anarchic inefficiency, so Marx’s workers’ state (or “dic-
tatorship of the proletariat”) annihilated most of civil
society’s independent organizations.
Today, civil society refers to that private realm of
individuals and nongovernmental associations that
perform much of the economic, social, and religious
activity in the West. Current Western thinking holds
that a healthy, diverse civil society is necessary to sta-
ble PROGRESSin the economy and responsive, REPUBLI-
CAN government. The tendency to have the central
state run more and more of private life has diminished
in most Western democracies.
Further Readings
Black, A. Guilds and Civil Society in European Political Thought
from the Twelfth Century to the Present.Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell
University Press, 1984.
Ferguson, A. An Essay on the History of Civil Society,D. Forbes,
ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1966.
Keane, John. Civil Society: Old Images, New Visions.Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1998.
Rosmini, Antonio. Rights in Civil Society,Denis Cleary and Ter-
ence Watson, transl. Durham, N.C.: Rosmini House, 1996.
class
A term used by many political thinkers to denote an
economic, social, or political group. ARISTOTLE talks
about the class of CITIZENSmade up of adult, Greek men
with a certain level of economic independence, educa-
tional attainment, and political experience, and he con-
trasts this with classes of “noncitizens” (women,
children, slaves). PLATO’s Republicdivides society into
three natural classes conforming to individuals’ natural
dispositions: (1) rulers; (2) soldiers; and (3) workers.
The rulers, for Plato, are distinguished by the VIRTUEof
wisdom (PHILOSOPHER-KINGS); the soldiers have the
virtue of courage; and the workers or business people
have the virtue of moderation. For Plato, these social
classes are inevitable and good—they reflect differences
in human beings and, if organized properly, create
social harmony and JUSTICE. St. Thomas AQUINAS’s con-
ception of classes reflects the social structure of the
European MIDDLE AGES: MONARCHY (royalty), ARISTOC-
RACY, peasants, and churchmen or priests. In this
Thomist view, each class is important to the function-
ing of the whole society, but each is different and
requires distinct sets of laws to govern it. The British
CONSTITUTION of monarchy, Lords, and Commons
reflects this MEDIEVALconception. Western democracies,
like the United States of America, claim to have no
legal or official classes (the U.S. constitution forbids
titles of nobility or aristocracy), but social, economic,
and religious classes continue in those countries.
Marxist COMMUNIST theory emphasizes economic
class throughout history, especially owners of property
and workers. In MARXISM, technology produces differ-
ent economic classes at various historical stages. Dur-
ing the earliest human communities (primitive
communism of tribal society), no classes exist because
production is very low level—just hunting and gather-
ing with no fixed wealth. In CLASSICAL antiquity
(ancient Greece and Rome) a slightly more-advanced
agricultural economy divides society into master and
slave classes. In the Middle Ages (A.D. 500–1500),
Marxism says that the economic classes are landlords
and peasants. During industrial capitalism, classes are
bourgeoisie (capitalists) and proletariat (workers). In
SOCIALISM, Marx maintained that the working class
takes over political power and that this eventually
leads to communism (a classless society based on
highly advanced production, common ownership of
PROPERTY, extreme abundance, and the elimination of
work). Absolute FREEDOM, prosperity, and the end of
war characterize future communist society, according
to Marx. The failure of this system has caused a reex-
amination of its premises, but Marxism’s tendency to
look at society in terms of antagonistic classes,
EXPLOITATION, oppression, and conflict greatly influ-
enced the sociological view of race, gender, and class
relations. Elaborate development of views of classes in
society, by education, economic, power, consciousness,
and gender has defined much of secular social science.
Communist thinker and Russian revolutionary V. I.
LENINextended Marxist class theory to world IMPERIAL-
ISM, with advanced CAPITALIST nations being “bour-
geois” (even their working classes) and with poor
Third World new colonies being exploited “prole-
tariat” countries. This Marxist–Leninist perspective
affected much of African and Latin American politics
in the latter half of the 20th century. Such class theory
declined in influence in the early 21st century with the
growth of Third World democracies and the fall of
communism.
Other thinkers on social class include Max WEBER,
who focuses more on official power, and Karl MANN-
HEIM, who emphasized noneconomic class groups. In
general class analysis has come to be seen as too sim-
plistic to be valuable in political thought; individual
character transcends class identification, and placing
individuals in race, gender, economic, and educationalclass 63