Class and Politics

Abstract

The article by Henryk Domanski raises the issue of the political relevance of class in postcommunist Poland, and in advanced societies in general. This is a particularly important contribution to the debate on the political impact of class because postcommunist societies seldom feature in class debates, and because the author addresses the issue in an empirically informed and theoretically sophisticated manner which is a trademark of all his publications. I only partly disagree with Domanski. While I see a convincing evidence of class-party dealignment in advanced West, I acknowledge a possiblity of class politics (re)appearing in postcommunist Poland. However, I also qualify this view, and point to the need for a more concerted research effort to resolve the "death of class" debate. I would like to start by looking at the evidence of the declining political relevance of class in advanced societies, and then focus on the Polish case.