Middle-Class Territory? Some Remarks on the Use of Class Analysis in Rural Studies

Abstract

Class analysis per se seems to have fallen out of favour in rural studies. In this paper the way in which it might usefully be reinstated as a unitary perspective on rural change is examined. The middle class is used as a focal point for the analysis. First, a short review of recent developments in class analysis within sociology is presented, and it is argued that class should be considered as an outcome of the various processes of collective action contributing to class formation. Second, some recent examples of class analysis in rural studies in the United Kingdom are considered. It is argued that these have been insufficiently attentive to the ways in which the processes of class formation unfold in the rural arena and the constitutive role of rural space. Yet rural England provides a particularly fruitful context in which to study middle-class collective action, for collective action is increasingly dominated by this class. Other forms of action associated with other attributes, such as race, ethnicity, and gender, are only likely to be successfully asserted if they reinforce the general character of this class context. In conclusion, the argument is made for a symmetrical use of class analysis, one which is in a subtle and complex relationship both with empirical work and with other forms of interpretation and analysis. It is proposed that the performative definition which underlies this paper provides such a symmetry.