From class analysis to class politics: A critique of sociological interpretations of class

This paper distinguishes the notion of “class politics” from that of “class analysis”. In an attempt to respond to some of the contemporary critiques of the salience of class in social analysis and political life, it argues that the former term has closer resonances with the classical conception and purposes of “class” than the latter. Recent comparative political economy, as well as re-examinations of Marx's political economy, offer support for and are in turn themselves enriched by, a systematic clarification of the meaning and significance of “class politics”. The suggestion is therefore that the sociological approach to class (and classes) misses what was once distinctive in and crucial to the concept of “class conflict”.