Social Class
Social Class is a term used by sociologists to refer to the hierarchy of wealth, power, and opportunity that exists in all extant societies. Sociologists often think of class in discrete terms. There is a proletariat or working class (people with low levels of education, who work in wage jobs, with limited opportunity for social or economic mobility), a middle class (people with moderate to high levels of education and with improved financial opportunities and potential access to the ruling classes), and the ruling class. Sociologists may sometimes add additional demarcations by including an "upper middle class," a lumpen proletariat (a class of largely expendable wage slaves), and so on.
Related LP Terms
Social Class > {{#ask:[[Is a related LP term::Social Class]}}
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Notes
Almost all people on this earth take the existence of social class as a given. Justifications that support the manifestation of social class can be found in pop Darwinism, traditional religious dogma, or pseudo-scientific constructions like IQ. Of course, not everyone accepts hierarchy. Although Karl Marx accepted the reality of social class, he rejected (as others did) it's inevitability. Marx predicted a time in the future when class based societies would disappear and be replaced by socialist utopias ("From each according to his ability, to each according to his need"). Marx even provided a blue print for such a "communist" utopia. However, as history has shown, his vision was horribly flawed. The truth is, his prescription for utopia lead to some of the worst human rights violations ever. The flaws are to be found in his rejection of a common spiritual heritage and shared divinity, and his advocacy of violence as a means towards a utopian
It should be noted that the idea of social class, and the inequality of wealth, power, and opportunity that is associated with class, is incompatible with the higher truth of our fundamental, and inviolate, divinity. Therefore, as we return to full consciousness, the class based systems of this world will, along with all the accouterments and structures which support the class system, pass away.
The elimination of the class system requires, among other things, the elimination of ideological and archetypal supports for the system. Merely expanding consciousness into the physical unit is not enough since (as various "secret orders" have shown) it is possible, as consciousness comes in, to lock a moderately expanded mind into an ideological straight jacket that supports class and prevents further expansion.
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