How Wright’s Study Developed Marx’s Thought Of The Middle Class

The class theory of Marx and Engels takes possession of property as the core factor of class division,and also includes class consciousness.In addition to the bourgeoisie and the proletariat,there is a swinging middle class on their class map.This middle class was first regarded as peasants and craftsmen.As time goes by,the middle class gradually evolved into professional and technical personnel,senior manager,and other groups.Nowadays,economic development is more dependent on high and new technology,the equity system is booming,and emerging middle-class groups are growing.In politics,capitalist countries introduce various policies to ease class conflicts.In terms of culture,class consciousness has the risk of dissolution and culture has increasingly become an important factor affecting people’s actions and class formation.In this context,Wright keenly caught the gap between the class structure and the class formation in Marx’s class theory and found that the new middle-class groups in the role of the class struggle and action tendency are lack analysis.Therefore,under the theoretical framework of Marxist class analysis,he absorbed Weber’s class stratification theory and Romer’s new concept of exploitation,tried to analyze the class structure and class formation of the middle class in the new era,and further explained the possible tendency and action of the contemporary middle class in the class struggle.Wright’s research inherits Marx’s theory of class analysis,taking exploitation and possession of assets as the starting point of class analysis.He also adapted Romer’s concept of exploitation of organizational assets and skills,and finally came up with a new class position map containing 12 positions according to the different exploitation conditions of the property,organizational assets,and skills.The middle class is defined as those who are exploited in one dimension and exploited in another.Wright believes that due to the swing nature of the middle class,their class struggle practice will be influenced by two factors: alliance tendency and class consciousness drive.He first analyzed the mobility of classes(i.e.,the communication and infiltration trend of different positions),and finally found that the property dimension has the highest barrier,while the power dimension is the easiest to cross,which showed us the possible alliance tendency of different class positions.In addition to the role of class mobility,Wright also analyzed the importance of class consciousness in class struggle.He addressed how class position and class consciousness interact with each other to jointly influence individual class practice,and individual practice constitutes class struggle and ultimately influences the process of class formation and class structure.He went on to analyze the situation of class consciousness in different class positions.Wright’s research has certain positive significance: he gives a more detailed map of the middle class in the new era based on Marx’s middle class thought and gives the possible prediction of the actions of the middle-class group in the class struggle.As far as research methods are concerned,his method of combining traditional theory with modern empirical methods is refreshing.However,his research also has some shortcomings: in terms of concept and measurement,there is doubt about the existence of technological exploitation and organizational exploitation.The empirical method has the problem of oversimplification.At the same time,the connotation of "exploitation" is dispelled by discussing "exploitation" in terms of distribution and income.Ignoring the methods of historical materialism and dialectics,he also overstates the alliance and possible role of the middle class.This may lead to a departure from Marxism.