Class Matters Inequality and Exploitation in 21st-Century Britain [Hardcover]

Despite many changes to society, education, and the labor market, social class remains a fundamental force in British life in the twenty-first century. Yet we have lacked any compelling Marxist analysis of class in Britain today—until now. Charles Umney here moves Marx from the mills and mines that drove his analysis in his era into our own, with its call centers, office blocks, and fast food chains. Showing how Marxist concepts remain powerfully explanatory, Umney argues that understanding them is vital to fights against pay inequality, decreasing job security, and managerial control of the labor process. Class, Umney shows, must be understood as a dynamic and exploitative process integral to capitalism, rather than as a simple descriptive category, if we are going to better understand why capital continues to gain at the expense of labor.

Charles Umneyis a lecturer at the University of Leeds Business School.
 

“Charles Umney’sClass Mattersis a highly accessible presentation of the transformation of the British economy over the last four decades and the problems facing the British political economy today. He deftly mixes analysis of history, current events and political discourse with the latest research findings from the academic literature. Umney’s book vividly demonstrates the acute relevance of Marxist class analysis for understanding work, government, economics and politics in 21st century capitalism”

“Why is there such extreme inequality in the world today? Is it human nature? Predatory bosses and financiers? A corrupt political class? In this book Charles Umney presents a powerful and nuanced alternative narrative driven by Marxist political economy. With a keen eye for irony, paradox, and the absurd, he analyzes work, politics, and technology in capitalist societies.Class Matters is a witty and wise antidote to the mainstream diagnoses of our times.”