Americans like to believe that they live in a classless society. Most Americans defiantly identify themselves as middle class, although economic inequality is greater in the United States than in most advanced Western nations. This text presents a reconceptualisation of the meaning and significance of class in modern America. Offering a revision of conventional wisdom, Stanley Aronowitz demonstrates that class remains a potent force in the United States. Aronowitz shows that class need not be understood simply in terms of socioeconomic stratification, but rather as the power of social groups to make a difference. He explains that social groups from different economic and political positions become ruling classes when they make demands that change the course of history. For instance, labour movements, environmental activists and feminists have engaged in class struggles as their demands for power reconfigured the social order. The emerging global justice movements - comprised of activists from heterogeneous social and political backgrounds - also show potential for class formation.
- ISBN10 0300098596
- ISBN13 9780300098594
- Publish Date 10 April 2003
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 5 October 2010
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Yale University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 288
- Language English