Working class

The working class is a social class found mainly in industrialised capitalist societies or in urban centres. While some writers dispute the existence of a working class, many sociologists, historians and political theorists make use of the concept in their academic writing.

Views of the working class

Explanations for the situation of the working class have varied dramatically over the centuries and are still hotly contested. The main points of contention are what causes an individual to be a member of the working class, and what are the causes for the troubles faced by the working class.

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In feudal Europe, and other pre-capitalist societies, the working class as such did not exist in large numbers. Instead, society conceived those engaged in manual labour as labouring classes, a group which united different professions, trades and labours together. In Europe, a lawyer, craftsman and unskilled peasant were all considered to be part of the same social unit, a "third estate" of non-nobles who were not church officials. Similar hierarchies existed outside Europe. The social position of these labouring classes was viewed as natural and ordained by deities. This social position was contested, particularly by peasants, for example during the German Peasants War.

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In the 18th century in Flanders and England more and more labourers subsisted only on the basis of their labour. They ceased to own tools, land or feudal privileges. Additionally, the dispossession of large numbers of peasants created wandering bands of vagabonds. These members of society were dispossessed by the wealthy in order to produce marketable commodities. This process, where traditional social and political roles are destroyed, and capitalist commodity relations are substituted, is bound up with the generation of working classes across the world and is commonly known as proletarianisation.

Related Topics:
Flanders - England - Vagabonds

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In the late 18th century, the European society was in a state of change, and this change could not be reconciled with the idea of a changeless god-created social order. Wealthy members of these societies created ideologies which blamed many of the problems of working-class people on the morals and ethics of the working class themselves (i.e. excessive consumption of alcohol, perceived laziness and inability to save money).

Related Topics:
Alcohol - Laziness

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These processes were identified in English history by E.P. Thompson in his book The Making of the English Working Class. Thompson argues that the English working class was present at its own creation, and seeks to describe the transformation of pre-modern labouring classes into a modern, politically self-conscious, working class.

Related Topics:
English history - E.P. Thompson - The Making of the English Working Class

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