--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The ruling class is opposed to the lower…" description: "\"“The ruling class is opposed to the lower class—that is, ‘closed’ to the outside—insofar as it ‘excludes, restricts, or makes admission conditional.’ I..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33d/franz-oppenheimer-70039_class-struggle_the-ruling-class-is-opposed-to-the-lower_2121524.jpg" --- # The ruling class is opposed to the lower class—that is… ![“The ruling class is opposed to the lower class—that is, ‘closed’ to the outside—insofar as it ‘excludes, restricts, or makes admission conditional.’ It denies the lower class access to the ‘monopolized opportunities’ that positive law grants it—‘opportunities for the satisfaction of internal or…” quote by Franz Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33d/franz-oppenheimer-70039_class-struggle_the-ruling-class-is-opposed-to-the-lower_2121524.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33d/franz-oppenheimer-70039_class-struggle_the-ruling-class-is-opposed-to-the-lower_2121524.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33d/franz-oppenheimer-70039_class-struggle_the-ruling-class-is-opposed-to-the-lower_2121524.jpg) > ““The ruling class is opposed to the lower class—that is, ‘closed’ to the outside—insofar as it ‘excludes, restricts, or makes admission conditional.’ It denies the lower class access to the ‘monopolized opportunities’ that positive law grants it—‘opportunities for the satisfaction of internal or external interests.’ When these opportunities are appropriated, they are called ‘rights,’ and when they are appropriated by inheritance, they are called ‘property.’ In other words: the concept of domination encompasses not only legal inequality but also economic exploitation based on ‘monopolized’ property rights.” Translated with DeepL.com (free version)”” [Franz Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-oppenheimer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The ruling class keeps power by restricting access to legal and economic opportunities, turning them into exclusive rights and property, which sustains domination and exploitation. **In simple terms:** The elite block access to rights and wealth, keeping power. Key Takeaway Recognize and challenge systemic barriers to equality. Themes power inequality property law economics Mood critical analytical Type theoretical political When to use this quote - policy reform - activism - education - community organizing Key Concepts social stratification legal monopoly economic exploitation Questions to Reflect On - How do legal definitions of property reinforce inequality? - What actions can reduce monopolized opportunities? A Different Perspective Such analysis may overlook individual agency within structures. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Class struggle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class-struggle/) [Frankfurt-school](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/frankfurt-school-67158/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Legal Inequality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/legal-inequality-4330270/) [Lower class](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lower-class/) [Monopolized Opportunities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monopolized-opportunities-4330271/) [Monopolized Property](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monopolized-property-4330269/) [Property rights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/property-rights/) [Ruling class](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruling-class/) [Socialism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/socialism/) ## Related quotes > [“Ruthlessly, in despite of itself, the Enlightenment has extinguished any trace of its own self-consciousness. The only kind of thinking that is sufficiently hard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/ruthlessly-in-despite-of-itself-the-enlightenment-has-extinguished/) [Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/) > [Exemplary people concern themselves with virtue, small people concern themselves with territory. The ruling class thinks of punishment, the lower classes hope for benevolence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/confucius/exemplary-people-concern-themselves-with-virtue-small-people-concern/) [Confucius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/confucius/) > [What I think I represent is a patriot who has no political baggage behind him that has dedicated his entire life to serving America…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ricardo-sanchez/what-i-think-i-represent-is-a-patriot-who-has-no-political-baggage/) [Ricardo Sanchez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ricardo-sanchez/) > [“Aping the lower class will only lead to fatherless children, unusable muscles, and the fear of tomorrow’s sobriety.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bauvard/aping-the-lower-class-will-only-lead-to-fatherless-children-unusable/) [Bauvard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bauvard/) > [Morality is only for the middle class, sweet. The lower class can't afford it, and the upper classes have entirely too much leisure time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/morality-is-only-for-the-middle-class-sweet-the-lower-class-can-t/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Really, if the lower orders don't set a good example, what on earth is the use of them?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/really-if-the-lower-orders-don-t-set-a-good-example-what-on-earth-is/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [If we want to have a two-class society and an unemployed, welfare-crippled lower class that has no access to equality and educational opportunity and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/if-we-want-to-have-a-two-class-society-and-an-unemployed-welfare/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [Our inequality materializes our upper class, vulgarizes our middle class, brutalizes our lower class.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/our-inequality-materializes-our-upper-class-vulgarizes-our-middle/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [It's incumbent on the President to entertain. Clinton did a better job of it - and was forgiven for the scandals, incidentally. Bush is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/it-s-incumbent-on-the-president-to-entertain-clinton-did-a-better-job/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [Primroses and landscapes, he pointed out, have one grave defect: they are gratuitous. A love of nature keeps no factories busy. It was decided…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/primroses-and-landscapes-he-pointed-out-have-one-grave-defect-they/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [If you have an economic system in which there must be a lower class, there must be unemployed. There must be a large pool…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-zinn/if-you-have-an-economic-system-in-which-there-must-be-a-lower-class/) [Howard Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-zinn/) > [You know, without China there is no Wal-Mart and without Wal-Mart there is no middle class and lower class prosperity in the United States.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-laffer/you-know-without-china-there-is-no-wal-mart-and-without-wal-mart/) [Arthur Laffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-laffer/) > [“and there is dishonest men plenty to guide them to the devil, scoundrels that reckons to be the ‘people’s friends,’ and that knows nought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/and-there-is-dishonest-men-plenty-to-guide-them-to-the-devil/) [Charlotte Brontë](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [“The more violent the body contact of the sports you watch, the lower your class. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-fussell/the-more-violent-the-body-contact-of-the-sports-you-watch-the-lower/) [Paul Fussell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-fussell/) > [The American middle class always wants to be upper class and is scared to death of being lower class. It's a highly mobile group…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sloan-wilson/the-american-middle-class-always-wants-to-be-upper-class-and-is/) [Sloan Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sloan-wilson/) ## More by Franz Oppenheimer > [I propose in the following discussion to call one's own labor, and the equivalent exchange of one's own labor for the labor of others,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-oppenheimer/i-propose-in-the-following-discussion-to-call-one-s-own-labor-and-the/) [Franz Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-oppenheimer/) > [I mean by Society, the totality of concepts of all purely natural relations and institutions between man and man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-oppenheimer/i-mean-by-society-the-totality-of-concepts-of-all-purely-natural/) [Franz Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-oppenheimer/) > [The State, completely in its genesis, essentially and almost completely during the first stages of its existence, is a social institution, forced by a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-oppenheimer/the-state-completely-in-its-genesis-essentially-and-almost-completely/) [Franz Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-oppenheimer/) [Explore all 4 Franz Oppenheimer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-oppenheimer/) ## More Class struggle quotes > [Starting from the very reasonable, but unfortunately revolutionary concept that social practices which threaten the continuation of life on Earth must be changed, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judi-bari/starting-from-the-very-reasonable-but-unfortunately-revolutionary/) [Judi Bari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judi-bari/) > [The class struggle necessarily leads to the dictatorship of the proletariat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/the-class-struggle-necessarily-leads-to-the-dictatorship-of-the/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [“As a battle cry against feudalism, the demand for democracy had a progressive character. As time went on, however, the metaphysics of natural law…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/as-a-battle-cry-against-feudalism-the-demand-for-democracy-had-a/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [All history has been a history of class struggles between dominated classes at various stages of social development.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-engels/all-history-has-been-a-history-of-class-struggles-between-dominated/) [Friedrich Engels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-engels/) > [The same old caveman feeling-greed, envy, violence, and mutual hate, which along the way assumed respectable pseudonyms like class struggle, racial struggle, mass struggle,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/the-same-old-caveman-feeling-greed-envy-violence-and-mutual-hate/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [“We in the West are accustomed to thinking that humans are all basically the same underneath our different cultural clothing, that the concerns the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-cushman/we-in-the-west-are-accustomed-to-thinking-that-humans-are-all/) [Philip Cushman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-cushman/) > [“The class struggle had a just motive, and Socialism at the beginning was in the right. What has happened is that instead of pursuing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jos-antonio-rivera/the-class-struggle-had-a-just-motive-and-socialism-at-the-beginning/) [José Antonio Rivera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jos-antonio-rivera/) > [“Totalitarian politics—far from being simply antisemitic or racist or imperialist or communist—use and abuse their own ideological and political elements until the basis of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/totalitarian-politics-far-from-being-simply-antisemitic-or-racist-or/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [The Latin American Left, the criollos, direct descendents of Spaniards, they don't want to accept that they are the whites of Latin America. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bocafloja/the-latin-american-left-the-criollos-direct-descendents-of-spaniards/) [Bocafloja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bocafloja/) > [Wherever capitalism appears, in pursuit of its mission of exploitation, there will Socialism, fertilized by misery, watered by tears, and vitalized by agitation be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-v-debs/wherever-capitalism-appears-in-pursuit-of-its-mission-of-exploitation/) [Eugene V. Debs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-v-debs/) > [The Republican and Democratic parties, or, to be more exact, the Republican-Democratic party, represent the capitalist class in the class struggle. They are the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-v-debs/the-republican-and-democratic-parties-or-to-be-more-exact-the/) [Eugene V. Debs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-v-debs/) > [“Have private property, capitalist exploitation and class rule ceased to exist? Or, have the propertied classes in a spell of patriotic fervour declared: in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosa-luxemburg/have-private-property-capitalist-exploitation-and-class-rule-ceased/) [Rosa Luxemburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rosa-luxemburg/) > [“Actual class struggles apart, one of the aesthetic ways you could prove that there was a class system in America was by cogitating on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/actual-class-struggles-apart-one-of-the-aesthetic-ways-you-could/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [As the class struggle sharpens in the U.S. Marxism will come into its own as a great popular study.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-l-r-james/as-the-class-struggle-sharpens-in-the-u-s-marxism-will-come-into-its/) [C. L. R. James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-l-r-james/) > [“My own outlook and my values had been formed long ago. I did not believe in dividing people into rigid classes, and I did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nien-cheng/my-own-outlook-and-my-values-had-been-formed-long-ago-i-did-not/) [Nien Cheng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nien-cheng/) [Browse all 153 Class struggle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class-struggle/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The ruling class is opposed to the lower class—that is, ‘closed’ to the outside—insofar as it ‘excludes, restricts, or makes admission conditional.’ It denies the lower class access to the ‘monopolized opportunities’ that positive law grants it—‘opportunities for the satisfaction of internal or external interests.’ When these opportunities are appropriated, they are called ‘rights,’ and when they are appropriated by inheritance, they are called ‘property.’ In other words: the concept of domination encompasses not only legal inequality but also economic exploitation based on ‘monopolized’ property rights.” Translated with DeepL.com (free version)”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Franz Oppenheimer" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-oppenheimer/the-ruling-class-is-opposed-to-the-lower-class-that-is-closed-to-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Class struggle" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-oppenheimer/the-ruling-class-is-opposed-to-the-lower-class-that-is-closed-to-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33d/franz-oppenheimer-70039_class-struggle_the-ruling-class-is-opposed-to-the-lower_2121524.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33d/franz-oppenheimer-70039_class-struggle_the-ruling-class-is-opposed-to-the-lower_2121524.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33d/franz-oppenheimer-70039_class-struggle_the-ruling-class-is-opposed-to-the-lower_2121524.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The ruling class is opposed to the lower class—that is, ‘closed’ to the outside—insofar as it ‘excludes…” — Franz Oppenheimer", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Franz Oppenheimer", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-oppenheimer/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The ruling class is opposed to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-oppenheimer/the-ruling-class-is-opposed-to-the-lower-class-that-is-closed-to-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-oppenheimer/the-ruling-class-is-opposed-to-the-lower-class-that-is-closed-to-the/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```