We're in Beta (aka: buggy)!

This test is submitted to be in The Future Tests Contest, starting Dec 16, 2009

written by carlwebb

The political consciousness Test

  2. Social classes are the hierarchical arrangements of people in society as economic or cultural groups. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, anthropologists, political economists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'.

    In sociology and political philosophy, the most basic class distinction is between the powerful and the powerless. In Marxist theory and historical materialism, social class is caused by the fundamental economic structure of work and property.

    For Marx, class involves two factors:

    Objective factors:

    A class shares a common relationship to the means of production. That is, all people in one class make their living in a common way in terms of ownership of the things that produce social goods. A class may own things, own land, own people, be owned, own nothing but their labour. A class will extract tax, produce agriculture, enslave and work others, be enslaved and work, or work for a wage.

    Subjective factors:The members will necessarily have some perception of their similarity and common interest. Marx termed this Class consciousness. Class consciousness is not simply an awareness of one's own class interest (for instance, the maximisation of shareholder value; or, the maximisation of the wage with the minimisation of the working day), class consciousness also embodies deeply shared views of how society should be organised legally, culturally, socially and politically.

    The first criteria divides a society into the owners and non-owners of means of production. In capitalism, these are capitalist (bourgeoisie) and proletariat. Finer divisions can be made, however: the most important subgroup in capitalism being petite bourgeoisie (small bourgeoisie), people who possess their own means of production but utilise it primarily by working on it themselves rather than hiring others to work on it. They include self-employed artisans, small shopkeepers, and many professionals.

Get Started!

Rate It and Run

If you don't even want to bother finishing this test, just rate it and we'll take you to our most popular tests.

About The Author

Carl Webb's Pic

Carl Webb refused to fight for the US Army in Iraq I dropped out of school in 1982. Just before turning 17 a recruiter convinced the me to join the military. I left my home in New Orleans and spent 7 years on and off active duty between 1982 to 1994, which included two overseas tours. One in Korea and one in Germany. In 1993, while serving in the Louisiana Army National Guard I got the opportunity to train in San Antonio, TX at Fort Sam Houston. First as a combat medic and then as a licensed practical nurse. After my discharge in December of 1994 I decided to stay in Texas and work in the health care industry. In September of 1995 I moved to Austin, TX. In August of 2001 I enlisted in the Texas Army National Guard for three years and the very next month 911 happened. I was a medic assigned to the 249th Main Support Battalion in Austin, TX. I got stop-loss orders in July of 2004 right before his very last drill. I was told that I was to be involuntarily extended and reassigned to the 56th Brigade Combat Team as part of the 36th Infantry Division and deploy with this unit to Iraq. According to the army's stop loss policy they can make null and void any contractual obligation you have with the military and extends your service in the military against your will. Some refer to it as a back door draft. An activist from Austin Against War got the Austin Chronicle to print an article titled Jail, Exile, or Iraqabout my situation as an anti-war activist being ordered to war. And the very next day KTBC-TV, our local Fox News affiliate, requested an interview. The week I was supposed to report for active duty I announced that I was having a goodbye party. Most of the guest didn't know it but instead of reporting for duty I'd plan to run away. On the day I was to report to Fort Hood, TX some friends of mine in Veterans For Peace hid me at their house and bought me a bus ticket the next day. I went to Tennessee to stay with a friend. I had decided not to leave the country because I didn't want to live indefinitely in exile. My plan was to hide out until my military unit dropped me from it's roster. Then I was going to turn my self over to the USADIP(United States Army Deserter Information Point) at Fort Knox. Since deserters are no longer assigned to a unit I hoped to just get kicked out or do jail time. Either would be better than going to Iraq. But to my surprise my unit didn't drop me from the rolls so I was never entered into the [Wanted Person File] of the FBI National Crime Information Center. So I went to New York and spent the next year traveling around doing anti-war activism. I gave interviews to newspapers, TV, radio, and magazine. I stayed on the East Coast until Hurricane Katrina forced me back down south to look for my missing family in New Orleans. After about two years of desertion I was kicked out of the military. I think my decision to go public with my struggle helped to pressure the military to release me in August 2006. While I was on the run in Tennessee someone made a video that was sent to Amy Goodman and she invited me to be on her [Democracy Now!] TV show. So on March 15, 2005, just before the protest of the third year of the war, I was on a show called Three U.S. Soldiers Refusing to Fight Speak Out Against the Iraq War. She had me on again about six months later for a show called Missing in New Orleans: Voices of Those Seeking Loved Ones. The video that was made by MonkeyRay Productions while I was on the run in Tennessee is now on KLRU's Docubloggers which is a video blog on our local PBS station's website in Austin. I hope to be an example for others. At night I compose HelloQuizzy tests.

Create button Create a test

Creating a test is super easy!

Browse button Browse tests

35,427 tests for the taking!

We're not holding any contest right now. Check back soon!