Traditional Working Class Research Articles

Precarity and Class Consciousness in Contemporary Swedish Working-Class Literature

This article analyses aesthetical–political strategies for the promotion of class consciousness among workers in a few examples of contemporary Swedish working-class literature from different genres that describe and criticize precarious working conditions. Special attention is given to how these texts engage in dialogue with the notion of the precariat and to the authors’ use of decidedly literary forms. One important result is that Swedish working-class writers highlight the heterogeneity among those working under precarious conditions while also arguing that they share certain economic conditions, both amongst each other and with members of other groups (especially the traditional working class). Furthermore, it is argued that the use of literary forms (as opposed to, e.g., reportage or documentary) reflects the absence in the precariat of class consciousness, and the authors’ belief that literature can contribute to the creation of such a consciousness.

Class identity of the working-class youth in contemporary Russia

The article considers the social self-identification of the Russian working youth and its class identity. The relevance of the topic is due to the need to search for basic indicators of the identity of the working class in the post-industrial era as connected with the fundamental differences between wage labour in the service sectors from the labour of industrial workers. The article presents an overview of contemporary concepts of multiple and fragmented identity, outlines the main vectors of controversy in the debates on identification processes and identity politics in contemporary societies; describes the basic features of the identification of the working class in the post-industrial era - the nature and content of labour; ownership of property and participation in the management of the enterprise. The contemporary working class is defined as a nonhomogeneous entity with internal differentiation determined by such factors as the form of employment, sphere of employment, income level, lifestyle and cultural capital. The empirical part of the research was implemented in the Ural Federal District in 2018 based on the mass and expert surveys. The results of the study prove that there are active processes of class formation in the Russian society; therefore, we need to revive the class approach to the description of the social structure. More than 50% of young people from the traditional industrial working class still identify themselves as members of this social group, while the same applies only to every third worker of routine service; and identification with the middle class loses popularity. The empirical data show the paradoxical nature of the working-class thinking and the instability of its basic orientations. The contradictory assessments and statements of the respondents confirm the vagueness of their class consciousness and the instability of their class identity.

Class solidarity of working youth in the service sector

The purpose of this article is to show the peculiarities of the class self-awareness and solidarity formation among the new working class youth occupied in the service sector of the economy. The main tasks include revealing the correlation between the traditional content and forms of class solidarity of workers and their manifestations among the new working class youth; substantiating the use of a class approach to the analysis of the problems of young people employed in the service sector of the economy; and revealing the contradictions between the class interests and corporate habitus of the young customer service workers. The research methodology is grounded in the traditional institutional approach adopted in Russian sociology. This article is based on the materials of an empirical study using quantitative and qualitative sociological methods: a mass survey of working-class youth in the Ural Federal District (a target multistage sample model according to four objective criteria: age, gender, place of residence, and employment). Additionally, a biographical interview was conducted, the informants of which are employed in the real sector of the economy and the service sector. The results have revealed that a new working class is being formed in modern Russia, a significant part of which is employed in the service sector of the economy. The active formation of the sphere of customer service reflects the global patterns of the traditional working class tranformation. In the service sector, in contrast to the traditional working class, a significant proportion of young people lack the experience of the class solidarity of previous generations. A new generation of young workers is shaping their own experience of class solidarity in the face of conflicting demands of corporate culture and social status.

New working class as a political subject

The authors consider the new working class as consisting of both industrial workers and employed in the service sector. The article aims at identifying changes in the social-political status of the new working class and at describing the civil-political component of its political subjectivity. The authors attempt to theoretically reconstruct the idea of the working class as a political subject. The first part of the article presents conceptual approaches to the analysis of the working class as a political subject. The authors identify three periods: 1) classical works that laid the foundation for the study of the working class as a political subject and its special historical role; 2) studies of the marginal political status of the working class in Western countries, when leading theorists described the transformation of workers into an object of manipulation in the era of mass communications and the widespread consumerism ideology; 3) works of contemporary authors (including the new working class studies) opposing the policy of the traditional industrial working class and the new working class exclusion from the social-political space, which is pursued by the ruling class of the neoliberal international. The empirical part of the article describes the political subjectivity of the working class in Russia and its position in the political space at the institutional and individual levels. Despite the underrepresentation of workers in politics, since 2010, we have witnessed a return of the working class to the public space. The representative survey conducted in three regions of the Ural Federal District and narrative interviews prove a weak interest of the new working class youth in politics, their tendency of non-participation in it, and a high level of national patriotic identity.

The IT Industry and Employment in India: A Critical Reassessment

The Indian IT industry has been regarded as a success of neoliberal economic reforms, driven by private initiative and export-oriented growth. Accordingly, employees of the IT industry that are symbolic of the ‘new India’ are seen as the aspirational new middle class, ‘different’ from the traditional working class. This article critically examines these claims. Firstly, it is argued that the development of the IT industry should be situated in the context of the larger development of capitalism in India. Secondly, through an analysis of narratives from interviews with workers during a period of industrial restructuring due to geopolitical concerns and technological change, the article attempts to understand workers’ perceptions of industrial dynamics as well as possibilities of collective resistance against the logic of capital.

The changing electoral geography of England and Wales: Varieties of “left-behindedness”

A well-established narrative has existed for some time in British politics: “left behind” places are gradually moving to the Conservatives as Labour dominate in urban, “cosmopolitan” areas. Merging constituency-level census data with election results, this article applies various regression techniques to test this idea on multiple definitions of “left-behindedness” at every general election between 1979 and 2017 in England and Wales. Conclusive results indicate that the Conservatives have gained support at Labour's expense in largely older, white, working class constituencies. However, Labour remain dominant in disadvantaged areas with high levels of insecure employment and poverty remains the most important positive predictor of Labour's support. It is therefore premature to argue that “left behind” places are moving from Labour to the Conservatives, providing that “left behind” is re-conceptualised to refer to the most disadvantaged areas rather than older, white, “traditional working class” populations.

The 'Rainbow Alliance' or the Focus Group? Sexuality and Race in the Labour Party's Electoral Strategy, 1985-7.

In the 1980s, Labour struggled to respond to a hostile political context during a protracted period of opposition. Diverse figures claimed that the Left was suffering from a structural decline in a supposed 'traditional working class' voting base: contentions which only became more influential after the 1983 electoral catastrophe. Competing solutions were proffered-including building a 'rainbow alliance' informed by equalities politics, or appealing to a southern 'new working class'. The latter interpretation gained greater influence on Neil Kinnock's leadership. To fully understand why one triumphed over the other in the evolving strategy of the Labour Party, we should in part trace discourses, including contemporary 'loony Left' scandals. However, we must also recognize the importance of 'epistemological practice', which was crucial in shaping how political actors acquired knowledge and forged interpretations of the electorate. Focusing on the evolution of the epistemological practice of Kinnock's leadership team-in particular, their increasing reliance on qualitative opinion research techniques like focus groups to supplement quantitative attitudinal polling-helps explain why they became convinced that recent controversies involving race and sexuality were having acutely negative consequences for Labour nationally. This furnishes us with a deeper understanding of the relationship between grassroots and national Left-wing politics in the 1980s. It also illuminates Labour's cautious approach to equalities politics into the 1990s.

“NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN”:Romany Gypsies, Travellers and their entwined historical relationships with working-class London communities

This paper presents a historical review of policy enactments and urban development which have impacted accommodation options available to British Romany Gypsies and Travellers over the past four hundred years. A combination of policy review; analysis of primary historical documents (local authority reports on ‘Gypsy encampments’ in their areas; Governmental debates; newspaper reports) and secondary data sources (published memoirs and general histories of working class London) are utilised to present both a general historical overview (mainly focusing on the period 1850-2017) of legislative and policy approaches to regulating ‘Gypsy and Traveller encampments’ within Greater London and a series of focused case studies of ‘Gypsy areas’ within the Metropolis. Importantly, the case studies explore the entwined geo-social relationships and long-term impact on local community demographics and culture, of established Romany Gypsy/Traveller residence in a number of working-class areas of London. The paper ends with a brief consideration of the impact on regeneration and gentrification on traditional working class areas of residence, suggesting that such dislocation may lead to the ending of diverse populations in inner city localities, whilst conversely, widespread relocation of former residents to estates on the edge of the city, may increase contact and rejuvenate community relations between Romany Gypsies, Traveller and other populations, in a way which been increasingly disrupted by the ‘othering’ of nomadic groups in popular discourse in the post World War Two period.

From the Professoriat to the Precariat

Social class lies at the core of much that Marx said about the “laws of history.” Class conflict was to be the means whereby capitalism would be overthrown, superseded by a revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat and, subsequently, by a communist society in which alienation and exploitation would be replaced by emancipation and the full flowering of human potential as both individuals and a species. The capitalist system, however, has proven remarkably resilient and resourceful. The welfare state ameliorated extreme economic distress, popular culture sapped revolutionary energy, and “identity politics” fragmented political radicalism. Meanwhile, the definition of social class itself became problematic. A reorganized labor market produced divisions between the traditional working class and precarious workers and, in colleges and universities, the old “professoriat” was joined by a new “precariat” that now does over two-thirds of the teaching. This trend is part of the “corporatizing” of higher education and the “neoliberal” restructuring of work in late capitalism. Intellectuals, once the theoretical “vanguard of the proletariat,” are now practical leaders too. Educational worker militancy has implications for the academy and class tensions throughout society. It raises the question: Was Marx wrong, or has he just not yet been proven right?

Marx – Marxismus – Sozialismus

Abstract The article looks at Marxist theory under two separate aspects: the socialist perspective of teleological determination of actions and causal determination over the long duration of historical periods. The first aspect is historically very changeable; Marx was thinking within the conditions of 19th century. As for the second aspect, his assessment of economic development trends was generally accurate. However, nowadays new societal aspects also need to be taken into account and their potential to contribute to the free development of society evaluated – albeit without one able to build on the traditional working class (in the sense of the first aspect of Marx’s theory).

The changing class structure and pivotal role of professional employees in an advanced capitalist “knowledge economy”: Canada, 1982–2016

The changing structure of employment classes in Canada is documented. Growing proportions are found in professional occupations generally. Four different professional classes are distinguished: professional employers, self-employed professionals, professional managers, and professional employees. Nonmanagerial employment classes include increasing proportions of professional employees. Professional employees’ perceived working conditions and economic attitudes are coming closer to those of traditional working class employees, suggesting increasing proletarianization. Implications are suggested.

‘Mining a productive seam? The coal industry, community and sociology’

Recently there have been calls for sociology in Britain to reflect on its longstanding historical attention and focus, something which has been neglected of late. At the same time there is growing interest in the historiography of British sociology and critical reflection on how its early post-war assumptions went on to structure later research, writing and scholarship. Developing both of these insights this article looks at British sociology’s longstanding relationship with the coal industry, its work and especially its communities. From Coal is our Life (1956) through to Coal was our Life (2000) the sector has been an important site of sociological attention. It was an early focus of post-war community studies, becoming home to a residual traditional working class. Later still it was an arena of conflict on the front line of Thatcher’s Britain, before becoming a site on which to study loss and deindustrialisation. This article asks what sociology learnt from the deep coal mining industry and what it might still explore in the future around questions of regeneration and the ‘half-life’ of deindustrialisation.

The State of Irish Democracy

308 Studies • volume 106 • number 423 The State of Irish Democracy Stephen Collins In the time of Brexit and Donald Trump there is a strong temptation to fear for the future of the tolerant democratic values that have brought peace and prosperity to Ireland and the western world for the past few decades. It is nearly a century since Captain Boyle in Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock uttered the immortal line: ‘Th’whole worl’s in a terrible state o’chassis’, and the words seem particularly apt today. Yet, for all that has happened over the past few years, the world is still a far more benign place than it was at a number of junctures during the twentieth century. While Brexit and Trump have raised deeply uncomfortable questions about the future of western liberal democracy, the response of the European Union and some of its bigger member states over the past year has been encouraging. At the start of 2017 comparisons with the 1930s were commonplace, but Vladimir Putin is not Joseph Stalin and the populist demagogues that have come to the fore in many European countries are a far cry from Adolf Hitler. Whatever is happening in the world, there is no sign of the kind of tensions between large states that led to the First World War or of the aggressive nationalism that led to the Second. The stunning election victory of Emmanuel Macron in France and the continuation of political stability in Germany has shown that the centre can indeed hold, if its defenders have the vision and courage to articulate the values of parliamentary democracy in a way that ordinary voters can understand. Defending our politics The task facing the political mainstream in Ireland is to build on this EU response and convince the public that the current political system, with all its flaws, is far better than the alternative of chaos and confusion being promoted by those on the far left and far right. The first thing that defenders of the tolerant, outward looking philosophy that underpins the EU need to do is analyse why so many people in prosperous nations have voted against what appears to be their own self-interest and in favour of a return to a narrow nationalism. The far left and right are united in their hostility to globalisation, international institutions and the prevailing Stephen Collins Studies • volume 106 • number 423 309 social order. The UK is a classic example with the Conservative right and the Labour left equally dismissive of the EU. The majority of MPs in the House of Commons are probably somewhere in the middle, but the leadership in both major parties is at the extreme end of the spectrum. In one of his final speeches as Taoiseach, Enda Kenny worried about the future of Western democracies where so many people have been pushed to the hard left by anger, and to the hard right by fear. The conventional explanation for this is that it is a response to the economic crisis of 2008, the decline of traditional working class employment for men and the development of massive income inequality across the Western world. There is obviously a lot of truth in such an account. The economic crisis and the bank bailouts were the cause of widespread hardship and anxiety about the future. The apparent inability of the legal system to punish more of those in the banking and political systems, whose decisions precipitated the crash, further eroded public confidence. The increases in taxes on ordinary people and the cutbacks in social spending that were required to keep the economy from spinning out of control fuelled the mood of disillusionment and eroded support for mainstream political parties. Yet, this does not fully explain the scale or the extent of the reaction against the parties which had dominated Irish politics for so long. It is worth a serious look at the way the Irish authorities responded to the financial crisis that erupted in the autumn of 2008, a crisis that ultimately led to an EU/IMF bailout in the winter of 2010. The most immediate impact was felt by those who lost their jobs...

Человеческий капитал российских рабочих: общее состояние и специфические особенности


 Наталья Евгеньевна Тихонова – доктор социологических наук, профессор-исследователь, Национальный исследовательский университет «Высшая школа экономики». Адрес: 101000, Москва, ул. Мясницкая, д. 20. E-mail: netichon@rambler.ru
 Анастасия Вадимовна Каравай – кандидат социологических наук, старший научный сотрудник, Институт социального анализа и прогнозирования РАНХиГС. Адрес: 119034, Москва, Пречистенская наб., д. 11. E-mail: karavayav@yandex.ru
 Цитирование: Тихонова Н.Е., Каравай А.В. (2017) Человеческий капитал российских рабочих: общее состояние и специфические особенности // Мир России. Т. 26. № 3. С. 6–35. DOI: 10.17323/1811-038Х-2017-26-3-6-35
 
 В центре внимания авторов статьи находятся вопросы, касающиеся качества человеческого капитала рабочих в современной России и той роли, которую он играет в дифференциации российских работников вообще и рабочих в частности. Анализ основан на данных 24-й волны РМЭЗ НИУ ВШЭ (N = 12908 человек, в том числе 2352 рабочих). Идентификация профессионального статуса проводилась на основе классификатора ISCO-08. В статье дана общая оценка человеческого капитала работающих россиян и показано, что по качеству своего человеческого капитала рабочие делятся в пропорции 3:1 на две подгруппы. Меньшая из них по численности обладает достаточно качественным человеческим капиталом, включая больший опыт обучения в прошлом и навык использования современных компьютерных технологий. Эта подгруппа рабочих может составить основной кадровый резерв для инновационных преобразований в российской экономике в случае появления внятных сигналов о важности профессиональной подготовки, в частности, более жесткого увязывания размера заработной платы и качества человеческого капитала. Также с помощью различных спецификаций уравнения Минцера продемонстрировано, что пока ситуация иная и качество человеческого капитала практически не оказывает влияния на размер заработной платы рабочих. В итоге даже рабочие с высоким качеством человеческого капитала в основном не имеют профессиональной подготовки по профилю трудовой деятельности (за исключением обучения на рабочем месте) и не стремятся повышать свою квалификацию, будучи уверенными, что их профессионализм и так достаточно высок. В статье также дана оценка роли человеческого капитала в формировании двух наиболее массовых классов российского общества. Специфика одного из них заключается прежде всего в том, что человеческий капитал не выступает для его представителей дифференцирующим фактором. Во втором же качество человеческого капитала играет важную дифференцирующую роль как с точки зрения попадания человека в ту или иную входящую в него профессиональную группу, так и в плане размера доходов, устойчивости занятости и т.д.

Trump and the Trumpists

Trumpism, according to Wolfgang Streeck, was a result of a global shift from classes to status groups, exacerbating social rifts between neoliberal urban elites and the traditional working class.

De fremtidsløse tager ordet. Klasse, prekariat og velfærdskritik i dansk samtidsprosa

Nicklas Freisleben Lund: “Futureless Children of the Plan”The article demonstrates how class, inequality and social segregation in recent years have become recurring and significant themes in contemporary Danish literature. Exemplified through analyses of Kenneth Jensen’s Tragedy plus time (2015), Morten Pape’s The Plan (2015) and Dennis Gade Kofod’s Nancy (2015), the article argues that an increasing number of literary works share a set of thematic, formaland political characteristics. Thus, they are characterized by 1) attempts to map out the precariat – the new underclass; 2) formal innovations of traditional working class literature; and 3) disillusioned portraits of a welfare state that has betrayed its original promises of equality and solidarity.

Enformasyon Toplumu ve Yeni Orta Sınıflar

Many structural changes have occurred in work and labor processes in the period after the Fordist era. These  transformations have also brought about changes in concepts like worker, employer, work, and labor process.  In this sense, work and labor processes have been made precarious. The transformations have been provided  as an alternative to routines that are alienating-to-worker and non-autonomous work forms that existed in  Taylorist and Fordist systems; and these transformations have tried to be reinforced in human resources  discourses through liberal ideologies. According to the neo-liberal paradigm, today’s society includes an  economic structure that is expanding the middle classes and shrinking the traditional blue-collar working  class. The increase in white-collar jobs is explained by the information society and the importance of  knowledge in labor markets. This research mentions new labor forms that include Taylorist features and  cooperate with various exploitive mechanisms rather than demonstrating liberal discourses.  

La palabra enseña, pero el ejemplo arrastra

Although previous research has focused on working class immigrants, currently, one out of every nine immigrants from Mexico derives from its university-educated class of individuals, known as profesionistas. Profesionistas’ enhanced cultural capital allows for greater mobility in terms of housing, travel and personal contacts beyond U.S. Spanish-speaking communities as compared to traditional working class immigrants from Mexico. Nonetheless, these same conditions are ripe to promote a shift to English for their families. The present study examines the values held by women profesionistas regarding Spanish and English and their use of both languages within their households. The findings reveal that, in contrast to previous studies of Spanish-speaking communities, Spanish is held in equal esteem with English and profesionista informants aspire for their children to cultivate equally strong skills in both languages and make efforts to guide their children’s development of Spanish.

Different Class? UKIP's Social Base and Political Impact: A Reply to Evans and Mellon

Evans and Mellon's ‘Working class votes and Conservative losses: solving the UKIP puzzle’ seeks to resolve a puzzle: how substantial levels of UKIP support among traditional working class voters, and in Labour-held constituencies, can be reconciled with evidence that a majority of current UKIP supporters recall voting for the Conservatives in 2010. Evans and Mellon (2015, Journal of Parliamentary Affairs, doi:10.1093/pa/gsv005). advance two arguments to resolve this puzzle. First, that the political impact of UKIP has been misunderstood due to a failure to consider long-term political shifts. Second, that the class basis of support for UKIP has been misunderstood due to poor measures of class. We find much to agree with on both of these points. This reply focuses on clarifying our arguments on three issues: the social basis of UKIP support; the role of value divisions and the importance of geography and the electoral system for understanding UKIP's longer-term prospects.

Working Class Votes and Conservative Losses: Solving the UKIP Puzzle

Opinions are divided on whether the Conservatives or Labour need to worry most about UK Independence Party (UKIP) in the 2015 General Election. How do we reconcile evidence of substantial levels of UKIP support among traditional working class voters, and in Labour constituencies, with evidence that UKIP voters report voting Conservative in 2010? In this article, we resolve this implicit contradiction using long-term panel data to examine the sequencing of vote switching from Labour to UKIP. We argue that Labour's move to the ‘liberal consensus’ on the EU and immigration led to many of their core voters defecting before UKIP were an effective political presence. We show that not only is the working-class basis of UKIP overstated but the party is mainly attracting disaffected former Labour voters from the Conservatives and elsewhere, which is why the Conservatives, not Labour, will feel most of the electoral pain in 2015.