V. Party
Class and status interests interact in the realm of the legal order, the arena of politics. Political power is, obviously, often based on class and status interests. Parties are the organizations of power. Their purpose is the struggle for domination. Parties commonly operate in the political/legal domain, but as an ideal type, parties are not restricted to this field.
Although parties are based on class and status, they are usually organized across these distinctions. That is, it is rare for parties to be based solely on class or status interests, such that a party of entrepreneurial class interest would be in competition with one based on high status. Since economic power binds class status together in some way, it is no surprise that parties reflect these complex patterns of interest.
Parties represent a high degree of rationality in social action. Parties require planning; their motives are strategic. Irrational types of social action are not completely excluded, however. Tradition and affect are a part of the operation of parties.
Notes
1 This view is not far from Marx, though it is stated very differently. Marx certainly discussed the implications of class in terms of the material conditions of existence. He also saw possession of property as definitive, though he identified the market with capitalist class relations, and not earlier forms.
2 The distinction is between active and idle wealth.
3 Marx did not think the differences in the kind of labor were important, though he acknowledged that skilled labor had greater value, and thus higher wages, than unskilled labor. Weber believed that the differences in wages resulted in significant material conditions, and therefore, different patterns of social action. Weber's suggests that antagonisms among the property-less groups can be based on rational motives, and not false consciousness.