Ambivalenze di classe nella teoria sociologica

This essay highlights the ambivalence of social class and considers it as an exemplification of modernity. The presentation of the class analysis carried out by classical sociology, with particular references to Karl Marx and Max Weber, introduces the discussion of contemporary theories that have valued the ambivalence of the class to observe the socioeconomic changes in the transition from Fordism to post-Fordism. Stuhart Hall and Zygmunt Bauman are discussed as authors who emphasize the importance of cultural processes and actualize the heuristic potential of classical sociology and its categories. This essay ends by underlining how the ambivalence of the social class offers interesting insights into social criticism.