Classes in the United States: Workers Against Capitalists

Description

This work pictures the classes in the U.S. and conducts a lively debate about class versus fashionable substitute categories like occupation and income. Using Census and other data in a readable discussion, Loren argues that the working class now makes up 90% of the population, capitalists two percent, and an intermediate class of petty producers eight percent. At the same time, the book analyzes the remarkable survival power of petty bourgeois ideas and attitudes. Among the themes Loren confronts are those dwelling on the new middle class, the new working class, post-industrial society, and petty bourgeois strata. The conceptions of notable writers past and present, such as Max Weber, David Ricardo, Daniel Bell, and Gabriel Kolko, are critically examined. This is the first book in recent times to undertake a comprehensive Marxist survey of the entire subject, discussing theory, history, statistics, and political implications. Cover Preface Table of Contents Part One: Class 1. The Definition of Class 2. Abstract and Concrete Labor 3. Other Relations of Production a. Collective or Individual b. Mental and Manual Labor c. Authority Relations in Production 4. Size of Classes in the U.S. Class of employed workers (AGE 16 AND OVER, 1970) A Class of employed workers (AGE 16 AND OVER, 1970) B Median earnings for white males in prime of work (AGE 35 TO 54) FOR SELECTED OCCUPATIONS Class of employed workers C Classes in the United States 5. The Ratio of Class Revenues in the U.S. THE RATIO OF CLASS REVENUES, 1970 6. The Polarization of Classes Classes in the United States, 1940 to 1970 7. Historical Developments within the Propertied Classes a. Class Boundaries b. Monopoly Capital Persons in the automobile industry c. Types of Capitalists 8. The Invisibility of the Petty Producer Class 9. The Bases of the Petty Bourgeois Mentality a. Wages b. The Private Family c. Authority Relations d. Mental Labor e. The Machinery of Fraud Part Two: Anti-Class 10. The Revenue Definition of Class 11. The Transition to Apologetics: Max Weber A. Occupation 12. The Substitution of Occupation for Class a. The Concept of Occupations b. The History of Occupational Categories 13. Class and the White Collar Occupations a. General b. Clerks c. Professionals Health professionals on wage or salary (thousands) d. Managers e. Absurdities of the Notion of a White Collar Class f. White Collar Occupations and Other Relations of Production 14. White Collar Occupations and the Notion of Post-Industrial Society 15. White Collar Occupations and the Notion of a New Working Class 16. Class and the Blue Collar Occupations 17. Evolution of an Analyst of Occupation B. Sham Marxism 18. Class and Unproductive Labor a. History of Unproductive Labor b. Class and Productive Workers 1. commercial clerks 2. government workers functional classification of government andstate employees c. The Notion of Consumers of Surplus-Value C. The Amount of Personal Income 19. Class and the Amount of Personal Income Percentage of national personal income received by each income tenth before taxes, 1959 20. Equality 21. Class and Stratification 22. The Combined Notion of Occupation and Amount of Income a. Practical b. Apologetic 23. Individual Mobility to Another Class 24. The Notion of Capitalists as a Superior Race Part Three: Class and Revolution 25. Revolution: The Objective Basis in Class 26. Revolution: The Subjective Force in Class 27. Revolutionary Policy and Practice Notes References Index Back Cover