A Nation of Shopkeepers: The Unstoppable Rise of the Petite Bourgeoisie

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A deep and vital look at who and what constitutes the 'middle classes', what makes them different to the proletariat and bourgeoisie, and how they've become one of the most powerful blocs in modern British politics. This fuels reactionary politics across all classes as strongly as domestic conditions do, if not even moreso. So there must be another reason why labour movements are weak or another reason the petty bourgeoisie don’t support them.

Don’t forget: you can now sign up to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get news, features, interviews and reviews delivered direct to your inbox. to embrace and accept downward social mobility, to realise one can have an identity and meaning without a “career”, and that there is nothing wrong with staying rooted and not leaving your small town. And if we are all working class, Evans points out, ‘there is no need to work to build class alliances.

However, as is often true with political and sociological topics, some of its analysis didn't work for me and at times it felt a bit repetitive whilst barely covering other things it mentioned. How dedicated to the slow building of a workplace union would a NPB member be if they really believe they will only be working at that cafe temporarily, that a better job (that they are qualified for) is awaiting them? Just to give an example, he endorses Trotsky’s line of argument the petty bourgeoisie don’t support labour movements because they’re weak but argues that they’re weak because they’re dominated by the professional-managerial class…but the original argument is unrelated to that and its historical context was one where that domination didn’t exist. The inability of the left to take ownership over the campaign against the European Union compared to the situation in the mid-1970s – when even Tony Benn at times veered perilously close to Powellite nativism – was obvious.

Just as the Remain coalition drew young precarious workers into alignment with those who have benefited from neoliberalism, the Leave alliance included traditional [petty-bourgeois] Tory voters from the shires alongside millions of workers and unemployed from South Wales, parts of the Midlands, and the North, most of whom traditionally vote Labour or don’t vote at all. Thought this was great until the conclusion, at which point Evans made a few claims that were larger than justified or poorly argued.Such notions can readily merge with middle-class liberalism’s ‘dependency on working-class “backwardness” for its own claim to modern multicultural citizenship’. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. It was overwhelmingly members of this precarious middle who supported Brexit and Boris Johnson, but also petit bourgeois who backed Jeremy Corbyn. Maybe this is something seen as already debated on left Twitter or elsewhere, but as I haven't read many similar books or engaged with many debates on left Twitter, to me it felt like ignoring other factors that impact the modern impressions of not only class itself, but also the key areas covered in the book like education, housing, and social mobility.

After all, imperialism is a capitalist imperative that benefits not only the ruling classes, but every class in the imperial core, even the most exploited ones. uk will use the information you provide on this form to be in touch with you and to provide updates and marketing. The TPB has grown in times of economic crisis because it benefits the system to have pools of desperate workers who are fragmented and dependent on big capital, and this accounts for the growth of sub-contracting. For all its limitations, Corbynism represented a seismic shift to the left on both social and economic issues – which is why it was anathema to the entire ruling bloc.An intriguing, very political, and unexpectedly personal book for those who are obsessed with class and the global failures of the left. The focus of Evans’ scorn is Corbynism, and with it overlapping elements in the Welsh and Scottish indie movements, which he suggests are all inhabited by ‘people whose sense of their own superiority and self-righteousness is far more unacceptable to working-class people than the traditional economic bourgeoisie or even the aristocracy. Although such an informal approach in an informal environment is understandable, it inevitably raises problems, evident in Evans’ own claim - notably in a book on class, not a casual chat - that the likes of current Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and previous Labour Party leadership candidate Owen Smith are “the left at the upper echelons”. In the 1970s, the concept was elaborated into a permanent neo-Gramscian strategy known as ‘Eurocommunism’ – of which Poulantzas was a prominent but heterodox theorist. Perhaps that isn’t surprising, particularly in the context of the eclipse of the 20 th century workers’ movement.