| Abstrakt: |
For the first fifty or sixty years of the twentieth century politics in capitalist societies has been organized around class. In Great Britain, the United States, and elsewhere, political authority, political organization, and political action have been structured around the patterns of social stratification. This article argues that the clear lines of division and the contours of solidarity that characterized stratification in the first half of the twentieth century had become increasingly more fragmentary. Class divisions persisted, but they had become less visible, and social classes became less cohesive and conscious of themselves. It is now time to investigate the implications of these changes for the structure of politics. Many researchers have identified what they believe to be a contemporary decline in the significance of class relations for political action. Pluralist theory sees a whole variety of interest groups, pressure groups, and associations as joining the older parties in the competition for power. Party politics in Great Britain and the United States has become more pluralistic since the 1950's. |
