This paper distinguishes the notion of "class politics" from that of "class analysis". In an attempt to respond to some of the contemporary critiques of the salience of class in social analysis and political life, it argues that the former term has closer resonances with the classical conception and purposes of "class" than the latter. Recent comparative political economy, as well as re-examinations of Marx's political economy, offer support for and are in turn themselves enriched by, a systematic clarification of the meaning and significance of "class pol- itics". The suggestion is therefore that the sociological approach to class (and classes) misses what was once distinctive in and crucial to the concept of "class conflict".
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bahro, R. (1978), The Alternative in Eastern Europe, London, NLB.
2.
Balibar, E. (1985), 'Marx, The Joker in the Pack (or the Included Middle)', Economy and Society, Vol 14(1), February, 1-27.
3.
Barbalet, J. (1978), 'Class and Inequality: An Overview: Marx and Weber as Class Theorists and the Relevance of Class Theory Today,' in Christine Jennett and Randal G. Stewart (eds), Three Worlds of Inequality: Race, Class and Gender , Melbourne, Macmillan .
4.
Clegg, S., Boreham, P., and Dow, G. (1986), Class, Politics and the EconomyLondon, Routledge and Kegan Paul.
5.
Cohen, J.L. (1982), Class and Civil Society: The Limits of Marxian Critical Theory, Oxford, Martin Robertson.
6.
Engels, F. (1894), 'Preface' to Marx, K., Capital, III, Moscow, Progress Publishers, 1978 .
7.
Engels, F. (1895), 'Introduction' to Marx, K., The Class Struggles in France 1848 to 1850, Moscow, Progress Publishers, 1975.
8.
Esping-Andersen G. and W. Korpi (1984), 'Social Policy as Class Politics in Postwar Capitalism: Scandinavia, Austria and Germany' in John H. Goldthorpe (ed), Order and Conflict in Contemporary Capitalism: Studies in the Political Economy of Western European Nations, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
9.
Esping-Andersen, G. and W. Korpi (1987), 'From Poor Relief to Institutional Welfare States: The Development of Scandinavian Social Policy' in Robert Erikson et al., (eds), The Scandinavian Model: Welfare States and Welfare Reserach, Armonk (NY), M.E. Sharpe Inc.
10.
Gerlach, K. et al., (eds) 1984), Public Policies to Combat Unemployment in a Period of Economic Stagnation , Frankfurt, Campus Verlag.
11.
Giddens, A. (1973), The Class Structure of the Advanced Societies , London, Hutchinson.
12.
Goldthorpe, J.H. (ed) (1984), Order and Conflict in Contemporary Capitalism: Studies in the Political Economy of Western European Nations, Oxford, Clarendon.
13.
Gorz, A. (1982), Farewell to The Working Class: An Essay in Post-Industrial Socialism, London, Pluto Press.
14.
Hall, S. (1978), 'The "Political" and the "Economic" in Marx's Theory of Classes', in Alan Hunt (ed.), Class and Class Structure, London, Lawrence and Wishart.
15.
Hibbs, D.A. (1987), The Political Economy of Industrial Democracies , Cambridge (Mass), Harvard University Press.
16.
Hindess, B. (1987), Politics and Class Analysis, London, Basil Blackwell.
17.
Hirst, P., 'Economic Classes and Politics', in Alan Hunt (ed.), Class and Class Structure, London , Lawrence and Wishart.
18.
Jessop, B. (1983), 'Accumulation Strategies, State Forms and Hegemonic Projects', Kapitalistate, 10/11, 89-111.
19.
Keman, H. et al, (eds) (1987), Coping with the Economic Crisis: Alternative Responses to Economic Recession in Advanced Industrial Societies, London, Sage (European Consortium for Political Research).
20.
Korpi, W. (1983), The Democratic Class Struggle, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul.
21.
Korpi, W. (1985), 'Economic Growth and the Welfare State: Leaky Bucket or Irrigation System?', European Sociological Review , 1 (2), September, 97-118.
22.
Kuttner, R. (1984), The Economic Illusion: False Choices Between Prosperity and Social Justice, Boston, Houghton Mifflin.
23.
Laclau, E. (1977), Politics and Ideology in Marxist Theory, London, Verso.
24.
Laclau, E. and Chantal Mouffe (1985), Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics, London, Verso .
25.
McLellan, D. (1971), The Thought of Karl Marx: an Introduction, London, Macmillan.
26.
Marx, K. (1844), 'A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right. Introduction', in Lucio Colletti (ed.), Karl Marx: Early Writings, Harmondsworth , Penguin, 1979.
27.
Marx, K. and F. Engels (1848), Manifesto of the Communist Party, Moscow, Progress Publishers, 1977 .
28.
Marx, K. (1852a), The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Moscow, Progress Publishers, 1977 .
29.
Marx, K. (1852b), 'Letter to Weydermeyer, 5 March 1852', in Marx-Engels Selected Correspondence, Moscow, Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1965.
30.
Marx, K. (1859), 'Preface' to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Moscow, Progress Publishers, 1977.
31.
Marx, K. (1866), 'Letter to Engels, 6 April 1866', in Fritz J. Raddatz (ed.) (1981) The Marx-Engels Correspondence: The Personal Letters, 1844-1877, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
32.
Marx, K. (1867), Capital, 1, Moscow, Progress Publishers, 1983.
33.
Marx, K. (1894), Capital, III (ed. F. Engels), Moscow, Progress Publishers, 1978.
34.
Polanyi, K. (1944), The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time, Boston, Beacon Press.
35.
Roemer, J. (1982),'New Directions in the Marxian Theory of Exploitation and Class', in John Roemer (ed.), Analytical Marxist, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
36.
Roemer, J. (1986), 'Rational Choice Marxism: Some Issues of Method and Substance', in John Roemer (ed.), Analytical Marxism, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
37.
Sayer, D. (1987), The Violence of Abstraction: The Analytical Foundations of Historical MaterialismOxford, Basil Blackwell.
38.
Schmidt, M. (1982), 'The Role of Parties in Shaping Macroeconomic Policy' in Francis G. Castles (ed), The Impact of Parties: Politics and Policies in Democratic Capitalist States , London, Sage (European Consortium for Political Research).
39.
Schmidt, M. (1987), 'The Politics of Full Employment in Western Democracies' , The Annals (AAPSS), 492, 171-181.
40.
Therborn, G. (1973), 'The Working Class and the Birth of Marxism', New Left Review, 79.
41.
Therborn, G. (1986), Why Some Peoples are More Unemployed Than Others: The Strange Paradox of Growth and Unemployment, London , Verso.
42.
Therborn, G. (1987), 'Does Corporatism Really Matter? The Economic Crisis and Issues of Political Theory', Journal of Public Policy, 7(3), 259- 284.
43.
Touraine, A. (1981), The Voice and the Eye, Cambridge , Cambridge University Press.
44.
Weber, M. (1920), General Economic History, Ira J. Cohen (ed.), original German publication 1927; New Brunswick (NJ), Transaction Books, 1981.
45.
Western, J. and M. Western (1988), 'Class and Inequality: Theory and Research', in J. Najman and J.S. Western (eds), A Sociology of Australian Society: Introductory Readings, Melbourne, Macmillan.
46.
Wright, E.O. (1978), Class, Crisis and the StateLondon, New Left Books.
47.
Wright, E.O. (1985), Classes, London, Verso.
48.
Wright, E.O. (1988), 'Exploitation, Inequality and Class Structure: a Reply to My Critics', Critical Sociology, 15(1), 91-110.
