The Working Class

Globalisation has, if anything, made the inequality between classes even more obvious over the last two decades, and class has again become a the topic of lively discussion. Inequalities between classes are accelerating and class has come to play a greater role in the life of ordinary people over the last three decades. With this increasing polarisation have come changes in the composition of the working class itself. This paper traces the origins of the concept and uses some of the ideas of Karl Marx and Antonio Gramsci to define the working class today and to elucidate its size, dimensions, consciousness and activity.