1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910252714003321

Autore

Paternoster Henry

Titolo

Reimagining Class in Australia [[electronic resource] ] : Marxism, Populism and Social Science  / / by Henry Paternoster

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2017

ISBN

9783319554501

3319554506

Edizione

[1st ed. 2017.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xi, 279 pages)

Disciplina

305.50994

Soggetti

Social structure

Equality

Social sciences—Philosophy

Political theory

Social Structure, Social Inequality

Social Theory

Political Theory

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction.- Chapter 1:Imagining class in Australian history.- Chapter 2: The New Left and Marxism.- Chapter 3: Connell and Irving’s Class Structure in Australian History.- Chapter 4: Andrew Wells’ Constructing Capitalism and political economy.- Chapter 5: Andrew Metcalfe and working class consciousness -- Chapter 6:The Death of Class and its afterlife -- Conclusion: Reimagining Class.

Sommario/riassunto

This book re-evaluates New Left and Marxist texts from the 1980s, in order to explore problems facing the study of ‘class’ which have emerged within Australian and international theories. The author contrasts the popular ideas of Connell, Bourdieu and the ‘Death of Class’ thesis, with those of lesser known texts, concluding that no single definition can account for the various historical meanings of class. Instead, loosely following Castoriadis, the concept of class can best be understood as creatively imagined and institutionalised. Paternoster proposes that class is best studied through historical



phenomenology, which can be used to link political economy, cultural sociology and anthropological ethnographies. This approach allows the contributions of Marxist and New Left authors to be reintegrated with contemporary theories. Doing so highlights the significance of labour populism, while cautioning against the ahistorical applications of texts such as Boudieu’s Distinction. Reimagining Class in Australia will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including sociology, history, political economy and anthropology.