ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates the following two claims made either by theorists of postmodernity or by those who have contributed in some way to the discussion about postmodernity. First, that people are at or near "the end of production," a historical condition usually associated with the disappearance of the proletariat. Second, that class systems in the West either have disappeared or have changed so dramatically since the end of the Fordist period that Marxist theories of stratification have little or no relevance. Marx claimed that the legal universalism of the state was a fiction that concealed the material interests of the bourgeoisie. In Karl Renner's original formulation, the service class included Burnham's managers of industry, social service workers, and state bureaucrats. The technological aristocracy applies "reengineering" techniques to create a more flexible workforce that can work with Just in Time inventory control components that are easy to assemble.
