the proletariat
Laborers without capital
The proletariat is the working class, especially industrial wage earners who lack ownership of the means of production.
The term comes from Marxist theory, where the proletariat stands opposite the bourgeoisie—those who own capital.
The revolution would be led by the proletariat.
Outside strict Marxist contexts, it often carries an ironic or rhetorical tone: joining the proletariat after graduation.
- working classManual laborers collectively
- wage laborWork exchanged for payment
- living wageIncome covering necessities
- MarxismClass-based revolutionary philosophy
- class consciousnessAwareness of economic group identity
capitalism · surplus value · Industrial Revolution · factory · factory floor · sweatshop labor · commodification · laborers · class struggle · alienation · socialism · exploitation · blue-collar workers · trade union · labor movement · bread and roses · Russian Revolution · feudalism
the proletariatthe elite
Most powerful group
the upper class · high society · the one percent · old money