Class Counts: Comparative Studies in Class Analysis (Studies in Marxism and Social Theory) by Erik Olin Wright

by Erik Olin Wright

Class Counts combines theoretical discussions of the concept of class with a wide range of comparative empirical investigations of class and its ramifications in developed capitalist societies. What unites the topics is not a preoccupation with a common object of explanation, but rather a common explanatory class. Four broad themes are class structure and its transformation; the permeability of class boundaries; class and gender; and class consciousness. The specific empirical studies include such diverse topics as the sexual division of labor in housework, gender differences in managerial authority, friendship networks in the class structure, the expansion of self-employment in the United States in the past two decades, and the class consciousness of state and private-sector employees. The results of these studies are then evaluated in terms of how they confirm certain expectations within the Marxist tradition of class analysis and how they pose challenging surprises.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction, Politics, Economics, Class

Paperback

First published November 28, 1996

About the author

Erik Olin Wright was an American analytical Marxist sociologist, specializing in social stratification, and in egalitarian alternative futures to capitalism. He was the (2012) President of the American Sociological Association.
Erik Olin Wright received two BAs (from Harvard College in 1968, and from Balliol College in 1970), and the PhD from University of California, Berkeley, in 1976. Since that time, he has been a professor of sociology at University of Wisconsin - Madison.
Wright has been described as an "influential new left theorist." His work is concerned mainly with the study of social classes, and in particular with the task of providing an update to and elaboration of the Marxist concept of class, in order to enable Marxist and non-Marxist researchers alike to use 'class' to explain and predict people's material interests, lived experiences, living conditions, incomes, organizational capacities and willingness to engage in collective action, political leanings, etc. In addition, he has attempted to develop class categories that would allow researchers to compare and contrast the class structures and dynamics of different advanced capitalist and 'post-capitalist' societies.

Reviews

[Bookshark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book presents an incredibly sophisticated, complex, and nuanced account of class within a comparative framework. At both a theoretical level and a methodological level, his analysis is sound and often convincing. I'm very surprised that this book is not more widely read these days.

[Jess]

Interesting, but more focused on methodology and data analysis than I tend to care for in (for me) casual reading. Will try something shorter by the author though.

[Patrick Sauriol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idk, class analysis across English speaking states, Japan and the Nordic countries. A Marxist analysis that devotes a lot of time to gendered analysis, which is new to see in Marxism.