Erik Olin Wright
Encyclopedia
Erik Olin Wright is an American
analytical Marxist
sociologist
, specializing in social stratification
, and in egalitarian alternative futures to capitalism
.
, California
, received two BAs (from Harvard College
in 1968, and from Balliol College in 1970), and the PhD from University of California, Berkeley
, in 1976. Since that time, he has been a professor of sociology at University of Wisconsin - Maidson.
theorist". His work is concerned mainly with the study of social class
es, and in particular with the task of providing an update to and elaboration of the Marxist concept of class, in order to enable Marxist and non-Marxist researchers alike to use 'class' to explain and predict people's material interests, lived experiences, living conditions, incomes, organizational capacities and willingness to engage in collective action
, political leanings, etc. In addition, he has attempted to develop class categories that would allow researchers to compare and contrast the class structures and dynamics of different advanced capitalist and 'post-capitalist' societies.
Wright has stressed the importance of
According to Wright, employees with sought-after and reward-inelastically supplied skills (due to natural scarcities or socially constructed and imposed restrictions on supply, such as licensing, barriers to entry into training programs, etc.) are in a 'privileged [surplus] appropriation location within exploitation relations' because, while they are not capitalists, they are more precious to the owner of the means of production than less skilled workers and harder to monitor and evaluate in terms of labor effort. The owner(s) of the means of production or their employer in general therefore has to pay them a 'scarcity' or 'skill/credential' rent (thus raising their compensation above the actual cost of producing and reproducing their labor-power) and tries to 'buy' their loyalty by giving them ownership stakes, endowing them with delegated authority over their fellow workers and/or allowing them to more or less be autonomous in determining the pace and direction of their work. Thus, expert, executive manager, and expert manager employees tend to be closer to the interests of the 'bosses' than other workers.
Erik Olin Wright's work includes Class Counts: Comparative Studies in Class Analysis (Cambridge, 1997), which uses data collected in various industrialized countries, including the United States, Canada, Norway and Sweden. He is a professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
analytical Marxist
Analytical Marxism
Analytical Marxism refers to a particular Marxist approach that was prominent amongst English-speaking philosophers and social scientists during the 1980s. It was mainly associated with the September Group of academics, so called because of their biennial September meetings to discuss common...
sociologist
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, specializing in social stratification
Social stratification
In sociology the social stratification is a concept of class, involving the "classification of persons into groups based on shared socio-economic conditions ... a relational set of inequalities with economic, social, political and ideological dimensions."...
, and in egalitarian alternative futures to capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
.
Biography
Erik Olin Wright, born on 9 February 1947 in BerkeleyBerkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, received two BAs (from Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
in 1968, and from Balliol College in 1970), and the PhD from University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, in 1976. Since that time, he has been a professor of sociology at University of Wisconsin - Maidson.
Thought
Wright has been described as an "influential new leftNew Left
The New Left was a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and United States in reference to activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist...
theorist". His work is concerned mainly with the study of social class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
es, and in particular with the task of providing an update to and elaboration of the Marxist concept of class, in order to enable Marxist and non-Marxist researchers alike to use 'class' to explain and predict people's material interests, lived experiences, living conditions, incomes, organizational capacities and willingness to engage in collective action
Collective action
Collective action is the pursuit of a goal or set of goals by more than one person. It is a term which has formulations and theories in many areas of the social sciences.-In sociology:...
, political leanings, etc. In addition, he has attempted to develop class categories that would allow researchers to compare and contrast the class structures and dynamics of different advanced capitalist and 'post-capitalist' societies.
Wright has stressed the importance of
- Control over and exclusion from access to economic/productive resources,
- Location within production relations,
- Market capacity in exchange relations,
- Differential control over income derived from the use of productive resources and
- Differential control over labor effort in defining 'class', while at the same trying to account for the situation of expert, skilled, manager and supervisory employees, taking inspiration from WeberianMax WeberKarl Emil Maximilian "Max" Weber was a German sociologist and political economist who profoundly influenced social theory, social research, and the discipline of sociology itself...
accounts of class and class analysis.
According to Wright, employees with sought-after and reward-inelastically supplied skills (due to natural scarcities or socially constructed and imposed restrictions on supply, such as licensing, barriers to entry into training programs, etc.) are in a 'privileged [surplus] appropriation location within exploitation relations' because, while they are not capitalists, they are more precious to the owner of the means of production than less skilled workers and harder to monitor and evaluate in terms of labor effort. The owner(s) of the means of production or their employer in general therefore has to pay them a 'scarcity' or 'skill/credential' rent (thus raising their compensation above the actual cost of producing and reproducing their labor-power) and tries to 'buy' their loyalty by giving them ownership stakes, endowing them with delegated authority over their fellow workers and/or allowing them to more or less be autonomous in determining the pace and direction of their work. Thus, expert, executive manager, and expert manager employees tend to be closer to the interests of the 'bosses' than other workers.
Erik Olin Wright's work includes Class Counts: Comparative Studies in Class Analysis (Cambridge, 1997), which uses data collected in various industrialized countries, including the United States, Canada, Norway and Sweden. He is a professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
.
Monographs
- Wright, Erik Olin. (1973).The Politics of Punishment: A Critical Analysis of Prisons in America. New York: Harper & Row.
- Wright, E.O. (1978). Class, Crisis, and the State. London: New Left Books.
- Wright, E.O. (1979). Class Structure and Income Determination. New York: Academic Press.
- Wright, E.O. (1985). Classes. London: Verso Books.
- Wright, E.O. (1997). Class Counts: Comparative Studies in Class Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Wright, E. O. (2010) Envisioning Real Utopias, London: Verso, 2010.
Collected Works
- Wright, Erik Olin, Janet C. Gornick, and Marcia Meyers. Gender Equality: Transforming Family Divisions of Labor. London: Verso, 2009. ISSN 9781844673261
- Fung, Archon, Erik Olin Wright, and Rebecca Abers, et al. . Deepening Democracy: Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance. The real utopias project, 4. London: Verso, 2003. ISBN 9781859844663 This is part of the Real Utopias Project
- Wright, Erik Olin. Approaches to Class Analysis. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 9780521603812
External links
- Erik Olin Wright's website
- 'A Rough Guide to Utopia', review of Envisioning Real Utopias in the Oxonian Review, November 2010
- 'Real Men Find Real Utopias', review of Envisioning Real Utopias in Dissent (magazine)Dissent (magazine)Dissent is a quarterly magazine focusing on politics and culture edited by Michael Walzer and Michael Kazin. The magazine is published for the Foundation for the Study of Independent Social Ideas, Inc by the University of Pennsylvania Press....
, Winter 2011 - 'Conversation with Peter Shea at University of Minnesota, 2007'