'By reinstating the importance of Marxist analysis for understanding the relationship between class and social inequality in 21st century Britain, Charles Umney has written a highly cogent and perspicacious account of the formation of contemporary inequality and exploitation. It should be a vital source for students of contemporary capitalism, including those training to be its managers in Business Schools.'
— Professor Paul Stewart, former editor of Work, Employment and Society
'Margaret Thatcher declared class a ‘communist concept’. One of her main ideological victories was to drive it out of official language. Now that the nationalist right offers its own, mutilated class language, it is clear that this subject won’t go away. The Left urgently needs to reclaim this territory. At last, Charles Umney has written a long overdue corrective, a sophisticated answer to impoverished sociologies and cheap media cliches. In smart prose, he shows that class is not what we have been told it is, and that the right-wing dichotomy between class and identity doesn't hold in the real world. A sharp and deeply necessary book.'
— Richard Seymour, Salvage
“Charles Umney’s Class Matters is a highly accessible presentation of the transformation of the British economy over the last four decades and the problems facing the British political economy today. He deftly mixes analysis of history, current events and political discourse with the latest research findings from the academic literature. Umney’s book vividly demonstrates the acute relevance of Marxist class analysis for understanding work, government, economics and politics in 21st century capitalism”
— Matt Vidal, Loughborough University London
“Why is there such extreme inequality in the world today? Is it human nature? Predatory bosses and financiers? A corrupt political class? In this book Charles Umney presents a powerful and nuanced alternative narrative driven by Marxist political economy. With a keen eye for irony, paradox, and the absurd, he analyzes work, politics, and technology in capitalist societies. Class Matters is a witty and wise antidote to the mainstream diagnoses of our times.”
— Ian Greer, Cornell University
“By reinstating the importance of Marxist analysis for understanding the relationship between class and social inequality in twenty-first-century Britain, Charles Umney has written a highly cogent and perspicacious account of the formation of contemporary inequality and exploitation. It should be a vital source for students of contemporary capitalism, including those training to be its managers in business schools”
— Paul Stewart, former editor of Work, Employment and Society
“Margaret Thatcher declared class a ‘communist concept.’ One of her main ideological victories was to drive it out of official language. Now that the nationalist right offers its own, mutilated class language, it is clear that this subject won’t go away. The Left urgently needs to reclaim this territory. At last, Charles Umney has written a long overdue corrective, a sophisticated answer to impoverished sociologies and cheap media cliches. In smart prose, he shows that class is not what we have been told it is, and that the right-wing dichotomy between class and identity doesn't hold in the real world. A sharp and deeply necessary book.”
— Richard Seymour, author of Against Austerity
