>In a message dated 8/11/2002 5:54:24 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>dhenwood at panix.com writes:
>
>> >There are three
>>>classes in the U.S.
>>>
>>>Capitalists
>>>Workers
>>>Petty Producers
>>>
>>>The term "middle class" is an infallible giveaway of moralistic or
>>>otherwise muddled political thinking.
>>
>>Feeling rather ex cathedra today, are you?
>>
>>So where in your schema do you fit self-employed professionals (e.g.,
>>doctors in private practice, who are now plagued by HMOs, but who
>>still don't want to be socialized) or middle managers (who both boss
>>and are bossed, and can vacillate between identifying as worker or
>>exec)? Some people *are* in the middle in the power sense (and not
>>merely the income sense).
>>
>
>
>All of these folks have control over a means of production, whether
>the commodity is a "good" or a "service". The all have relations
>with private property whereby capital is produced *for* them and not
>someone else. The degree may be different but the essential relation
>is the same.
>
>That is why I prefer the term "petty [or petit] bourgeois". These
>folks will generally always "side" with the interests of capital.
Always? And what are the interests of capital in general, anyway? In the U.S., the p.b. (e.g., independent or fadingly independent professionals and small-business owners) support the right wing of the Republican Party. They may be nationalist in their stance on international trade and finance issues, and opposed to the internationalizing aims of big capital. They may be very conservative on social issues, too - opposed to affirmative action and sexual freedom, whereas big capital can be neutral or even friendly to a "progressive" social agenda.
And what about docs in America now? They're losing control over the MOP and their conditions of labor to insurers and managed care providers. They're like skilled artisans of the 19th century who were being sucked into the capitalist labor market.
Middle managers may feel like they've got some control over the MOP - and a workforce too - until they get laid off, and find themselves as disposable as a line worker. That had a strong influence on the politics of the early 1990s, and may again now, in the era of busted 401(k)'s.
Doug