Class Matters (Paperback)

Charles Umney

ISBN 10: 0745337082 / ISBN 13: 9780745337081

Published by Pluto Press, London, 2018

About this Item

Paperback. Social class remains a fundamental presence in British life in the twenty-first century. It is woven into the very fabric of social and political discourse, undiminished by the end of mass industry; unaugmented despite the ascendancy of 'ordinary working people' and other substitute phrases. Absent from this landscape, however, is any compelling Marxist expression or analysis of class. In Class Matters, Charles Umney brings Marxist analysis out of the 19th century textiles mill, and into the call centres, office blocks and fast food chains of modern Britain. He shows how core Marxist concepts are vital to understanding increasing pay inequality, decreasing job security, increasing routinisation and managerial control of the labour process. Providing a critical analysis of competing perspectives, Umney argues that class must be understood as a dynamic and exploitative process integral to capitalism - rather than a descriptive categorisation - in order for us to better understand the gains capital has made at the expense of labour over the last four decades. How class is structured in the call-centres, office blocks and fast-food chains of modern Britain. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780745337081

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Class Matters (Paperback)
• Publisher: Pluto Press, London
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0745337082
• ISBN 13: 9780745337081
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Despite many changes to society, education, and the labor market, social class remains a fundamental force in British life in the twenty-first century. Yet we have lacked any compelling Marxist analysis of class in Britain today—until now. Charles Umney here moves Marx from the mills and mines that drove his analysis in his era into our own, with its call centers, office blocks, and fast food chains. Showing how Marxist concepts remain powerfully explanatory, Umney argues that understanding them is vital to fights against pay inequality, decreasing job security, and managerial control of the labor process. Class, Umney shows, must be understood as a dynamic and exploitative process integral to capitalism, rather than as a simple descriptive category, if we are going to better understand why capital continues to gain at the expense of labor.

About the Author

Charles Umney is a lecturer at the University of Leeds Business School.