Review of "Missing Class" by Betsy Leondar-Wright

What is it about?

The article is a review of a recent book by Betsy Leondar-Wright, which argues that social movement organizations are undermined by not paying sufficient attention to the different ways in which what she calls "class cultures" shape movement participation. I argue that her conception of class ends up reproducing the divisions she is concerned about, and focuses too much on class as individual attributes as opposed to class as relations of power and domination.

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Why is it important?

Individualist conceptions of class are both analytically misleading and practically disempowering. Developing a conception of class based not in individual attributes but in relations of power can help social movement scholars and activists better understand social movement group dynamics and how they help or hamper organizational functioning.