Discussion of Weber-

In Weber's chapter on the "Distribution of Power in the Community," he famously distinguishes classes and status groups. Status groups might best be thought of as "ranks," whose members share the same standing in a society, but some status groups may have more standing than another. One's social standing is like a position in society of greater or lesser honor, esteem, prestige, or privilege. I want us to look closely at the text and try to figure out what the differences between classes and status groups. How are classes and status groups different? How do they relate to each other?

One further note of clarification: Weber also talks in this chapter about "parties" but not on the same basis as classes and status groups. Classes and status groups may each be the basis of a party, but need not be. Party should be seen as broader than the political parties that it brings to mind. What he meant by parties was, first of all, what framers of the constitution like James Madison called factions. Factions form as organized groups on the basis of common interests or ideals in a "political" setting. By "political" we could be referring to a nation's government but we could also be referring to competing sections of any organization vying for power and leadership. Basically, political means here the distribution and exercise of the power of decision-making in an organizational setting.