ABSTRACT
The arguments developed so far have been concerned with a set of broad structural changes within contemporary economies. These final two chapters consider the impact of such large-scale processes at the level of social agents. How have recent shifts in economic organisation and systems of production remade economic divisions and social identities? The starting point for this discussion is the concept of class. While class has been a primary category of social analysis, sociologists have become sceptical about its salience as both an objective economic location and a subjective social marker. This chapter therefore examines attempts to rethink class analysis in light of the major socioeconomic changes described in the previous sections.
