Class analysis and class struggle are central concepts in
Marx's social theory yet, notoriously, Marx never wrote a
systematic exposition of these terms during his lifetime, and
succeeding generations have had to piece together interpretations
from his many scattered references and discussions. The problem of
trying to develop a Marxist class analysis on this basis has been
made all the more acute by changes in the class structure of advanced
capitalism, for these have thrown up a bewildering range of new
social strata which seem to be difficult to reconcile with the many
traditional understandings of class.
In Classes, Erik Olin Wright, one of the foremost Marxist
sociologists and class theorists, rises to the twofold challenge of
both clarifying the abstract, structural account of class implicit in
Marx, and of applying and refining the account in the light of
contemporary developments in advanced capitalist societies.
Recentering the concept of class on the process of exploitation,
Wright discusses his famous notion of “contradictory class
locations” in relation to the empirical complexities of the
middle class, and he provides an analysis of class structure in
“post-capitalist” societies. Wright then goes on
to draw out the implications of his approach and to submit it to
detailed empirical testing with the use of a trans-national survey of
class structure and consciousness.