"farmelantj at juno.com" wrote:
>
> andie wrote:
>
> "A very substantial number of wage earning workers with
> no investment income are conservative. Union
> households are different but there the key variable is
> obviously union membership."
>
> If one accepts Engels' labor aritstocracy thesis, then wouldn't one
> expect to see a considerable of working class conservatism in the
> advanced capitalist countries? Engels, himself, after all had been
> struck by the degree of conservatism that he had observed among the
> British workers of his day.
The, or a, problem lies in wanting to use class as a predictor of individual attitudes. That has always been wishful thinking. Workers (employed or unemployed) are controlled by the clock 24 hours a day 365 days of the year. That is extremely difficult to perceive/experience but can only be recognized by analysis. Being unperceived, it does not directly engender political consciousness. _When_ events generate resistance, then more fundamental features (e.g. clock tyranny) can become visible and the basis of consciousness.
Carrol