IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/reorpe/v12y1980i1p17-34.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Capital Accumulation and the Rise of the New Middle Class

Author

Listed:
  • Val Burris

    (Dept. of Sociology University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present an historical analysis of the ex pansion of the new middle class in the United States since the beginning of the 20th century. In opposition to conventional accounts which interpret the growth of professional and managerial occupations primarily as a consequence of technological changes associated with the process of industrialization, I argue that changes in the class structure must be viewed as a structurally determined consequence of the inherent contradictions of capitalist society, of the process of class conflict itself, and the adaptive mechanisms which have emerged in response to these. The expansion of the new middle class is analyzed in relation to the his torical development of the capital accumulation process and each of its three principal contradictions: (1) the tendency toward a decline in the rate of profit, (2) the intensification of class antagonism, and (3) problems in the realization of surplus-value. The application of this model to the present period suggests that we are entering into a period of diminishing growth and may even be approach ing the upper limits to the size of the new middle class. The paper concludes with a discussion of the possible political consequences of this relative stabilization of class boundaries.

Suggested Citation

  • Val Burris, 1980. "Capital Accumulation and the Rise of the New Middle Class," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 12(1), pages 17-34, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:12:y:1980:i:1:p:17-34
    DOI: 10.1177/048661348001200102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/048661348001200102
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/048661348001200102?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Adam Przeworski, 1977. "Proletariat into a Class: The Process of Class Formation from Karl Kautsky's The Class Struggle to Recent Controversies," Politics & Society, , vol. 7(4), pages 343-401, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fabien Tarrit, 2012. "Marxisme analytique et classes sociales," Post-Print hal-02019776, HAL.
    2. Lawrence E. Raffalovich, 1988. "On Analyzing Earnings Inequality in Segmented Labor Markets," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 16(3), pages 339-378, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:12:y:1980:i:1:p:17-34. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.urpe.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.