154:
western universities over the past decade or so. Contemporary western
Marxism, unlike its classical predecessor, is wholly the creation of academic social theorists – more specifically, the creation of the new professoriate that rose up on the wave of university expansion in the 1960s. The natural constituency of this Marxism is not of course the working class, but the massed ranks of undergraduates and postgraduate students in the social sciences; its content and design mark it out exclusively for use in the lecture theatre, the seminar room, and the doctoral dissertation. Hence the strange and fascinating spectacle to be witnessed in social science faculties throughout western Europe and beyond of diligent bands of research students and their mentors busily combing through the pages of Theories of Surplus Value in search of social reality.
172:... one searches these various offerings in vain for any trace of the persistent Weberian concerns with property or state bureaucracy or class antagonisms and structural change; or for any small recognition that for Weber the "dimensions" of stratification were never regarded as aggregates of individual attributes but as "phenomena of the distribution of power." Instead, the American reality portrayed gives every appearance of a society in which property has been liquidated, classes have dissolved, and the state has withered away. It is a sociological portrait of America as drawn by Norman Rockwell for the Saturday Evening Post. One can only surmise whether Weber, if confronted with the knowledge of the things said and written in his name, would take a leaf out of his predecessor's book and declare, "
163:
spreading the kind of ideas likely to cause a stampede to the barricades or the picket lines. Indeed, the uncomplicated theory that has traditionally inspired that sort of extra-mural activity is now rather loftily dismissed as 'vulgar' Marxism – literally, the
Marxism of the 'common people'. This is not necessarily to suggest that the new breed of Marxists are less dedicated than the old to the revolutionary transformation of society; their presence at the gates of the Winter Palace is perfectly conceivable, provided that satisfactory arrangements could be made for sabbatical leave.
93:
group attribute – race, language, social origin, religion- may be seized upon provided it can be used for "the monopolization of specific, usually economic opportunities". This monopolisation is directed against competitors who share some positive or negative characteristic; its purpose is always the closure of social and economic opportunities to
102:
subordination'. He refers to this metaphorically as the use of power downwards. Usurpationary closure, however, is the use of power upwards, by the groups of subordinates created by the exclusionary closure, aimed at winning a greater share of resources, threatening 'to bite into the privileges of legally defined superiors'.
88:. He attacks the Marxists' overemphasis on deep levels of structure, at the expense of social actors, and suggests a radical recasting of the theory of class and stratification. He proposes to do this by centring theory around the concept of social closure. Parkin follows Weber in understanding closure as
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the familiar distinction between bourgeoisie and proletariat, in its classic as well as its modern guise, may be conceived of as an expression of conflict between classes defined not specifically in relation to their place in the productive process but in relation to their prevalent modes of closure,
129:
called it a "bitingly witty and incisive assault on the sociological pretensions of western academic
Marxism". Guenter Roth remarked: "This is an unusually well-written essay. Its wit, sense of irony, and elegance of phrase add stylistic power to a trenchant critique of Marxist class theories and to
153:
Lenin was not too enthusiastic about a species of
Marxism that appeared to be more congenial to the literati than to the class that really mattered. On these grounds alone, it is unlikely that he would have felt very differently about the Marxist products that have been manufactured and marketed in
105:
Arguably, the most novel aspect of Parkin's contribution was that he wanted to define classes in terms of their closure strategies, as opposed to defining class with reference to some structure of positions. The bourgeoisie could be identified, he held, by their reliance on exclusionary closure, as
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the process by which social collectives seek to maximise rewards by restricting access to resources and opportunities to a limited circle of eligibles. This entails the singling out of certain social or physical attributes as the justificatory basis of exclusion. Weber suggests that virtually any
162:
As if to make secure its newly-won respectability, professorial
Marxism has, in the manner of all exclusive bodies, carried out its discourse through the medium of an arcane language not readily accessible to the uninstructed. Certainly no-one could possibly accuse the Marxist professoriate of
101:
Parkin goes on to elaborate this concept, by identifying two main types, exclusionary and usurpationary closure. 'The distinguishing feature of exclusionary closure is the attempt by one group to secure for itself a privileged position at the expense of some other group through processes of
150:'Marxist books were published one after another, Marxist journals and newspapers were founded, nearly everyone became a Marxist, Marxists were flattered, Marxists were courted and the book publishers rejoiced at the extraordinary, ready sale of Marxist literature.'
142:
was marked by a 'deliberatively provocative tone'. 'Parkin's discussion of contemporary marxist accounts of class is heavily ironic and often openly sarcastic.' Giddens drew particular attention to the first page of the
Preface:.
120:
Parkin's works, at least those from the late '70s and onwards, are notable for their lively discursive tone, frequently using sarcasm and irony in driving home their points. This was noted by many reviewers of
167:
Parkin's wit was not exclusively reserved for
Marxist academics. The passage quoted below follows a sharply critical review of American theories of stratification, particularly their interpretation of Weber:
83:
In quite sharp tone, Parkin argues that
Marxist theories of social class were marked by fundamental deficiencies, particularly associated with the ambiguous status of their central explanatory concept,
130:'re- thinking class analysis'...". Gavin Mackenzie called it "a beautifully written, savage and supremely witty attack" on Marxism: "I haven't laughed so much since ethnomethodology".
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63:. At some point he left this position. From the early 1980s and onwards, Parkin wrote little sociology, focusing instead on fiction. Exceptions to this are his book on
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opposed to, say, their ownership of the means of production. Similarly, a subordinate class would be identified by their reliance on usurpationary closure:
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97:. The nature of these exclusionary practices, and the completeness of social closure, determine the general character of the distributive system.
59:. in its opening year, 1965 as one if its first lecturers, progressing to Reader by 1974. He later became lecturer in politics and a fellow of
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Lenin's wry comments on the efflorescence of
Marxism in Russia at the turn of the century seem quite pertinent to our own time and place:
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In sociology, Frank Parkin is best known for his contribution to the theory of social closure, most fully laid out in his
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23:(26 May 1931 – 14 September 2011) was a British sociologist and novelist. He was a professor emeritus at the
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and was awarded a PhD in 1966. He worked briefly as an assistant lecturer at the
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544:(1980). "Classes, Capitalism, and the State. A discussion of Frank Parkin,
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and editor of the
Concepts in the Social Sciences series published by
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commented on the "vivid change in writing style": while
700:(1981). "Marxism: The Disunity of Theory and Practice".
138:(1971) was 'written neutrally and dispassionately',
639:. In T. B. Bottomore & Robert A. Nisbet (ed.).
634:
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67:from 1992, and the second edition of his book on
223:Class and Stratification in Socialist Societies
81:Marxism and class theory: A bourgeois critique.
664:Marxism and Class Theory: A Bourgeois Critique
610:Marxism and Class Theory: A Bourgeois Critique
573:Marxism and Class Theory: A Bourgeois Critique
546:Marxism and Class Theory: A Bourgeois Critique
8:
16:British sociologist and writer (1931–2011)
548:(London: Tavistock Publications, 1979)".
752:Alumni of the London School of Economics
302:"Frank Parkin obituary | Education"
266:
111:exclusion and usurpation, respectively.
772:20th-century British social scientists
328:The Social Analysis of Class Structure
207:The Social Analysis of Class Structure
7:
197:Class Inequality and Political Order
136:Class inequality and political order
762:Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford
747:Academics of the University of Kent
277:. Mcgraw-hill.co.uk. Archived from
641:A History of Sociological Analysis
340:Kumar, Krishan (9 November 2011).
14:
782:20th-century British male writers
300:Krishan Kumar (9 November 2011).
39:Frank Parkin was born in 1931 in
578:The British Journal of Sociology
55:in 1964 and 1965. He joined the
777:20th-century British novelists
643:. London: Heinemann. pp.
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275:"McGraw-Hill Education Europe"
231:(Tavistock Publications, 1982)
209:(Tavistock Publications, 1974)
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225:(Open University Press, 1981)
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191:Manchester University Press
47:, Wales. He studied at the
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571:Mackenzie, Gavin (1980). "
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49:London School of Economics
616:Columbia University Press
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385:About the author, in his
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217:Columbia University Press
662:Roth, Guenther (1980). "
213:Marxism and Class Theory
174:Je ne suis pas Weberien"
140:Marxism and class theory
123:Marxism and class theory
61:Magdalen College, Oxford
636:"Social Stratification"
633:Parkin, Frank (1979b).
606:Parkin, Frank (1979a).
342:"Frank Parkin obituary"
255:Oxford University Press
187:Middle Class Radicalism
787:British male novelists
703:Contemporary Sociology
669:Contemporary Sociology
245:The Mind and Body Shop
29:Open University Press
757:British sociologists
235:Krippendorf's Tribe
666:by Frank Parkin".
575:by Frank Parkin".
551:Theory and Society
158:Parkin continues:
86:mode of production
57:University of Kent
53:University of Hull
25:University of Kent
654:978-0-435-82080-0
625:978-0-422-76790-3
281:on 7 October 2011
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767:2011 deaths
742:1931 births
468:Roth (1980)
359:10 November
736:Categories
534:References
400:, pp. 5–9.
312:9 November
285:9 November
387:Max Weber
354:0261-3077
229:Max Weber
95:outsiders
71:in 2002.
35:Biography
503:, p. ix.
447:, p. 46.
424:, p. 45.
412:, p. 44.
308:. London
251:Durkheim
239:Atheneum
65:Durkheim
41:Aberdare
724:2067798
690:2066091
645:599–632
515:, p. x.
257:, 1992)
241:, 1985)
219:, 1979)
203:, 1971)
201:Granada
193:, 1968)
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686:JSTOR
595:JSTOR
560:JSTOR
262:Notes
69:Weber
649:ISBN
620:ISBN
361:2023
350:ISSN
314:2011
287:2011
19:Dr.
712:doi
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