Posted on 01/03/2003 4:41:23 PM PST by shrinkermd
Originally published in 2000 this book received favorable reviews from the liberal left, but little recognition from anyone else. This is unfortunate since Professor Zweig, an economist at SUNY, has attempted to re-define social class not by consumption pattern, income or lifestyle but by power at work and in society.
According to Professor Zweig the Capitalistic Class owns most of America and makes most of the important policy decisions: the capitalistic class is about 2 percent of the adult population. The Middle Class own small businesses, serve as middle managers in large corporations, populate the professions and are represented in academia The middle class have a fair degree of freedom at work and represent about thirty-six percent of the adult population. The Working Classis those who take orders at work, have little autonomy or decision making on the job and represent about sixty-two per cent of the adult population.
Professor Zweig argues passionately and convincingly that there is such a thing as "class" in America and this concept has practical as well as heuristic value. Ordinarily, if you ask an American what social class they belong to, about three-fourths will say they are "middle class." By defining class as a function of power in the workplace and in society the author permits a rigorous assessment of his class conflict beliefs.
On pages, five and six of the paperback edition Professor Zweig urges the reader to consider Karl Marx as one of history's greatest thinkers. Besides quoting the Wall Street Journal, he points out that Marx was the pioneer class analyst. This he was. From my viewpoint, it is important to remember that when Marx and Engels wrote The Communist Manifesto in 1848 there was no real democracy in the world. The United States still had chattel slavery and women could not vote. Also to be remembered, is that Marx predicted that capitalism would be destroyed by its own internal contradictions: this is a theory of history rather than economics. When one actually reads Marx it seems he wrote very little about socialism and a great deal about history.
The Manifesto urged irrational and radical political policies that no government then in existence considered viable. The Manifesto urged a heavy progressive income tax, abolition of rights of inheritance, a central bank, centralization of communication and transport in the state, equal obligation of all to work, free public education, abolition of children's factory labor and vocational training. All of these with some modifications are now the rule rather than the exception in the Western democracies. Some of the Manifesto's policies such as the public ownership of all property failed; however, by restrictions and taxes property no longer has the inalienable rights it once had. Industrial armies for use in agriculture do not exist because of mechanization, herbicides, pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Marx in other writings advocated for government health insurance and against the death penalty.
Karl Marx was not only a great thinker. His ideas, good and bad, even served as the underpinnings of Germany a state that did not exist when he wrote the Manifesto. The Hohenzollern's and Bismarck founded Germany on the firm foundation of the cradle to grave socialist policies that exists to the present day. Similarly, all of the Western democracies adopted in some form or manner the Marxist policies described above. It is, then, wise not to dismiss Professor Zweig, his attenuated Marxism and the left's preoccupation with class, class consciousness and class conflict.
Much to his credit, Professor Zweig defines social class in a formal fashion. His definition is social class is a "groups of people connected to one another, and made different from one another, by the ways they interact when producing goods and services. He points out that the so called "service economy" must also account for the fact that in 1998 there were two million more workers in mining, manufacturing and construction than in 1970. The "working class" is clearly the largest group of producing adults in the United States. As indicated, the hallmark of this class is that they have little or no control over the pace, content and place of their work: they are completely under the control of the capitalist and his representatives.
In addition, to his credit Professor Zweig uses inductive reasoning when approaching the subject of class. In 1995, there were 22.5 million businesses of which sixty percent had revenues of less than twenty-five thousand dollars. Only eighteen percent of the 4.3 million corporations have revenues greater than one million dollars. 881,000 businesses employ more than 20 people. According to the Small Business Corporation there are only sixteen thousand big businesses with more than 500 employees: these sixteen thousand represent .07 percent of businesses in the country yet they employ twenty percent of all business employees and pay over twenty-five percent of the nation's private payroll. His conclusion is that the "Capitalist Class" is very concentrated and extraordinarily wealthy. Among the many other interesting statistics is the finding that only four percent of farms are over two thousand acres; however, this four- percent represents half of all the farmland in the United States.
Professor Zweig agrees that upward mobility of the Working Class as manifested by higher incomes and living standards of the last fifty years create the illusion that almost everyone lives a middle class lifestyle. The Professor believes this middle class lifestyle is fictional, as is the common conviction that people can get ahead regardless of class. He believes that the issue of "luck" is insufficiently appreciated. He also points out that the majority of children from Working Class families get associate of arts degrees or complete some college while the preponderance of the Middle and Capitalist Class get bachelors degrees. He also points out that the likely occupation of a child is correlated with the occupation of the parent. Finally, he alleges that of those in the bottom quintile of income less than one percent made it to the top quintile and fifty-four percent remained in the bottom quintile
Like all those of a Marxist or similar persuasion, Professor Zweig does not discuss intelligence as a factor in obtaining and completing a college degree. Intelligence does not appear in the index of the book. Inheritance in the index refers to money received at the death of a parent. Further, as with the postmodernists, there is an unstated assumption that nurture overwhelms nature in all respects and that if human beings at birth are not a blank slate they are close to it. The unstated position is that it is a faulty social environment that leads to poverty, crime and injustice.
As to why class is important, the book argues that the principal reason is economic. Since 1972, the median (half above and half below) weekly earnings for private sector workers have fallen twenty percent in inflation adjusted dollars. By 1992, fifty-seven percent of all families had two or more people working. Three out of four families with children had both parents working in 1992 while in 1972 only one-half did. The proportion of father works and mother is at home with the children declined from twenty-three percent of all families in 1972 to nine percent in 1992. By now, all of these statistics are worse and it is clear that the Working and Middle Class maintained and improved their standard of living by having the women and children go to work.
Professor Zweig believes that, "class is not based on income, but income has a great deal to do with class." He massages and discusses income by quintile to an extraordinary degree. He sees it as a worsening situation where those with college degrees and better are in the upper quintiles and consistently increase their income. Conversely, those with a high school diploma or less fall ever farther behind.
What the author fail to mention is that the income quintiles are on family income; hence the top quintile is actually 26% of the population and this quintile works over 4000 hours a year. The bottom quintile has a large cohort of single women with children and the average hours worked per year is 950 or less. Finally, in respect to the lowest quintile the additional benefits of Medicaid, Food Stamps and subsidized housing are not included. Finally, there are always a great number of people moving from one quintile to another and recently (at variance with his statistics) seventy percent of all those in the bottom quintile will not be there 4 years hence.
The author does not believe there is an "underclass." He ascribes the underclass as just poor people. The author also describes the unequal distribution of wealth with the upper ten percent of the population owning sixty-eight percent of all wealth (1992). Whenever there is a disparity in income or wealth Professor Zweig suggests this is proof positive of gross egalitarian injustice that requires a class remedy. He makes a spirited defense of welfare, AFDC, Food Stamps and so forth. He also supports laws and policies destined to eliminate racism, sexism and homophobia.
At times his writing approaches, "you have nothing to lose but your chains " style. For example, "...To exercise power, you need to know who you are...You also need who your target (adversary) is..." The author is certainly up front in respect to his views and desires.
In spite of all arguments posed by the author, it remains true that class-consciousness is not the rule in contemporary America. The author seems to have a good grasp on why is this is so. First, he points out that the Capitalistic Class disappears into the "rich." When the Capitalist Class disappears it cannot be a target for the Working Class. Second, many in Working Class actually enter the upper income quintiles and their lifestyle and thinking become Middle Class. Third, consistently the capitalist countries have provided higher standards of living than elsewhere. Fourth, and very importantly, Americans are by nature individualistic. Privacy and self-interest are hallmarks of American life. Class-consciousness stifles individuality and self-interest. Americans hate being considered as anything but as individuals. Fifth, identity politics trumps class-consciousness politics. People who identify themselves by race, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity are unlikely to be concerned about social class.
Professor Zweig also believes the mainstream media oppose any form of class-consciousness and the religious right buttresses this such that any discussion results in a put down by classifying the issue as, "the politics of envy." Since both major political parties have supported globalization this has created both lower wages and reduced opportunity for the Working Class.
In spite of the problems described above, the author believes with the aid of unions and the recent founding of the Labor Party (1996) that Working Class consciousness will become foreground rather than background. He also provides an appendix labeled Working Class Resource Guide.
This book is well-written and well thought out. It should have received greater recognition. Professor Zweig makes a persuasive argument for class being a function of power in the workplace. His other positions are less persuasive but still based on factual material and inductive reasoning.
This book is by an avowed Marxist, but he has a firm idea of what does and what does not constitute "social class." He makes an extraordinary case as to why we do not have class warfare in the USA. Finally, Professor Sweig recounts (with some help from me) Marx's accomplishments. This may offend some conservatives, but Marx was probably the single most important person in th 19th and 20th centuries as measured by his political influence and continued political presence.
I have previously posted Pinker's book on the Blank Slate. This book documents the biological basis of human nature and what this means for individuals of a liberal persuasion. You can find Pinker's book HERE
I have also posted two books on the upper-middle class that can be found HEREand HERE
I have also posted Magnet's The Dream and the Nightmare. This book documents the "underclass." President Bush believes this book is only second in importance to the Bible. Some believe, it was instrumental in forcing President Clinton to sign the Welfare Reform Bill in 1996It can be found HERE</P
What a concept the author had of teaching children they are actually responsible for their own welfare. Notice the author does not say the firewood will be distributed equally, but rather that each person is responsible for their own firewood. Self-reliance seems to be a thing of the past, but together, we can change it. Of course we can’t tell our children this today, at least not without taking God’s name out of the equation.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/816212/posts
Goddammit you people! Would you quit working hard and improving your lot in life? We're trying to hold a revolution here! Gott in Himmel!
Sixth, and the most important, class warfare is an ideology of intelligentsia and there is simply no interlligentia in US to speak about.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.