The breakdown of class politics

This paper reviews debate in the 1990s over whether, why, and how much class is declining in its impact on politics. One position is the “null hypothesis” of many at Berkeley and Oxford: the impact of class has not changed. The other position is that “post-industrial society” is transforming politics and redefining class. To focus, the paper does not seek to inventory themes in abstract, but stresses core points made by actual proponents in the exchange. Over the decade many issues were resolved; others were not. Social inequality persists, and inequality of income has risen; but the motor of politics is less clearly jobs. Consumption and other post-industrial concerns have entered and transformed politics in many countries worldwide. How political parties have changed their appeals away from “class” is a key issue, as is the drop by about half in the size of the traditional working class in most Western countries since 1945. From this exchange lessons emerge for conceptualizing and measuring these dynamics in the future. He has taught at Columbia, Harvard, Yale, the Sorbonne, UCLA, and the University of Florence.