Class, Crisis and the State

Erik Olin Wright (1947-2019) was Vilas Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin and former president of the American Sociological Association. He authored many books, including Classes, Interrogating Inequality, Class Counts, Deepening Democracy (with Archon Fung), and Envisioning Real Utopias

A brilliant analysis of the class structure and crises of US capitalism.

• Chapter 1                          .Methodological Introduction                  Linking Theory to Data in Social Research                    Modes of Determination and Models of Determination 1.   Structural limitation                                                      2.  Selection                                                                          3.   Reproduction/non-reproduction                                        4.   Limits of functional compatibility                          5.   Transformation                                                      6.   Mediation                                                                Themes of the Book                                                    Chapter 2The Class Structure of Advanced Capitalist Societies  Poulantzas's Theory of the Structural Determination of ClassGeneral Framework                                                      Structural Determination of the Working Class andNew Petty BourgeoisieStructural Determination of the Bourgeoisie Assessment and Critique of Poulantzas's AnalysisThe Boundary Between the Working Class and theNew Petty BourgeoisieThe Class Unity of the New and TraditionalPetty Bourgeoisie The Class Boundary of the Bourgeoisie An Alternative Conceptualization of Class BoundariesContradictory Locations within Class Relations The Processes of Class Relations The Analysis of Contradictory Locations withinClass RelationsClass Interests and the Definition of Class PositionsImmediate and Fundamental Class InterestsThe Class Location of Positions not Directly Determinedby Production RelationsExtended Definitions of ClassesClass Structure and Class StruggleClass Interests and Class CapacitiesClass Structure, Class Formation and Class StruggleConclusionChapter 3Historical Transformations of Capitalist Crisis TendenciesIntroductionI.   The Meaning of Accumulation1.   Capitalist Social Relations2.   Surplus ValueII.   Impediments and Contradictions in the Accumulation Process1.   The Organic Composition of Capital and the Falling Rate of Profit2.   Underconsumption Theories of Economic Crisis3.   Theories of the Profit Squeeze4.   State Expenditures and AccumulationIII.   The Development of Capitalism and the Impediments to Accumulation1.   The Transition from Simple Commodity Production to Expanded Reproduction2.   The Transition from Primitive Accumulation to Manufacture 3.   The Transition from Manufacture to Machinofacture  4.   The Rise of Consolidation of Monopoly Capital5.   Advanced Monopoly CapitalismChapter 4Bureaucracy and the StateWeber's ArgumentLenin's Argument      Comparisons      The Determinants of Organizational Structure The Nature of the State and Politics: Elite-Organization versus Class-Structure Organizational Form and Accountability            The Meaning of Contradictions and the Limits on the Possible  Elements of a Synthesis: Class Struggle and Organizational StructureChapter 5Conclusion: Socialist Strategies and the State in Advanced Capitalist SocietiesBibliography                                        Index