proletariat

Overview

Meaning Now

• The class of wage-earners in a capitalist society whose only possession of significant material value is their labor power.
• The lowest or poorest class of people in ancient Rome, whose contribution to the state was primarily their offspring.

Journey

The term is famously repurposed in Marxist theory. In Rome, the 'proletarii' were considered the sixth and lowest class of citizens; because they had no land to tax, they served the state by providing children (offspring) to increase the population. Nineteenth-century social theorists applied this term to the industrial working class who lacked ownership of the means of production.

Evolution

1. Classical Latin

   proles

   “offspring, progeny”

   The basis for the word denoting those whose only wealth was their children.

2. Late Latin

   proletarius

   “citizen of the lowest class”

   Referring to those exempt from military taxes because they lacked property.

3. 19th century French

   prolétariat

   “the working class”

   Coined/popularized in social theory contexts during the Industrial Revolution.

Connections

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Related to proletariat

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