Class And Politics In Contemporary Social Science: ''marxism Lite'' And Its Blind Spot For Culture (sociological Imagination And Structural Change)

Class and Politics in Contemporary Social Science “Marxism Lite” and Its Blind Spot for Culture SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION AND STRUCTURAL CHANGE An Aldine de Gruyter Series of Texts and Monographs SERIES EDITORS Bernard Philips, Boston University Harold Kincaid, University of Alabama, Birmingham James Aho The Orifice as Sacrificial Site Culture, Organization, and the Body Lawrence Busch The Eclipse of Morality Science, State, and Market Leo d’Anjou Social Movements and Cultural Change The First Abolition Campaign Revisited Frank Hearn Moral Order and Social Disorder The American Search for Civil Society Dick Houtman Class and Politics in Contemporary Social Science “Marxism Lite” and Its Blind Spot for Culture David R. Maines The Faultline of Consciousness A View of Interactionism in Sociology Pierre Moessinger The Paradox of Social Order Linking Psychology and Sociology Bernard Phillips Beyond Sociology’s Tower of Babel Reconstructing the Scientific Method Class and Politics in Contemporary Social Science “Marxism Lite” and Its Blind Spot for Culture DICK HOUTMAN Translated by Sheila Gogol ALDINE DE GRUYTER New York About the Author Dick Houtman is a Professor in the Department of Sociology, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Originally published as Een blinde vlek voor cultuur: Sociologen over cultureel conservatisme, klassen en moderniteit, copyright © 2000 Van Gorcum & Comp. B.V., Assen, the Netherlands. Copyright © 2003 Walter de Gruyter, Inc., New York All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. ALDINE DE GRUYTER A division of Walter de Gruyter, Inc. 200 Saw Mill River Road Hawthorne, New York 10532 This publication is printed on acid free paper I The author and publisher wish to acknowledge the support of The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), which provided a grant enabling the translation from Dutch of the major portion of the present edition. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Houtman, Dick. [Blinde vlek voor cultuur. English] Class and politics in contemporary social science : “Marxism lite” and its blind spot for culture / Dick Houtman. p. cm. — (Sociological imagination and structural change) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-202-30688-7 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-202-30689-5 (Pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Social classes—Netherlands. 2. Class consciousness—Netherlands. 3. Netherlands—Economic conditions. 4. Conservatism—Netherlands. 5. Liberalism—Netherlands. I. Title. II. Series. HN520.Z9S623513 2003 305.5’09492—dc21 2003002640 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Veerle, with love This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface xi 1. “Marxism Lite”: Modernity, Industrialism, and Culture 1 Introduction 1 Modernity as Industrialism 2 Research Problem 11 Approach 16 Data 19 Design of the Book 21 Notes 21 2. What Is Actually a “Class”? Martin Lipset and “Working-Class” Authoritarianism 24 Introduction 24 What Is Actually a “Class”? 25 Hypotheses 28 Operationalization 30 Results 35 Conclusion 42 Notes 43 3. What About Occupational Self-Direction? Melvin Kohn and “Working-Class” Authoritarianism 47 Introduction 47 Melvin Kohn: Theory and Research Findings 48 vii viii Contents H