Dora Levačić / Mislav Žitko: How Class Works? Developing a Class Map for Post-Socialism

Published on Jan 6, 2016

Organized by / organizacija: Centre for labour studies (Centar za radničke studije - CRS, radnickistudiji.org)
Seminar: "Class, Class Theory, Class Struggle"
MAZ, Hatzova 16, Zagreb, 18.10.2015., 11.00h
Moderator: Marko Kostanić

Dora Levačić / Mislav Žitko: How Class Works? Developing a Class Map for Post-Socialism

The post-socialist period in Croatia has been marked by abandonment of class analysis in the social sciences and public discourse. The rise of nationalism and consolidation of capitalist market institutions, together with the discovery of postmodern sensibilities in academia, have forged the conditions for displacement of class to the margins of economy and society by virtue of its inherent connection with the ‘Marxist ideology’. In the first step, this paper aims to develop a notion of class by taking into account the recent contributions developed by Goldthorpe, Savage and others. The paper will offer arguments against ‘employment-based’ and ‘cultural theory of class’. In the second step, a class map based on a variety of indicators pertinent to the Croatian social structure in the post-socialist period will be put forward and discussed on conceptual and methodological level. The overall objective of the paper is to bridge the gap created by the suppression of class analysis in the last quarter century and embed the discourse on social class in post-socialism in the discussions that are currently taking place in the advanced capitalist societies.

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Dora Levačić is a sociologist and a member of Organisation for Workers Initiative and Democratisation from Zagreb.

Mislav Žitko is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb and a member of Centre for Labour Studies

http://radnickistudiji.org/?p=309

Programme of Centre for Labour Studies is financed by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe