Donal: " ... many of the positions/jobs that we might take to be middle-class and bourgeois (e.g. Professor, doctor, lawyer) are positions/jobs that put us in the proletariat: it is ownership of the means of production that, for the Marxist, puts one in the 'capitalist' or non-proletarian class (the non-owning managers who act on behalf of the owners are also in the proletariat)."
Ownership of the means of production has become less well defined since Marx was writing. Whilst there is still a capital owning class that lives off its invested wealth, share ownership has become wide spread thus giving people a stake in the operations of the market. This can be viewed in a number of ways, but the general sense is that capital has seen fit to use part of the surplus generated through production to ensure that labour in the home market (or in all modern economies given globalisation) is satified with its lot. Note that the surplus is not shared in less well developed countries which also happen to be the source of cheap labour.
Marx was keen on the notion that people and ideas are a product of their economic experience (or experience generally). Given that, he wouldn't be that surprised to see that a hundred and fifty years hence he was plain wrong about some things, but right about others.
Another notion is that what Marx said is known. He wrote about possible revolution on the basis of economic class, that came to pass and people have learned from it. So while it might not exactly be a rule, it's probably true that less exploitation brings with it the smaller chance of revolution. Capitalists aren't idiots.
Asimov's Foundation novels are an interesting comparison. Seldon built the Foundation on the back of complicated projections about what would happen to the Galaxy in the years ahead. What the Foundation didn't do was publicise those predictions. Given that Marx published Capital and various other predictive works we shouldn't be suprised if people read these books and were forewarned.
Simon
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