History of Power Dynamics among Different Classes of Society and it’s impact
Political class (including Feudal Class & Military Class) has remained master class since the beginning of well-written history i.e Ancient Greece but its’ influence has diminished subsequently because of understanding that nature, human and its’ dynamics are complex. So Power has to be rightly transferred to Bureaucratic class for proper formulation and implementation of policies so that stability in society is maintained.
Subsequently, in the 15th Century because of trade benefits to the political class in form of taxation and availability of products from around the globe, there emerged a Capitalist Class of merchants. Since these merchants had the capital they started investing it in the market in form of setting up of factories and industries creating jobs. Earlier most of the jobs were created directly or indirectly related to political class needs. So capital showed a circular flow from Capitalist to working class back to Capitalist. And there happened an agreement between Political Class and Capitalist Class which led to the formation of the Nation-State, a territorial concept, to decrease the influence of Religious Class. And with the above agreement gradually Power of Political class diminished vis-a-vis Capitalist Class but increased with respect to Religious Class. The power of Religious Class has declined ever since.
Capitalist Class found out that improvisation in production systems led to an accelerated increase in profits and this led to the emergence of the Scientific/Researcher Class which helped in developing new methods of productions and improvements. As this class led to the entry of new ventures and persons into an established business market, Scientific Class also acquired power although minuscule. Capitalist class power increased tremendously with the Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century. Capitalist Class didn’t just turn into another feudal class mainly because of Scientific Class which led to the entry of new people and return of previous members from it(via new tech developments). Although high ranks in Feudal Class could get in Capitalist class because of availability of initial capital. Feudal and Capitalist Class differed only in rate and basis of entry of new person and removal of old one in their class. Capitalist has a higher rate of entry and removal so in a person’s lifetime, there might be a substantive change in resource allocation. So it seems fairer than Feudal System but not the perfect system.
But the Question remains: What should be the practicable ideal system?
The Capitalist class since IR till before the Silicon Revolution was based on the Darwinian Theory of cut-throat competition with the maximum exploitation of workers. The power of Capitalist class increased in this period in the US with business moguls like Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morgan, Ford but soon political class interfered partially to save their power on the behalf of the welfare of workers and which was also right step as Darwinism cannot be applied on a societal level.
Further, Silicon Revolution opened up the opportunity for new entrants without any capital investment of their own. They were supported by Venture Capitalists who wanted to make their fortune and get into a higher ladder of Capitalist Class. Some of these VCs were also imaginative enough to see the future of chip technology.
Earlier, Scientific Class used to thrive on the requirement given by political class and Capitalist class and so most of Scientific Class have to become Practical Scientists or Researcher class like Haber with a short-term return of their work rather than Theorists like Einstein. This culture, although not justifiable, paid off with Practical Scientific Class becoming as newer entrants in Capitalist Class. They are termed as “Proactive Capitalist”. They set the tone of tech development and market and the “Reactive Capitalist” like Soap, Biscuit, Music, Movies, Communication Company adapts itself to new market culture. The “Old Capitalist” continues their business with only slight adaptation to new market culture and since they are well established this doesn’t affect them in the short run. And since Old Capitalists were operative till that time in the capital-intensive industry, it was difficult to compete with them even with new tech.
The massive opportunity shown by chip technology and competition from newer entrants led to a culture of acquisition of startups. This led to the accumulation of wealth in the hands of Proactive Capitalist. These people although have capital but they are more closes in behavior to Scientific Class and this led to their investment in newer tech and more Scientific Class become Proactive Capitalist.
The present accelerated rate of technological development has been mainly possible with the contribution of Scientific Class and Proactive Class. Both the classes are complementary to each and nearly the same set of individual enters the class. Power of above-combined class has increased as a whole.
With the introduction of Universal Adult Franchise in the 20th century, it was hoped that power would lie with Common People. But the dominant class of every time manipulates the common people choice and perceptions. It is mainly because of a lack of rationality and knowledge in common people. Common people show a mob-like mentality. Although the awareness has sunk in the class because of Scholar Class educating via various forms of media, still Common People cannot grow as the same rate as Dominant Class because of less exposure and more restraints because of the size of the class. So, unfortunately, power with Common People is not desirable as of now because they are lag in terms of knowledge acquired at any point in time.
What should be future dynamics of power distribution among classes?
Before answering the question we need to look at some facts. Homo Sapiens have existed on the planet for 200,000 years less than 1/10th of Neanderthals(They are extinct now). Richard Dawkins explained that we have developed an altruistic nature towards fellow humans not related to us because of our ancestral background where we used to live in small blood-related groups. In small blood-related groups, we have developed altruism because of the selfish gene which supports the survival of its gene through preservation of blood relatives too apart from the survival of self as blood relatives have nearly the same gene.
We have dual roles to fulfill and power distribution in society has to be aligned accordingly. First, we have to ensure that Justice prevails in society, equal opportunity and capacity building are provided to everyone without unreasonable discrimination. Second, we have to understand more of how natural sciences work and apply it to understand better social sciences. And this will happen only if Scientific Class is among the dominating class and with continuous investment flow.
The ideal class bearing power should be the Proactive Capitalist class, Scholar Class, and Scientific Class. In this way the scientific class will be working on both set of fundamentals: one which has an immediate economic utility which makes the community self-sustainable and second one which helps us understanding better our place in Universe which gives us the stability of mind in the confluence of science away from scripted religious literature.
But the problem is Proactive Class may soon turn into Old Capitalist and latter into feudal because of transfer of wealth to their offsprings. We have not much thought about it as the first set of the Proactive class has not turned old as of now. So the solution would what Bill Gates, Azim Premji, Mark Zuckerberg are committing to do to float most of their wealth in the market in form of charity to organizations which are working in their field of interest. This would lead to equality of opportunity of new generation vis-a-vis offsprings of previous Proactive Capitalist Class. If a system is naturally unfair, we accept the fact that nature created us differently and work towards minimizing the difference but when a system is artificially created unfair by humans for their self-interest then it leads to anarchy in the form of dissent, violence and other forms which makes the life of people worse off.
The scientific class will have to rationally answer all the questions raised by common people either directly or through media and as power bearers they cannot deviate from their responsibility, Proactive Capitalist class ensures the stability of economic system vis-a-vis their investment in science by finding the utility of relevant scientific discovery and inventions.
The society is merely a reflection of the dominant class as in India society is more politically charged, in US society youth are more Proactive Capitalist oriented.
We have tried living in the dominance of Political Class and it has resulted in nonetheless but conflicts around the world in form of either Hot War or Cold War.
But will Political Class which are dominant let even try the structure when Scientific Class are more powerful in decision-making in most the cases?
One interesting observation is Political Class although has diminished in its power compared to Ancient times but it still has ensured that their power would not be drastically reduced. The nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction which got prominence during Arms Race starting in Cold War period became a backup for the political class in case any other class or institution thinks of increasing its power, it’s become a warning.
Just like hereditary of Kingship System with passing generation, in the world of dynamism, it has become hereditary of Political Institution as the dominant institution.
But, What is the solution now?
It would be better if I leave the solution to the prominent people of Scientific Class, Scholar Class, and Proactive Capitalist Class to decide. I hope they will find a peaceful solution while negotiating with Political and Bureaucratic Class.
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