Abstract:
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This chapter addresses the relationship between three aspects of the concept of
class. The first is as an analytical tool, particularly within anthropology. The second
is as a social relation that takes particular forms in particular historical settings. The
third is as a means of struggle. I will address the relationship between these aspects
of class in terms of four questions: What class do we need or want? What kinds of
collectivity need to be conceptualised and brought about if we want to transform
capitalism? What sorts of practical politics will have to be developed? What sort of historical bloc can we contribute to form?
Class is problematic because it has been conceptualized both as the locus of
articulation of a structural position within the mode of production and as an
emergent form in existing social conflict. Consequently, class is always being
produced and changed through actual economic and political struggles. It is also
important to recognise the strength of Gramsci’s (1987) point that these struggles
are also theoretical, for they are shaped by the common-sense interpretation of
structural positions that defines collective identities and lines of struggle. I will
follow Gramsci’s lead and stress that what he calls the “organic intellectual”, and
intellectual debate in general, is central to producing understandings of the structure
of the social processes that frame the realms of collective class identity and of
organized and purposeful struggle. |