Description: In recent years, the concept of class has come under increasing scrutiny, as a means of explaining both the present and the past. Economic and social change, together with profound changes in intellectual outlook have called into question the utility of the class concept. Furthermore, feminism has led us to reconsider the whole notion of class identity. Can class viably explain the present? Did it ever provide an adequate explanation of the past? How did concepts of class develop? What is the language of class? A variety of writings are drawn upon here to suggest answers to these questions, to provide a balanced survey of thought on class, from Marx and Weber to the postmodern thought of the present day, and to look beyond this towards the very future of the idea of class.

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