The Colliding Dynamics of Class Structure Essay -- Sociology

The rigidity of class structure is the culprit for the vast number of inequities in society. Power is concentrated in the hands of a small sector; leaving a few individuals to have more authority and influence, in comparison to others. The construction of class structure identifies the way groups are divided into social positions. Differences stemming from social position are further exemplified by the accessibility to valuable resources–such as wealth, education, occupation, and status. Those with distinguished command in society have access to these increasingly wide ranges of resources, which may be present in limited forms to the less powerful. Used as a device of supremacy, power is a style of control when the basis is acquiring these societal possessions. Even though class structure is considered to be fluid in nature, for some it is a complex web of entanglements hard to deal with it. Groups who suffer from social and material deprivations are not doing so by choice, b ut hugely in part to economical and occupational factors. These prominent distinctions have led several to fall victim to the systems of hierarchy. Built within these schemes are the inequalities that arise due to one’s position; and captured inside are the outcomes that influence levels of individual, educational, and occupational independence. People who do observe the inequities between classes may feel the impact of social stratification in various ways. Similarly the dynamics of class structure are very significant elements found throughout the works of Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, and Karl Marx. They are all in agreement that society host the series of conflicts underlying that of class structure. Class structure as a whole denotes differing realit... ...ist Feminism." Critical Sociology (Brill Academic Publishers) 25.2/3 (1999): 196-217. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 Mar. 2012. Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels. Marx/Engels Selected Works, Vol. One. Moscow. Progress Publishers, 1969, N. pag. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist- manifesto/index.htm. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. Orwell, George. "Shooting an Elephant". The Seagull Reader Essays. 2nd Edition. Ed. Joseph Kelly. New York. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2008. 243-250. Print. Peet, Richard. "Inequality and Poverty: A Marxist-Geographic Theory." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 65.4 (1975): 564-571. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 Mar. 2012. Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One's Own. New York. Quality Paperback Book Club, 1992. Print. Woolf, Virginia. Three Guineas. New York. Quality Paperback Book Club, 1992. Print.