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The Structure of Class Conflict in Democratic Capitalist Societies

Author

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  • Przeworski, Adam
  • Wallerstein, Michael

Abstract

The article presents a theory of class conflict between workers and capitalists who pursue their material interests under a form of societal organization that combines private ownership of instruments of production with representative political institutions. There exist economic and political conditions under which both classes would simultaneously choose courses of action that constitute a class compromise: workers consent to the institution of profit and capitalists to democratic institutions through which workers can effectively press claims for material gains. When these conditions hold and a compromise is in force, the role of the state consists in institutionalizing, coordinating, and enforcing the terms of a compromise that represents the preferences of workers as well as capitalists.

Suggested Citation

  • Przeworski, Adam & Wallerstein, Michael, 1982. "The Structure of Class Conflict in Democratic Capitalist Societies," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 76(2), pages 215-238, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:76:y:1982:i:02:p:215-238_18
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Dasgupta, Indraneel & Kanbur, Ravi, 2001. "Class, Community, Inequality," Working Papers 127671, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    2. N P Low, 1990. "Class, Politics, and Planning: From Reductionism to Pluralism in Marxist Class Analysis," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 22(8), pages 1091-1114, August.
    3. Rina Agarwala, 2017. "Using legal empowerment for labour rights in India," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-57, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Paster, Thomas, 2015. "Bringing power back in: A review of the literature on the role of business in welfare state politics," MPIfG Discussion Paper 15/3, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    5. William McColloch, 2017. "Profit-Led Growth, Social Democracy, and the Left: An Accumulation of Discontent," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 49(4), pages 559-566, December.
    6. Dasgupta, Indraneel & Kanbur, Ravi, 2007. "Community and class antagonism," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(9), pages 1816-1842, September.
    7. George Tsebelis, 1990. "Elite Interaction and Constitution Building in Consociational Democracies," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 2(1), pages 5-29, January.
    8. Josef Ringqvist, 2021. "How do union membership, union density and institutionalization affect perceptions of conflict between management and workers?," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(2), pages 131-148, June.
    9. Chris Tsoukis & Jun-ichi Itaya, 2019. "Distributive justice and social conflict in an AK model," CESifo Working Paper Series 7601, CESifo.
    10. Dasgupta, Indraneel & Kanbur, Ravi, 2002. "How Workers Get Poor Because Capitalists Get Rich: A General Equilibrium Model of Labor Supply, Community, and the Class Distribution of Income," Working Papers 127296, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    11. Rina Agarwala, 2017. "Using legal empowerment for labour rights in India," WIDER Working Paper Series 057, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Jonathon W. Moses, 2009. "The American Century? Migration and the Voluntary Social Contract," Politics & Society, , vol. 37(3), pages 454-476, September.

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