Search

Margaret Thatcher regarded it as a 'communist concept', but class has returned to the public agenda with both media interest and academic inquiry. Evans brings a new take to an old debate about the boundary between the petty bourgeoisie and the working class and its implications for theory and practice. This review examines his argument that the petty bourgeoisie is bigger and more important than generally understood and has a key role to play in the likelihood of radical social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Virdee’s account of how racialized minorities in socialist movements ‘played an instrumental role in trying to align struggles against racism with those against class exploitation’ (p. 164). In so doing, Virdee makes an important intervention at a time when popular historians and other ideologues are colluding in the elevation of myths and – no doubt in their view – noble lies that preclude these stories. Moving through theoretical debates concerning the relationships between race and class, the nature and form of sociologies of ‘outsiders’, to political issues of mobilization, Virdee’s book successfully brings in from the margins an account the multi-ethnic character of the working class in England from the very moment of its inception. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper argues that Piketty's book should not simply be seen as that of an economist, but that it contains significant resources for sociologists to draw upon. These are firstly, this approach to social science and his use of visualizations which chime closely with recent claims about the power of description. Secondly I consider his conceptualization of time and history - which in rebutting epochal arguments about the speed of contemporary change allows for a much better appreciation of the 'long durée'; and finally his conceptualization of social classes and privilege through his elaboration of a sociology of accumulation and inheritance. In all these ways, Piketty's work assists in developing an account of elites and wealth which should be highly productive for future sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this rejoinder, I respond to four essays on my book, Development and Globalization: A Marxian Class Analysis, by focusing on the following main themes: the contingency of theory, reading for class, subjectivity, and conjunctural analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of the book "Why Pamper Life's Complexities?: Essays on The Smiths," by Sean Campbell and Colin Coulter, is presented.

This essay reviews three books that examine Arizona’s political actions contextualized within an ongoing national debate over the how to deal with the mass migration, particularly undocumented migration, from Mexico, Central America and other regions of Latin America. The book titles tell much of Arizona’s political culture and actions propelled by the measures: Biggers (2012)State out of the Union: Arizona and the Final Showdown Over the American Dream; Magana and Lee eds. (2013) Latino Politics and Arizona’s Immigration Law SB 1970; and Santa Ana and Gonzalez de Bustamante eds. (2012) Alto Arizona! Veto SB 1070: Arizona Firestorm. Global Immigration Realities, National Media and Provincial Politics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reviews the book "Socialism and Modernity," by Peter Beilharz.

The article reviews the book "Class, Individualization and Late Modernity: In Search of the Reflexive Worker," by Will Atkinson.

The article reviews two books including "Class, Race and Inequality in South Africa," by Jeremy Seekings and Nicoli Natrass, and "A History of Inequality in South Africa 1652-2002," by Sampie Terreblanche.

The article reviews two novels "Sunlight on a Broken Column," by Attia Hosain and "Salt and Saffron," by Kamila Shamsie.

This review essay addresses an apparent paradox of recent decades: the concurrence of diminishing academic and political interest in class issues alongside the polarization of class inequalities under the neo-liberal ascendancy. Both the departure from class and the occasional attempts to re-assert its theoretical and political significance have assumed diverse forms. This diversity is represented in the three books discussed here. The first comprises a collection of Marxist, non-Marxist and explicitly anti- Marxist chapters on class analysis, edited by Erik Olin Wright. The second is Michael Zweig's edited volume of Left-oriented interpretations of class in its various political, economic and social dimensions, with consistent reference to gender and race. Finally, there is Charles W. Mills's rejection of class and Marxism in favor of a black radicalism underpinned by the concept of white supremacy. The essay goes on to explore the possibilities for a reinvigoration of the radical potential of class, through its theoretical and political integration with other bases of difference and division, most notably gender and race. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article, part of a book review forum included in the issue, reviews the books "Love in the Time of AIDS: Inequality, Gender and Rights in South Africa," by Mark Hunter, and "The Cultural Politics of Markets" Economic Liberalization and Social Change in Nepal," by Katharine N. Rankin.

The article reviews the book "Western Educated Elites in Kenya 1900-1963: The African-American Factor," by Jim C. Harper II.

Reviews the book "Democracy in Kingston: A Social Movement in Urban Politics, 1965-1970," by Richard Harris.

Reviews the book "Spatial Divisions of Labor: Social Structures and the Geography of Production," by Doreen Massey.

Reviews the book "Urbanization in Contemporary Latin America," edited by Alan Gilbert, Jorge E. Hardoy and Ronaldo Ramirez.