The Problem of Class Abstractionism

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2364009
AutoresMichael A Mccarthy (0000-0003-1039-7980, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA, autor de correspondencia), Mathieu Hikaru Desan (0000-0003-0847-7527, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA)
Año2023
Volumen41
Número1
Páginas3-26
Fecha de publicación2023-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSociological Theory (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0735-2751 • E-ISSN: 1467-9558
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/07352751231152489
OpenAlexW4318818632
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas15
Referencias citadas36

With renewed interest in Marxism, class is back on the intellectual agenda. But so too is the familiar charge of 'class reductionism.' This charge conflates two distinct claims regarding what we term the structural and political primacy of class. Structural primacy refers to the determinant role of class in social explanation, whereas political primacy refers to its centrality in radical politics. Crossing these distinct claims, we identify four possible positions on the primacy of class. Here, we focus on the two that affirm the structural primacy of class. What we call 'class abstractionism,' which presumes to derive the political primacy of class from an account of its structural primacy, ultimately relies on an abstract conception of class that effectively presupposes its political primacy. In contrast, a more adequate account of structural primacy-what we call 'class dynamism'-requires us to abandon the presupposition of class's necessary political primacy

Class (philosophy) · Class analysis · Dynamism · Economics · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Presupposition · Social class · Sociology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Political Philosophy and Ethics