Professional–managerial class
The term professional–managerial class (PMC) refers to a social class within capitalism that, by controlling production processes through superior management skills, is neither proletarian nor bourgeois. This group of middle class professionals is distinguished from other social classes by their training and education, typically business qualifications and university degrees,[1] with occupations including academics, teachers, social workers, engineers, managers, nurses, and middle-level administrators.[2] The professional–managerial class tends to have incomes above the average for their country.[3]
The term was coined in 1977 by John and Barbara Ehrenreich.[4][5] The term became widely used in American political discourse in the late 2010s as a shorthand to refer to technocratic liberals or wealthy Democratic voters.[6][5]
Catherine Liu, in Virtue Hoarders (2021), characterized the PMC as white-collar left liberals afflicted with a superiority complex in relation to ordinary members of the working class.[7][8][9] Hans Magnus Enzensberger had also observed the "characterless opportunism" of its members,[10] in reference to its constant shifting of allegiances, not only between the leisured and working classes but also among themselves.[10]
It is estimated that in the 1930s United States people in professional–managerial class occupations made up less than 1 percent of total employment. In 1972, about 24 percent of American jobs were in professional–managerial class occupations. By 1983 the number had risen to 28 percent and in 2006, 35 percent.[11]
James Burnham had proposed the existence of a similar class in his 1941 book, The Managerial Revolution, arguing that they had become the new ruling class.
The PMC hypothesis contributed to the Marxist debates on class in Fordism and was used as an analytical category in the examination of non-proletarian employees.[citation needed]
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Green, Philip. "Retrieving Democracy: In Search of Civic Equality". Rowman & Littlefield.
- ^ Kellner, Hansfried; Frank W. Heuberger (1994). "Hidden Technocrats: The New Class and New Capitalism". Transaction Publishers.
- ^ Gail, Kelly; Sheila Slaughter (1990). Women's higher education in comparative perspective. Springer. ISBN 9780792308003.
- ^ Ehrenreich, John; Barbara Ehrenreich (1979). Pat Walker (ed.). Between Labor and Capital (1st ed.). Boston: South End Press. ISBN 0-89608-037-4.
- ^ a b "On the Origins of the Professional-Managerial Class: An Interview with Barbara Ehrenreich". Dissent Magazine. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
- ^ "Professional-Managerial Chasm". n+1. 2019-10-10. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
- ^ https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/01/21/virtue-hoarders-our-scolding-elites/
- ^ https://upress.umn.edu/press/press-clips/the-jacobin-show-the-professional–managerial-class-w-catherine-liu
- ^ https://upress.umn.edu/press/press-clips/aufhebunga-bunga-podcast-the-worst-class-ft-catherine-liu
- ^ a b Frost, Amber A'Lee (November 2019). "The Characterless Opportunism of the Managerial Class". 3 (4).
- ^ Ehrenreich, Barbara; John Ehrenreich (February 2013). "Barbara and John Ehrenreich: The Real Story Behind the Crash and Burn of America's Managerial Class". AlterNet. Retrieved 31 October 2020.