How did Karl Marx view social stratification?

Social stratification is a form of inequality that occurs
due to the inherent differences between human beings and can be determined by race,
gender, age, and economic capacity among other distinguishing features. The
differentiation is done to mark one group as superior over another which leads to social
classes arranged as hierarchies.

According to Marxist
theory, social stratification is created by the differing economic capacities among
people and their relationships to the means or the factors of production. In a society,
two distinct classes can be created which feature those who own the factors or means of
production and those who sell their labor in the production chain to those who own the
means. This basically creates the employer-employee relation in most societies. Apart
from these two distinct groups Marx also recognized two other groups that don’t belong
to either but are somehow related to the two large
groups:

• The petite bourgeoisie - those who own
  some of the means of productions but their profit earning power is not enough to earn
  them a position among the bourgeoisie.


• The underclass -
  includes those who have no social status such as beggars and the
  homeless.