The iron fist and the velvet glove : an investigation of the power of the new petit-bourgeoisie in capitalist formations

Abstract

This thesis attempts to make general theoretical statements about the power of classes in advanced capitalist societies. For reasons outlined briefly below the new petit-bourgeoisie are the centre of concern. In order to arrive at a general statement about the new petit-bourgeoisie this thesis takes two routes. The first is a theoretical route through mainstream sociology's discussion of power (Chapter One) and its analysis of the power of occupational and organizational" members (Chapter Three) to a discussion of Marxist conceptions of class power (Chapter Four). The second route is empirical and discusses the power of a particular group (professionals in a state bureaucracy) in relation to the Marxist analysis of class power developed in this thesis. This empirical analysis unveils the specific role that the new petit-bourgeoisie play as a "supporting" class in capitalist societies and shows how the Marxist theory informs analysis of such empirical groupings. After a critique of the basic inadequacies of traditional conceptions of power in Chapter One, Chapter Two introduces the research site. This is a governmental advisory body, the Tariff Board and later renamed the Industries Assistance Commission, responsible for advising the government on the forms and extent of assistance which should apply to industries in Australia. This site was chosen because it 1S marked by a change in the power of a professional group, or a new economists, located within petit-bourgeois group, it over its history. the The economists gained prominence in the sixties at the same time that the institution gained autonomy from the Department of Trade and began to espouse a free trade policy in relation to tariffs. Chapter Three demonstrates that classical organization theory cannot explain this rise to prominence in terms of its theory of organizational power. This inability arises both from its adoption of the badly placed definitions of power critiqued in Chapter One and its assumptions about the correct site of analysis - the organization. Chapter Four introduces the materialist dialectic problematic of power. Poulantzas' work has been drawn on mainly within this problematic. It is suggested that power 1S a phenomenon not of individuals or of organizations but of classes. The determination of classes gives a structural base to the explanation of power which situates and explains the surface phenomena of power acts. In Chapter Five it is suggested that the most problematic class in relation to a definition of relations of power is the new petit-bourgeoisie. This is because the new petit-bourgeoisie can only meet their class interests by forming an alliance with either the working class or the bourgeoisie . This problem is further complicated for those sections of the new petit-bourgeoisie located In the state, due to the specific role of the state In capitalist formations and its so-called "relative autonomy". Chapter Six explores autonomy of the state Poulantzas' notion of relative as it applies to petit-bourgeois groupings located in the state. It IS demonstrated that Poulantzas' theoretical explanation of this notion IS inadequate. For the state to have relative autonomy from the classes outside it, some role (by this time the term power has been replaced with a more precise definition of presence) must be attributed to the new petit-bourgeoisie located in the state. Chapters Seven and Eight explore the relationship between the classes located in the state and the "hegemonic" fraction of the dominant class. The hegemonic fraction IS identified as that fraction of capital which has its economic interests met by state policies. Analysis of data for the Australian formation suggest that the hegemonic fraction of capital history from domestic changes over Australia's monopoly capital to an post-war unstable balance between the comprador bourgeoisie (basically "agents" for foreign capital e.g. importers ) and the internal bourgeoisie (representatives of multinationals located In Australia - e.g. the motor vehicle industry). In Chapter Eight data on Australia's assistance policy over the same period shows a shift in support from domestically located monopoly capital to the two fractions of international capital. This data not only supports Poulantzas' thesis but also explains the increased prominence, or presence, of the economists of the Industries Assistance Commission after the sixties, not in terms of their own power but in terms of the changes in the hegemonic fraction of capital. The structural or underlying variables In the social formation which can only be apprehended by theory explain the visible or empirical changes In the formation. The final chapter addresses some of the theoretical and empirical problems that arise from such an identification of the role of the new petit-bourgeoisie and suggests further avenues for sociological research. Show more