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DC Field | Value | Language |
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dc.contributor.advisor | Pawluch, Dorothy | - |
dc.contributor.author | Borgia Holteng, Adalgisa Diana | - |
dc.date.accessioned | 2024-05-07T01:31:29Z | - |
dc.date.available | 2024-05-07T01:31:29Z | - |
dc.date.issued | 2024 | - |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11375/29756 | - |
dc.description.abstract | The concept of class has always been central in sociological theory and has generated endless debate. The aim of this dissertation is to explore an issue that I maintain has not received sufficient attention in sociological literature, namely, the competing understandings of class that underpin these debates. In this dissertation I conduct an in-depth analysis of four prominent theorists of class to show that class has been conceptualized in different and often contradictory ways. I focus on four key traditions: classical Marxism, Althusser's structuralism, Laclau's postmodernism, and Bourdieu's constructive or generic structuralism. I raise the question of whether the competing understandings of class in these theoretical traditions indicate a move towards abandoning the notion of class formations in sociological theorizing or whether they signify a movement towards a more complex, sophisticated, and encompasing understanding of class. After a deep-dive into understandings of class in the four traditions I have identified, I conclude by arguing that the latter is the case. That is, I argue that the shifts in the understandings of class represented in the work of Karl Marx, Louis Althusser, Ernesto Laclau and Pierre Bourdieu unveil a path towards a notion of class that can usefully guide and provide much needed coherence to the future discussions of class in sociology. | en_US |
dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
dc.subject | concept of class | en_US |
dc.title | The Elusive Concept of Class | en_US |
dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
dc.contributor.department | Sociology | en_US |
dc.description.degreetype | Thesis | en_US |
dc.description.degree | Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) | en_US |
dc.description.layabstract | The concept of class has always been central to sociological theory and has generated endless debate. The aim of this dissertation is to explore an issue that I maintain has not received sufficient attention in sociological literature, namely, the competing understandings of class that underpin this debate. In this dissertation I conduct an in-depth analysis of four prominent theorists of class to show that class has been conceptualized in different and often contradictory ways. I focus on four key traditions: classical Marxism, Althusser's structuralism, Laclau's postmodernism and Bourdieu's constructive or generic structuralism. | en_US |
Appears in Collections: | Open Access Dissertations and Theses |
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File | Description | Size | Format | |
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Borgia Holteng_Adalgisa_D_202403_PhD.pdf | 907.38 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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