Reproduction of Class

Author: Erol M. Balkan, Henry J. Rutz

Class is important, and the reproduction of class is vital... But for capitalism.

No one wants to be a worker or stay in the middle class. No one would do this to their child. The aim is always to move to the upper class. Education that will enable you to get a good job and live a "comfortable life" is thought to be the most important opportunity that will make this dream possible (this is even more important than winning the big prize in the lottery).

The book in your hand is an expression of the class struggle, the marathon in which the middle class prepares its children for exams in order to reproduce itself, through a comparative examination of the globalizing city (Istanbul) and the changing culture and consumption ideology. This stage is very important because failure carries the danger of the next generation falling into the lower layers of the middle class, or worse, into the working class.

Class reproduction is costly. The welfare state was the expression of the state's covering of this cost on the basis of education, health and retirement rights and conditions. While the income taxes of the capitalists were reduced, the indirect taxes (SCT, VAT) were increased and these services were taken over by the capital class through privatizations and made monetized, thus pushing the cost of production onto the lower classes. Education is now a "private school" rather than a "private school". Children reproduction of class? It is now included in the elements of consumption ideology. "Health as much as your money, education as much as your money" is as much class as your money: The relations between classes have turned into relations between things.

The ethnography in your hand, based on testimonies, field research and a theoretical framework, underlines the role of the state and the market in shaping the class, while also emphasizing the importance of the family as a key actor of class reproduction and social consciousness. The order, on the other hand, needs classes to reproduce themselves in order to be "sustainable".
(From the Promotional Bulletin)



Number of Pages: 224

Year of Print: 2016


Language: Turkish
Publisher: h2o Book

Prepared for Publication by: Özcan Özen

First Print Year: 2016

Number of Pages: 224

Language Turkish