Class and identities

Zero Books podcast had a long interview with George Ciccariello-Maher on it recently where in the course of a broader piece on free speech they were discussing how whiteness and blackness are in a sense social constructs, but due to aspects of broader power relationships and dynamics there are aspects of same, particularly blackness that give it/them a reality that they would not otherwise have. But they made the parallel point that in relation to the working class… to pretend there is no working class there is no politics since we cannot reach the goal we’re talking of (which is revolutionary/transformational change) that will see the end of the working class, indeed all classes.

…if anything it is the opposite in the present in that too few people are identifying as working class, the poor, those who are exploited, who live under a certain class condition who nevertheless consider themselves to be temporarily embarrassed members of the middle class. They refuse that [working class] identity.

The discussion on free speech was interesting too. I found myself oscillating between the positions of the respective speakers. Useful.