Social class books
Social class books to start from. Open one to see books like it, or tell BookSense what you loved for four picks made for you.
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New to the genre? These 5 are the books to read first.
The Communist Manifesto
Marx-EngelsFrames history as conflict between owners and workers and sets out the core Marxist vocabulary of class.
The Condition of the Working Class in England.
Friedrich EngelsA first-hand account of factory towns, housing and labour that anchors early class analysis in evidence.
Economy and Society
Max WeberPosthumous work that separates class, status and party as distinct dimensions of social power.
The People of the Abyss
Jack LondonReportage from London's East End, in which the author lives among the poor to show their conditions.
The Road to Wigan Pier
George OrwellHalf reportage on northern English mining towns and half reflection on the author's own middle-class position.
Chosen and described with AI from our notes on the genre.
More social class books
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- The Uses of Literacy
The Uses of LiteracyRichard Hoggart - The Power Elite
The Power EliteC. Wright Mills - Learning to Labour
Learning to LabourPaul E. Willis - Distinction
DistinctionPierre Bourdieu - Worlds of Pain
Worlds of PainLillian B. Rubin - Classes
ClassesErik Olin Wright - Unequal Childhoods
Unequal ChildhoodsAnnette Lareau - Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Capital in the Twenty-First CenturyThomas Piketty - $2.00 a Day
$2.00 a DayH. Luke Shaefer - The Kite Runner
The Kite RunnerKhaled Hosseini2011 - Pygmalion
PygmalionGeorge Bernard Shaw1912 - Caste
CasteIsabel Wilkerson2020