Life chances

Life chances (Lebenschancen in German) is a political theory of the opportunities each individual has to improve his or her quality of life. The concept was introduced by German sociologist Max Weber. It is a probabilistic concept, describing how likely it is, given certain factors, that an individual's life will turn out a certain way. According to this theory, life chances are positively correlated with one's socioeconomic status.

Opportunities in this sense refer to the extent to which one has access to resources, both tangible ones such as food, clothing and shelter, and intangible ones such as education and health care. Quality of life comprises the individual's ability to procure goods, have a career and obtain inner satisfaction; in other words, the ability to satisfy one's needs.

Theory

Weberian life chances can be seen as an expansion on some of Karl Marx's ideas. Both Weber and Marx agreed that economic factors were important in determining one's future, but Weber's concepts of life chances are more complex; inspired by, but different from Marx's views on social stratification and social class. Where for Marx the class status were the most important factor, and he correlated life chances with material wealth, Weber introduced such additional factors as social mobility and social equality. Other factors include those related to one socioeconomic status, such as gender, race, and ethnicity.

While some of those factors, like age, race or gender, are random, Weber stressed the link between life chances and the non-random elements of the three-component theory of stratification - how social class, social status and political affiliation impact each individual's life. In other words, individuals in certain groups have in common a specific causal component of their life chances: they are in similar situation, which tends to imply a similar outcome to their actions. Weber notes the importance of economic factors. how the power of those with property, compared to those without property, gives the former great advantages over the latter.

Weber also noted that life chances are to certain extent subjective: what an individual thinks of one's life chances will affect their actions, therefore if one feels that one can become or is a respected and valued member of society, then it is likely to become a reality and results in one being more successful and respected than somebody without this conviction.

In terms of agency and structure, life chances represent the structure, the factors that one has no control over; whereas one's life conduct - values and beliefs, attitude to risk taking, social skills, or more generally, free willed choices about one's behavior - represent the factors one has control over. According to Weber theories, together with life conduct, life chances are responsible for one's lifestyle.

In social engineering, life chances may have to be balanced against other goals, such as eliminating poverty, ensuring personal freedom or ensuring equality at birth.

See also

• Primary goods
• Social mobility
• The Bell Curve

Further reading

• Diana Kendall, Sociology in Our Times:

The Essentials, Cengage Learning, 2009, ISBN 0495598623, Google Print, p.214

• John Hughes, Wes Sharrock, Peter J Martin, Understanding Classical Sociology: Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Sage Publications Inc, 2003, ISBN 0-7619-5467-8, Google Print, p.107
• William Cockerham (ed.), The Blackwell Companion To Medical Sociology, Blackwell Publishing, 2005 Google Print, p.12
• Life Chances and Social Mobility(broken link)
• Multiple Sources of Power – Class, Status, and Party
• WEBER AND CLASS (broken link)
• Social Stratification
• Is an unstratified society possible? (broken link)

Further reading

• Max Weber, Economy and Society, University of California Press, 1978, ISBN 0-520-03500-3