Wallerstein Class Conflict

Marx’s three contributions

History is driven by class struggle, distinction between class in itself vs for itself, and central conflict between bourgeoisie and proletariat

Weber’s critique

Class is only one dimension of stratification alongside status and ideology

Subjective class theory

Class exists only insofar as individuals identify themselves as belonging to it

Three major Marxist debates

National question, role of intermediate strata, and core–periphery/unequal exchange

Capitalism (definition)

A system oriented toward maximizing and reinvesting surplus-value (capital accumulation)

Role of the market

Structure that mediates rewards and penalties and organizes economic struggle

Bourgeoisie (definition)

Those who appropriate surplus-value they did not produce and reinvest part of it

Non-fixed bourgeoisie

The bourgeois class is constantly re-formed through market success and failure

Segments of bourgeoisie

Nouveaux riches, active performers, and coasters living off past accumulation

Status

Fossilized past economic achievement turned into stable social privilege

Proletariat (definition)

Those who transfer part of the value they produce to others

Beyond wage labor

Proletariat includes slaves, peasants, and other non-wage laborers who produce surplus

Proletarianization

Historical expansion of wage labor to increase demand and sustain capitalism

State function

State intervenes to tilt market advantages and regulate flows of production

Unequal exchange

Mechanism where surplus-value flows disproportionately to core regions over peripheral ones