ABSTRACT
Does the working class differ from the middle class? The Embourgeoisement Hypothesis suggests that it does not. Although the word “embourgeoisement” is unwieldy, it stems from Karl Marx's work and attempts to account for the lack of working-class radicalism in the United States. To use his terminology for a moment, it asserts that the bourgeoisie have allowed proletarians to become sufficiendy affluent that they are not very interested in political activity aiming at income redistribution, greater economic equality, or other forms of radical change. In plainer language, the hypothesis proposes that there has been long-term improvement in the occupational characteristics, income, and lifestyle of working-class people such that they now resemble middle-class persons, with the result that the members of the working class do not display distinctive political attributes.
