Ruling class

Pyramid of the Capitalist System.

In sociology, the ruling class (also known as the oppressive class) is the social class which holds state power and consequently sets the political agenda of a given society.

Under capitalism, the ruling class consists of capitalists, the private owners of industry. They are sometimes referred to as the oligarchy in public discourse. Dialectically, the existence of a ruling class presupposes the existence of other classes in a social formation, which are called the oppressed classes. Under capitalism, this consists of the proletariat, the peasantry, and (at its most advanced stage) the national and petite bourgeoisie.

History

Historically, the ruling class has transitioned according to changes in the mode of production. Under feudalism, the ruling class was comprised of feudal lords, under slavery, the ruling class was the slave-owners, and so on.

In the modern era of imperialism and capitalist globalization the ruling class is a network of transnational capitalists which do not have allegiance to any nation; their only allegiance is to their personal accumulation of wealth (and the facilitating of that accumulation).

Assessments

Both Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin have pointed out that Western parliamentarism only serves to provide political legitimacy to the ruling classes of those countries, while the masses they supposedly "represent" remain repressed in reality.

Mao Zedong highlighted the importance of enforcing class rule of the people over the reactionaries, in order to prevent counterrevolution by foreign imperialists and domestic compradors.

See Also

• Class struggle
• Dictatorship of the proletariat
• Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie