Bringing Class Back In: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives

353 Pages·1991·32.817 MB·English

by  Scott G. McNall, Rhonda F. Levine, Rick Fantasia

Bringing Class Back In

Bringing Class Back In
Contemporary and
Historical Perspectives
edited by
ScoTT G. McNALL
RHONDA F. LEVINE
RICK FANTASIA
First published 1991 by Westview Press, Inc.
Published 2018 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bringing class back in: contemporary and historical perspectives /
edited by Scott G. McNall, Rhonda F. Levine, Rick Fantasia.
p. em.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8133-1049-0-ISBN 0-8133-1050-4 (pbk.)
l. Social classes. 2. Social conflict. 3. Ideology. I. McNall,
Scott G. II. Levine, Rhonda F. III. Fantasia, Rick.
HT609.B75 1991
305.5-dc20 90-44536
CIP
ISBN 13: 978-0-367-00375-3 (hbk)
Contents
Preftue Vll
1 Introduction, Scott G. McNall, Rhonda E Levine,
and Rick Fantasia 1
PART I
CLASS STRUCTURE 15
2 The Conceptual Status of Class Structure in Class
Analysis, Erik Olin Wr~ht 17
3 Making Class: The Middle Class(es) in Social
Theory and Social Structure, LOic J.D. Wtuquant 39
4 The Role of Capitalist Class Relations in the
Restructuring of Medicine, Beth Mintz 65
5 Class Analysis and Studies of the U.S. Working
Class: Theoretical, Conceptual, and Methodological
Issues, Jerry Lembcke 83
PART II
CLASS FORMATION 99
6 Fraternal Orders and Working-Class Formation in
Nineteenth-Century Kansas, James R. Orr and
Scott G. McNall 10 1
7 Rural Industrialization: The Shaping of "Class"
Relations in Rural Bangladesh, Shelley Feldman 119
8 The Organization of the Corporate Class Segment
of the U.S. Capitalist Class at the Turn of This
Century, William G. Roy 139
vi Contents
PART III
CLASS POWER, CONFLICT,
AND STRUGGLE 165
9 The Class Basis of the State and the Origins of
Welfare Policy in Britain, Sweden, and Germany,
Stephen Valocchi 167
10 Three Cities, Three Socialisms: Class Relationships
in Belgian Working-Class Communities, 1870-1914,
Carl Strikwerda 185
11 The Politics of the Western Federation of Miners
and the United Mine Workers of America: Uneven
Development, Industry Structure, and Class
Struggle, Sharon Reitman 203
12 The Irish Land War: Peasants, Politics, and
Parliament, Kathleen Stanley and Dean Braa 223
PART IV
CULTURE, IDEOLOGY,
AND CONSCIOUSNESS 239
13 Bringing Materialism Back In: Art in the Houses
of the Working and Middle Classes, David Halle 241
14 Talkin' Class: Discourse, Ideology, and Their Roles
in Class Conflict, Marc W. Steinber;g 261
15 The Gender-Specific Class Consciousness of
Appalachian Coal Miners: Structure and Change,
Michael Yarrow 285
16 Painting Socialism: Working-Class Formation in
Hungary and Poland, Michael Burawoy 311
About the Book and Editors 331
About the Contributors 332
Index 335
Preface
The study of "class" has been curiously absent in recent "poststruc-
turalist," "post-Marxist," and "state-centered" approaches emerging in
historical and sociological scholarship. But it is our contention that far
from ignoring recent developments in new approaches to sociological
scholarship, the study of class has shaped and been shaped by them. It
is also our contention that as class analysis changes and develops, it
sustains itself as a powerful, refined working tool in helping scholars
understand the complexities of social and historical processes.
This volume brings together scholars who are engaged in class analysis
that addresses continuing debates over the relationship between class
structure and human agency, the centrality of class relations, the dynamics
of class formation, class culture, ideology, and consciousness. These essays
are intended to provide a cross-section of the rich body of social theory
and empirical research being produced by those employing a class analysis.
We believe that this book demonstrates the variety, vibrancy, and con-
tinuing value of class analysis in historical and sociological scholarship.
We thank the University of Kansas, the American Sociological Asso-
ciation/National Science Foundation Small Grant Program, and the
Colgate University Research Council for providing funds to make this
book a reality. Special thanks go to Thelma Mayer and Mildred Tipton
for secretarial assistance.
Scott G. McNall
Rhonda F. Levine
Rick Fantasia
vii

1 Introduction
SCOTT G. McNALL
RHONDA F. LEVINE
RICK FANTASIA
Class is one of the most widely used and thoroughly contested concepts
in the social sciences. There is little agreement among social scientists
in general, and sociologists in particular, on the exact meaning of class
or the explanatory power of the word itself. It resonates with political
meaning for some, but for others it means no more than an individual's
position on a scale that correlates years of education, income, and
occupation.
Those who study class fall into two camps. On one side, we find class
theorists who work ina tradition born in the 1960s and 1970s. Jerry
Lembcke points this out in his chapter on the analysis of the U.S. working
class in this volume. In the context of stalled campus and civil rights
movements in the United States, many class theorists looked to the
success of Marxist movements in other countries and pondered the role
of the working class in transforming industrial societies. This led to
questions about the changing composition of the working class and about
whether that class, especially in advanced industrial countries, had retained
its special role. That is, why wasn't the working class fulfilling the destiny
identified for it by Marxist theory? This prompted these theorists to ask
whether there were any real or meaningful differences between the working
class and the middle class. Much effort has been expended in developing
a Marxist map to help chart changed class structures and understand
the nature of the middle or new classes.
The chapters that follow move beyond that concern. One of the primary
goals of this volume is to recapture the central elements of a Marxist
class analysis and show how and why it .i s more efficacious than other
approaches for understanding class in comparative and historical per-
spective, as well as for understanding modern industrial societies. But
before tracing the elements that such an analysis would involve, let us
characterize the other theoretical camp, which uses the Weberian per-
spective, and consider why one perspective might be favored over another.
1