Access, Resources, and Classes in the History of Capitalism: A Theory of Social Stratification from a Cognitive Materialist Perspective

Abstract

This article aims to apply some concepts from cognitive materialism to the sociologicalproblem of social stratification in capitalism, both in theoretical and abstract terms and through concretehistorical examples. After discussing the necessity for a theory of social classes, a division ispresented between two types of resources: those physical intensive, and those which are knowledgeintensive. At the same time three alternative conditions of access to these resources are theorized:exclusive access (applicable to physical or intellectual property), non-exclusive access, and no access.Combining the different types of resource with the different types of access, we obtain a proposalfor a theory of classes, which we apply, in a simplified and schematic way, to various periods.Thus, we analyze social strata in the transition from feudalism to mercantile capitalism, the subsequenttransition to industrial capitalism (in which we distinguish two clearly differentiated stages), andfinally, in the current transformation into informational capitalism.