The No-Nonsense Guide to Class, Caste and Hierarchies FROM THE PUBLISHER
After nearly two centuries of industrialization, social relationships still tend to be defined by whether you are an owner, a manager or a shop-floor worker. In older but less industrialized societies, notably India, the caste system defines inherited and fixed positions in society. In totalitarian regimes, a hierarchical structure is created through party allegiance and bureaucratic or military rank. In this book Jeremy Seabrook begins with a comprehensive historical survey, from feudalism to the emergence of the working class in 19th century Europe. It shows how, especially in England, workers learned rules of the political game in the late 19th century and applied them in the first half of the 20th. But recently, it can be argued, these rules have been declared obsolete. With globalization, traditional societies are being replaced by an international working class and a small minority of the global rich. In such a situation, who is to guarantee social justice?
About the No-Nonsense Series: Major issues facing the world today, complex as they are, are further obfuscated—often deliberately—by political and corporate jargon and media spin. This new Verso series of No-Nonsense Guides, published in conjunction with New Internationalist magazine, cuts through the confusion to present the facts and arguments concerning contemporary global issues as accessibly as possible.
Author Biography: Jeremy Seabrook is the highly respected author of Victims of Development, In the Cities of the South and Love in a Different Climate. He lives in London.
FROM THE CRITICS
Guardian
A splendid new series of pocketable guides to issue-politics...Rigorously clear.
Shepherd Metro Express
[A] gulp of fresh water in a parched desert of uninformed opinion.
Orion Magazine
Small and affordable...ideal for anyone who wishes to intelligently address and debate the important issues of our time.
Willamette Week
Easy-to-digest slices of smart.
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