3. Capitalism
Capitalism is defined as “a social system noted for the ownership of the means of production being concentrated in the hands of private capitalists, based
on the private profit motive, a well developed industrial, commercial and financial set-up, the freedom of enterprise, the operation of the market mechanism,
competition, individualism and a democratic goverment based on multy-party politics” Wilczynski 1981: 59. Alfred G. Mayer tries to define capitalism in a
simple way. He states that “capitalism is production for the purpose of selling the product on the market at a profit” Mayer, 1954:60.
Based on International Encyclopedia of Sociology, the Marxists have their own perspective about capitalism. Magill 1995: 131 says “for Marxist social
scientists, capitalism contains a fundamental split between those who own the means of production and buy labor power capitalists and those who do not own
the means of production and must therefore sell their labor power the working class”.
Capitalism carries many contradiction of both the capitalists and the working class. According to Magill,
Marxists identify “contradiction” within capitalism that revolve around the tension between capitalism’s enormous productive potential an the limited
and the alienated condition that it imposes on human beings in terms of poverty, exploited labor, unemployment and underrutilization of human
talent, and the hollowness of consumer culture Magill, 1995:132.
This proves the idea that capitalism leads the classes, the ones who own the means of production and the ones sell their labor power, into the class war.
4. Social Stratification
Wilczynski 1981:548 defines social stratification as “a hierarchical arrangement of social groups or social classes differing in social status with
respect to wealth, power, income, education, occupation, cultural interest and achievement, and various privileges, responsibilities and disabilities”. Birth, race,
religion, and nationality are also included as the factors of social stratification. Wilczynski adds,
The most rigid social stratification exists under the caste system, where it is sanctioned not only by law but also by religion and custom. Social
stratification exists, or existed, in striking forms also under slavery, feudalism, and capitalism, in the case of open societies, social mobility to
some extent obliterates social distinctions Wilczynski, 1981: 548.
According to Wilczynski, Marxists have their own perspective toward social stratification which occurs in society. He states that,
Marxists condemn social stratification as socially unjust and attribute it primarily to the existence of the private ownership of the means of
production, which inevitably leads to uneven distribution. They point out that ownership confers power and income, which the owners utilize
through the state to protect their privileged position Wilczynski, 1981: 548.
This statement shows that economic system ‒ in capitalist society‒ have important contribution so that social stratification lives among the people. Economic status
of a person determines the social stratification. Chris Livesey also states that social stratification is triggered by economical stuff,
For Marx, only the first epoch the primitive communism of various forms of hunter-gatherer society was free from some form of social
stratification on the basis of class. This was because, for Marx, class forms of social stratification only come into existence once people start
producing more goods than they require to fulfill their everyday needs - and hunter- gatherer societies are basically subsistence societies; that is,
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