class domination

class domination

the power exercised by one group over another by virtue of their respective CLASS positions. Class relations are generally agreed by sociologists to involve relationships of domination and subordination. These relationships are institutionalized and legitimated in different, more or less formal, ways in different societies. For example, customary rights and obligations may have great force in preindustrial societies, and it is usual to find that religious sanctions exist to regulate and normalize class relations. These forms of domination and legitimation are, like all others, ultimately backed up by the threat of political, juridical or military force. In more highly developed class societies, as relations become more impersonal and contractual, formal and legal regulations become much more important than tradition or religion, and the growth of centralized state power becomes a key mediating factor.