Class reductionism is an epithet used to describe
social theories
Social theories are analytical frameworks, or paradigms, that are used to study and interpret social phenomenon, social phenomena.Seidman, S., 2016. Contested knowledge: Social theory today. John Wiley & Sons. A tool used by social scientists, s ...
that emphasize the role of the
exploitation of labour
Exploitation is a concept defined as, in its broadest sense, one agent taking unfair advantage of another agent. When applying this to labour (or labor), it denotes an unjust social relationship based on an asymmetry of power or unequal exchange ...
along the lines of
social class
A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the Bourgeoisie, capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for exam ...
es in creating societal inequality, over all other social divisions and forms of oppression, such as racism or sexism. It is also used to describe political policies and strategies that prioritize broad economic reform to the exclusion of addressing issues facing specific minorities.
The term is most commonly used in the context of
Marxist theory
Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are works in philosophy that are strongly influenced by Karl Marx's materialist approach to theory, or works written by Marxists. Marxist philosophy may be broadly divided into Western Marxism, which drew f ...
and critiques thereof.
Description
Class reductionism is disparagingly used to describe theoretical and political frameworks that prioritize the significance of class relations over all other societal hierarchies. The term is used to criticize theories, policies or strategies that neglect to directly address racism, sexism or other social oppressions in favor of broad economic policies that are targeted at addressing the
working class
The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
as a whole. Critics of class reductionism claim that this approach sidelines people, particularly working-class people, who want to take up the fight against other oppressions more directly, and fragments political movements on the Left as a consequence.
Class reductionism has been described as being opposed to
identity politics
Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as ethnicity, Race (human categorization), race, nationality, religion, Religious denomination, denomination, gender, sexual orientation, Socioeconomic status, social background ...
and
postmodernism
Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, Culture, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting ...
. The term has also been used to describe Marxist theory as a whole.
Adolph Reed
Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo, and when Latinisation (literature), Latinised Adolphus) is a given name with German language, German origins.
The name is a Compound (linguistics), compound derived from the Old High German ''Athalwol ...
claims that class reductionism is a "myth", accusing those who use the term of instead engaging in "race reductionism".
See also
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Economism
Economism is a direct reduction of any political or cultural phenomena or activities to economics.
In particular, "economism" was a movement in early Russian Social Democratic Labour Party whose position was that the workers' struggle must be on ...
*
Intersectionality
Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how groups' and individuals' social and political identities result in unique combinations of discrimination and privilege. Examples of these intersecting and overlapping factor ...
*
Old Left
The Old Left is an informal umbrella term used to describe the various left-wing political movements in the Western world prior to the 1960s. Many of these movements were Marxist movements that often took a more vanguardist approach to social ...
*
Producerism
Producerism is an ideology which holds that those members of society engaged in the production of tangible wealth are of greater benefit to society than, for example, aristocrats who inherit their wealth and status.
History
Robert Ascher trac ...
*
Reductionism
Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena which can be described in terms of simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical positi ...
*
Welfare chauvinism
Welfare chauvinism or welfare state nationalism is the political notion that welfare benefits should be restricted to certain groups, particularly to the natives of a country as opposed to immigrants, or should be for the majority, excluding ...
*
Vulgar Marxism
Vulgar Marxism refers to a "belief that one can directly access the real conditions of history" and is sometimes referred to as reflection theory. In 1998, Robert M. Young defined "economism or vulgar Marxism" as "the most orthodox osition in Ma ...
References
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Political pejoratives
Marxism
Political science terminology
Social theories
Sexism
Racism