Classes

by Erik Olin Wright

Overview

'The most impressive book on class I have read in some years.' Michael Mann, Contemporary Sociology

In this seminal re-examination of social class, Eric Olin Wright gives a complete reformulation of the Marxist concept, bridging the gap between abstract structural accounts of class and descriptions of particular class configurations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781804290484
Publisher:	Verso Books
Publication date:	04/18/2023
Series:	Verso Classics
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.26(h) x 0.85(d)

About the Author

Erik Olin Wright is Vilas Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin. He is the author of many books, including Classes, Interrogating Inequality, Class Counts, Deepening Democracy (with Archon Fung), and Envisioning Real Utopias. For more information on Envisioning Real Utopias and the Real Utopias project, and to access book content, please visit realutopias.org (site in progress).

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Posting the Problem: The Agenda of Class Analysis

The Legacy of Marx

The Agenda of Contemporary Marxist Class Analysis

Part One: Conceptual Issues

2. The Biography of a Concept: Contradictory

Class Locations

Steps in the Analysis of the Formation of the Concept of Contradictory Locations

The Empirical Setting

Theoretical Constraints

Alternative Solutions

Building a New Concept

Problems with Conceptualization

3. A General Framework for the Analysis of Class

Roemer's Account of Class and Exploitation

Towards a General Framework of Class Analysis

Once Again, Unresolved Problems

4. Implications and Elaboration of the General Framework

Alternative Class Theories

Mode of Production and Social Formation

The Theory of History

Legitimation and Motivation

Class Structure and Form of the State

Class Structure and Class Formation

Class Alliances

Women in the Class Structure

Conclusion

Part Two: Empirical Investigations

5. Empirically Adjudicating Contending Class

Definitions

Operationalizing the Adjudications

Reformulation of Hypotheses

Note on Statistical Procedures

Empirical Results

Conclusion

6. Class Structure in Contemporary

Capitalism: A Comparison of Sweden and the United States

Class Distributions

Explaining Differences in Class Structures

Class and Family

Class Structure and Income

7. Class Structure and Class Consciousness in Contemporary Capitalist Society

What is Class Consciousness?

Causal Logic

Operationalizations

A Note on Statistical Procedures

Empirical Results

Conclusions

Conclusion

The Exploitation Centred Concept of Class

The Class Structure of Contemporary

Capitalism

Class Structure and Politics

Political Implications

Appendix I: Practical Strategies for Transforming Concepts

Appendix II: Variable Constructions

Appendix III: Full Data for Selected Tables

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

The most impressive book on class I have read in some years.”—Michael Mann, Contemporary Sociology

“An empirically supported reformulation of class theory that achieves exemplary standards of critique, complexity and clarity.”—Claus Offe

“Erik Olin Wright’s Classes is almost certain to be the most important book on social classes this decade ... The book presents a major breakthrough in the conceptualization of class relations ... and it will be required reading for all macro-sociologists.”—American Journal of Sociology

From the Publisher