A Post-Industrial Proletariat? Class, Change and Identity

Abstract

Class, always a matter of fierce debate among sociologists, is becoming even more of a conundrum. In the 1980s, Andre Gorz (1982) argued that post-industrial change would bring an end to the working-class as classically conceived by Marx, Weber and their contemporary followers, replacing it with a ‘neo-proletariat’, a group something akin to the popularly-conceived ‘underclass’. In the 1990s, as we saw in Chapter 2, some postmodernists have gone further and suggest that classes are disappearing altogether, as old collectivities are destroyed by processes of economic and cultural change.

‘I would identify myself as being what I would call the working class. You’re talking about two classes. All those who have to work. Britain’s run by the class who do the employing. They’re the people who have the power.’ (civil servant, male, 34)

‘If I had been asked that question ten or twelve years ago I would have said working class. But when I look around at what’s going on around the country I’d have to class myself as middle-class.’ (factory worker, male, 47)

‘Classwise it’s getting less because people are getting more and more affluent.’ (shop assistant, male, 47)