Class, Crisis & The State

The notion of ‘class interest’ is a familiar one in sociological literature, as a set of social objectives. But what is its relationship to ‘class capacity’—the ability to realize these objectives? This complex question provides the central focus of the guiding themes of Erik Olin Wright’s book. It is composed of three lucid and tracing essays focused on a trio of most seminal issues in contemporary Marxist sociology. Wright’s analytic framework of Wright’s analyses, advances a new class map of the United States today, which settles many of the long-standing contradictions and anomalies of most socialist discussion of the subject—in particular, by its rigorous yet dynamic redefinition of the petit bourgeoisie. The book then locates classical theories of economic crisis within Marxism, and then ‘distributes’ them diachronically along the history of capitalism. In the final essay, Wright examines the relationships between the state, bureaucracy and the ways in which capital and labour respectively have tried to control or abolish it—exemplified in the counterpart writings of Weber and Lenin. A conclusion brings together the political tensions of these theoretical analyses, in a discussion of the possibilities for the future development of socialism in the advanced capitalist countries.