ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. One of the criticisms of structuralist attempts to delineate a new middle class by its functions in the production process is that such a methodology is unable to say anything about the relationship between class so defined and the forms of collective action in which it might typically engage. The book argues that what determines the political orientation of the new middle class is the interaction between the structural position its members occupy between labour and capital and the balance of class forces both at the local and societal levels. It illustrates the relationship being one typical form of collective action by the new middle class with features distinguishing it from working-class unionism. Poulantzas is one of the few theorists to attempt to generalise the specific interests of the new middle class into a coherent ideology.
