides the human capital with which to mobilize those demands.

Wealth abundance of value

Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating old English word weal, which is from an Indo-European word stem. A community, region or country that possesses an abundance of such possessions or resources to the benefit of the common good is known as wealthy.

Social status position within social structure

Social status is the relative level of respect, honor, assumed competence, and deference accorded to people, groups, and organizations in a society. Some writers have also referred to a socially valued role or category a person occupies as a "status". At its core, status is about who members of a society believe hold comparatively more or less social value. By definition, these beliefs about who is more or less valued are broadly shared among members of a society. As such, groups use status hierarchies to allocate resources, leadership positions, and other forms of power. In so doing, these shared cultural beliefs make unequal distributions of resources and power appear natural and fair, supporting systems of social stratification. Status hierarchies appear to be universal across human societies, affording valued benefits to those who occupy the higher rungs, such as better health, social approval, resources, influence, and freedom.

Habitat for Humanity largest non-profit homebuilder in the world

Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or simply Habitat, is an international, non-governmental, and nonprofit organization, which was founded in 1976 by Linda and Millard Fuller. Habitat has been devoted to building "simple, decent, and affordable" housing, a self-described "Christian housing ministry," and has addressed the issues of poverty housing all over the world. The international operational headquarters are located in united states, Georgia, United States, with the administrative headquarters located in Atlanta. There are five area offices located around the world: United States and Canada; Africa and the Middle East ; Asia-Pacific ; Europe and Central Asia ; and Latin America and the Caribbean.

According to Weber, parties can form in unintended directions and pursue ends that are not initially part of their intended purpose. In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism , Weber argued that the Protestant religion, initially formed as a spiritual institution, became the ethic that underlay the transition into capitalism. The initial pro-capitalist political parties that formed in Europe reflected the desire to prove success in spiritual life via the accumulation of capital, which became the pinnacle of “worldly calling”. As he argued of rationality in general, parties become the formally sanctioned, bureaucratic extension of emotional authority as society transitions into modernity. [3] Parties form primarily in democratic societies because of the ideological differences that can arise between individuals in the same geographic region.

<i>The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism</i> book

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is a book written by Max Weber, a German sociologist, economist, and politician. Begun as a series of essays, the original German text was composed in 1904 and 1905, and was translated into English for the first time by American sociologist Talcott Parsons in 1930. It is considered a founding text in economic sociology and sociology in general.

Issues with party power

As more contemporary theorists have noted, parties tend to become overburdened with demands as they grow larger and lose focus on initial key issues. One example, pursued by Doug McAdam in his writing Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, was the Civil Rights Movement. Although the movement initially succeeded and made enormous social and political impact due to its rational and centered goals, the movement began to weaken throughout the 1970s due in part to irreconcilable views touted by its various leaders and sects. [4]

Doug McAdam American sociologist

Doug McAdam is Professor of Sociology at Stanford University. He is the author or co-author of over a dozen books and over fifty articles, and is widely credited as one of the pioneers of the political process model in social movement analysis. He wrote one of the first books on the theory in 1982 when analyzing the U.S. Civil Rights Movement: Political Process and the Development of the Black Insurgency 1930-1970. His other book Freedom Summer won the C. Wright Mills Award in 1990. He served as the director of the prestigious Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences between 2001 and 2005. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003.

See also

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References

  1. Weber, Max (1967). "Class, Status, Party". From Max Weber, 180–195.
  2. Weber, Max (1967)."Politics as a Vocation". From Max Weber, 77–128.
  3. Weber, Max (2003). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
  4. McAdam, Doug. 2006. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970