Class in the 21st century

This essay, an overview of the global class landscape, begins by characterising the 20C as the age of the working class, identifying achievements and legacies, before assessing the claim of liberal commentators today that in the decades ahead, a rising middle class will prove to be a bulwark for consumption and democracy. It argues that such claims often involve redefining as middle class anyone with a secure job, overlook the historical opportunism of middle class commitment to democracy while ignoring the potential for conflict between the rich and the rest, and failing to take note of the still prodigious numerical weight of manual workers. But we are witnessing the birth of a new era: novel relationships of class and nation, of ideology, identity and mobilisation, and of global left-wing politics are taking shape. The end of the Cold War brought no "peace dividend", merely a new cycle of wars. The triumph of Western capitalism was not followed by universal prosperity, but by soaring inequality and recurrent economic crises. The classic issues of concern for the left have reproduced themselves in the new century and the struggle goes on. (Quotes from original text)