"Classless" society
A "classless" society is a social structure in which no distinct social classes or hierarchies exist, aiming for complete social and economic equality among all individuals. The concept is often discussed in the context of debates surrounding social inequality, specifically regarding the feasibility of achieving a society devoid of class distinctions. Critics of existing social orders argue that equality is both desirable and attainable, citing historical examples of egalitarian preliterate societies as evidence. In contrast, many scholars contend that some level of inequality is inherent in all societies, leading to the belief that a fully classless society may be utopian and unrealistic.
Theoretical perspectives on social inequality vary, with structural functionalists viewing stratification as necessary for the functioning of society and sociobiologists attributing disparities to biological differences among individuals. Additionally, elitists maintain that bureaucratic structures necessitate a governing elite, suggesting that social hierarchies are inevitable. Marxist theory, however, focuses on economic relationships and posits that class societies have only emerged in the last ten thousand years, advocating for the potential return to a classless state through collective efforts against capitalist structures. Overall, the debate over the possibility of a classless society reflects broader political struggles and differing viewpoints on the nature of social organization.
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"Classless" society
Debates over the possibility of a classless society are central to the social scientific analysis of the nature of social inequality in general, and therefore specifically with regard to racial and ethnic relations. These scholarly debates have occurred within specific social contexts, reflecting larger political struggles between those who defend the alleged harmony and stability of the status quo and those who advocate social change toward the goal of equality. If, as many argue, a classless society is impossible (as all societies have had some level of inequality), then egalitarianism is utopian and misguided and acceptance of existing inequities is more “realistic.” Critics of existing social orders, on the other hand, have generally argued that equality is both desirable and attainable, and the experience of innumerable preliterate societies is offered as anthropological evidence for the possibility of a classless society. In the social sciences, most theoretical traditions hold that social inequality, usually thought of in terms of “socioeconomic status” rather than class, exists in all societies and will presumably continue to exist in the future.
Social scientists who subscribe to structural functionalism define inequality in terms of “status” and, given the universality of status distinctions based on age and gender, argue that social stratification (the division of members of a society into hierarchical levels) is universal and necessary. According to this view, inequality in society serves to ensure that the most critical functions in society are performed by the most talented individuals. Society cannot do without inequality.
Sociobiologists, on the other hand, see social inequality as rooted in biology. Economic, racial, and gender inequalities are the function of variation in the genetic endowment of individuals. Those able to secure wealth, prestige, and power owe their success to the biological inheritance of intelligence, ambition, attractiveness, size, and other attributes. Because genetic variation within populations is universal, so too is social inequality.
Elitists argue that all societies require bureaucracies to conduct the affairs of state; those who occupy the command positions in these organizations—the elite—have the means to preserve their position and privilege. Throughout history, when elites have been overthrown, they were simply replaced with a new elite. The necessity of elites, according to this argument, precludes the emergence of classless society.
Marxists retain a concern with class, understood in an economic sense as a relationship to the means of production. Therefore, “class societies” are those in which a tiny minority own the major means of production and the vast majority are dispossessed and pressed into the service of the propertied class. Societies of this kind appear in the historical record only within the last ten thousand years. Although status inequalities are more universal, this was not a basis for the denial of access to productive property in classless societies. Marxists argue that most of human history is the history of classless societies. The emergence of classless societies in the future is made possible by the efforts of capitalists to homogenize the vast majority of the world’s population.
Bibliography
Benyon, Huw. "A Classless Society?" Patterns of Social Inequality: Essays for Richard Brown. Ed. Benyon and Pandeli Glavanis. 1999. New York: Routledge, 2013. 36–53. Print.
Fritsch, Matthias. "The Enlightenment Promise and Its Remains: Derrida and Benjamin on the Classless Society." Human Studies 25.3 (2002): 289–96. Print.
Popper, Karl. The Open Society and Its Enemies. 1945. Introd. Alan Ryan. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2013. Print.
Rosanvallon, Pierre. The Society of Equals. Trans. Arthur Goldhammer. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2013. Print.
Weiss, Donald. The Specter of Capitalism and the Promise of a Classless Society. Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1993. Print.