Proletariat
Industrial wage earners
The proletariat is the working class, especially industrial wage laborers who own no means of production and must sell their labor to survive.
The term is central to Marxist theory, where the proletariat stands in opposition to the bourgeoisie—the property-owning class.
The proletariat has nothing to lose but its chains.
Outside political theory, proletariat sometimes refers loosely to ordinary working people or the masses.
Capitalist ownership class
- class struggleConflict between economic groups
- capitalismPrivate profit-based economy
- means of productionTools and facilities for manufacturing
- exploitationSelfish use of others
revolution · alienation · surplus value · class consciousness · communism · socialism · Das Kapital · working class
Bulk or populace
- uprisingOrganized resistance to power
- solidarityUnity among allies
- mobilizationOrganizing for action
- grassrootsCommon people as political base
populism · agitation · dissent · collectivism · movement · organize · propaganda · rally
Rural working class
- serfdomFeudal bound labor
- industrializationTransition to factory-based economy
- urbanizationPopulation shift toward cities
- lumpenproletariatDegraded non-working poor
nineteenth century · Engels · factory system · child labor · tenements · workhouse · trade guilds · apprentices
People doing jobs
- factoriesIndustrial production facilities
- wagesPayment for work
- industrialOf factories and production
- unionsCombinations or confederations
strikes · blue-collar · toil · labor force · assembly line · manufacturing · hourly · manual labor
bourgeoisie
Capitalist ownership class
- class struggleConflict between economic groups
- capitalismPrivate profit-based economy
- means of productionTools and facilities for manufacturing
exploitation · revolution · alienation · surplus value · class consciousness · communism · socialism · Das Kapital · working class · oppression
masses
Bulk or populace
- uprisingOrganized resistance to power
- solidarityUnity among allies
- mobilizationOrganizing for action
grassroots · populism · agitation · dissent · collectivism · movement · organize · propaganda · rally · class warfare
peasantry
Rural working class
- serfdomFeudal bound labor
- industrializationTransition to factory-based economy
- urbanizationPopulation shift toward cities
lumpenproletariat · nineteenth century · Engels · factory system · child labor · tenements · workhouse · trade guilds · apprentices · working conditions
workers
People doing jobs
- factoriesIndustrial production facilities
- wagesPayment for work
- industrialOf factories and production
unions · strikes · blue-collar · toil · labor force · assembly line · manufacturing · hourly · manual labor · sweatshop
Proletariatbourgeoisie
Capitalist ownership class
capital · capitalists · industrialists · shareholders · employers
Proletariataristocracy
Rule by hereditary elite
nobility · elite · upper class · ruling elite · ruling class
Proletariatslave owners
People who legally owned humans
feudal lords · lords · masters · emperors · monarchs
- the proletariatWage-earning labor class
- proletarian revolutionWorkers overthrowing the ruling class
- dictatorship of the proletariatLaboring class governing authority