Wealth and class analysis: exploitation, closure and exclusion

Waitkus, Nora, Savage, Mike ORCID: 0000-0003-4563-9564 and Toft, Maren (2024) Wealth and class analysis: exploitation, closure and exclusion. III Working Paper (143). International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

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Abstract

Wealth inequalities are increasingly prominent in contemporary societies, yet they have not been systematically addressed by sociological class analysis. Yet, class analysis should have a lot to offer: In the literature on wealth inequality, wealth is often approached as a unidimensional distribution – a quantity one can possess more or less of, crystallized in notions of the Top 1%. In this theoretical reflection, we discuss ways in which class analysis can address the gravity of wealth inequality by returning to the origins in the thinking of Marx and Weber, where capital accumulation and property organization were given central stage. Drawing on more recent contributions from Bourdieu, and integrating insights from political economy, theories of racial capitalism and feminist perspectives, we outline ways to enrich class theory through attention to housing, finance, business, and debt. Our intervention allows class analysis to embrace accumulation, exploitation, closure and exclusion making it fit for purpose to address 21st-century social changes.

Item Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Authors
Divisions:	International Inequalities Institute Sociology
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
JEL classification:	P - Economic Systems > P1 - Capitalist Systems > P10 - General D - Microeconomics > D3 - Distribution > D31 - Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
Date Deposited:	22 Aug 2024 08:27
Last Modified:	29 Oct 2024 11:03
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/124635

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