billbartlett at dodo.com.au wrote:
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> But Carrol could have spared you confusion by supplying definitions for the three classes suggested. This would not be difficult if he has more than a vague idea of what these terms are meant to indicate. I would certainly be keen to dissect any definition of "petty producer" which Carrol might concoct.
I doubt that the complexities of class analysis can be conducted on a maillist -- constantly changing social relations constitute class. I simply post a reminder (and am indifferent to how much people mind it) once in a while that "middle class" and "petty bourgeoisie" are pretty empty cliches rather than tools of thought. If you want to know what I actually think about class, read the books of Ellen Meiksins Wood.
A century ago there were large numbers of farmers, independent lawyers and physicians, small merchanges, independent artisans, etc in the u.s. and petty producers constituted a major class in the U.S. They are now demographically trivial and not worth arguing about. What I'm concerned with is the habit of replacing strategic and tactical thought with moralistic slurs at "middle class" and "petty bourgeois."
There are a lot of people who would have to retire from politics (i.e. journalistic carping from the sidelines) if the were prevented from chewing on the pacifier "middle class."
Carrol