[lbo-talk] Is the working class declining ?

Charles Brown cbrown at michiganlegal.org
Fri Feb 25 11:19:03 PST 2005


1. Is the working class declining ?

2. What defines membership in the working class ?

3. Does the working class include others besides wagelaborers in material production ?

4. Do wagelaborers outside of the sphere of material production create value ?

5. What are service workers ?

6. Are teachers in the working class ? Do teachers create value ? Can teachers be exploited ( and who will teach the teacher ?) ? Same question about office workers, farm workers, postal workers,nannies, computer workers, clerks, secretaries, nurses, garbage pickup workers, airplane workers, water plant workers, public lighting workers, housekeepers, utility shutoff workers, et al

7. What is the difference between the working class and the working masses, if any ? working people ?

8. What is the significance of the difference between those who do predominantly mental labor as opposed to those who do predominantly physical labor ? What are white-collar workers ? What are intelligentsia or intellectuals ?

9. What are the "middle strata ", "middle classes" etc. ?

10. What does "proletarianization of the middle strata" mean ?

11. Does "proletariat" mean the same thing as "working class " ?

12. What is the significance of the changes in the division of labor and organization of production due to the scientific and technological revolution for all of the above ? ( What is "the" scientific and technological revolution ? )

13. Does the term "mode of production" have more than one meaning in Marxist terminology ? Does it apply to changes in organization of production short of a shift from capitalism to socialism , or feudalism to capitalism ? That is, changes in the socio-economic formation ? Does it apply to changes due to development and revolutions in science and technology since the Industrial Revolution ?



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list