Max Weber’s Theory of Inequality and Social Stratification

Abstract: This article explores Max Weber’s theory of inequality and social stratification. In the first section, we explore Weber’s sociological methods applied in a stratification framework, multiple causalities, and probability and subjective factors. In the second section, Weber’s multiple conceptions of class, status, and party are analyzed and compared to Marx’s class theory. In the third section, social closure or open and closed relationships are explained in relation to stratification research. The fourth section comprises another dimension of Weber’s view on inequality, and concepts of power, domination, and rationalized bureaucracy are discussed. In the last section, Weber’s prediction of inequality in democratic and socialist societies is assessed. Weber’s stratification theory is partly based on positive critiques of Marx. Weber’s approach to social inequality and stratification emphasizes causal pluralism and the probabilistic nature of social explanation. His analysis of class, status, party, and “open and closed relations” (social closure), power, and domination illustrate the complexity of his theory. Weber’s theory of inequality and social stratification continues to provide a flexible theoretical foundation in contemporary social inequality studies