# Proletariat > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Proletariat > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Proletariat.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proletariat > Source revision: 1352654991 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Class of wage-earners}} {{Other uses}} {{Redirect|Proletarian|the British communist magazine| Proletarian (magazine)}} [[File:Quarto Stato (crop).jpg|thumb|''[The Fourth Estate](/source/The_Fourth_Estate_(painting))'' (1901) by [Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo](/source/Giuseppe_Pellizza_da_Volpedo)]] {{Labor|sp=us}} The '''proletariat''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|p|r|oʊ|l|ɪ|ˈ|t|ɛər|i|ə|t}}; {{etymology|la|proletarius|producing offspring}}) is the [social class](/source/social_class) of [wage-earners](/source/wage_labor), those members of a society whose possession of significant [economic value](/source/Value_(economics)) is their [labour power](/source/labour_power) (their capacity to work).{{cite web |url= http://www.thefreedictionary.com/proletariat |title= proletariat |via= [The Free Dictionary](/source/The_Free_Dictionary) |access-date= 2013-06-06}} A member of such a class is a '''proletarian''' or a '''{{linktext|proletaire}}'''. [Marxist philosophy](/source/Marxist_philosophy) regards the proletariat under conditions of [capitalism](/source/capitalism) as an [exploited](/source/Exploitation_of_labour) class,{{cite book|last=Screpanti|first=Ernesto|author-link=Ernesto Screpanti|date=2019|chapter=Measures of Exploitation|title=Labour and Value: Rethinking Marx's Theory of Exploitation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dDa1DwAAQBAJ|publication-place=Cambridge|publisher=Open Book Publishers|page=75|doi=10.11647/OBP.0182|isbn=9781783747825|access-date=24 July 2023|quote=Marx's value theory is a complex doctrine in which three different kinds of speculation coalesce: a philosophy aimed at proving that value is created by a labour substance; an explanation of the social relations of production in capitalism; and a method for measuring exploitation.|doi-access=free}}⁠ [deprived of their own means of production](/source/Primitive_accumulation_of_capital) and thereby forced to operate industrial [means of production](/source/means_of_production) held as [private property](/source/private_property) by the [bourgeoisie](/source/bourgeoisie), receiving wages which represent less than the value their labour produced, the remainder appropriated by the bourgeoisie as profits. [Karl Marx](/source/Karl_Marx) argued that the conflicting inherent interests between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie gives the proletariat [common economic and political interests](/source/Proletarian_internationalism) that transcend national boundaries,{{cite book|last1=Marx|first1=Karl|author-link1=Karl Marx|last2=Engels|first2=Friedrich|author-link2=Friedrich Engels|date=2009|orig-date=1848|chapter=Proletarians and Communists|title=The Communist Manifesto|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lsm4g0a9hVQC|publisher=The Floating Press|pages=28–29|isbn=9781775412434|access-date=24 July 2023|quote=The Communists are distinguished from the other working-class parties [...]: [...] In the national struggles of the proletarians of the different countries, they point out and bring to the front the common interests of the entire proletariat, independently of all nationality.}} impelling them to unite and [assert their sovereignty](/source/Dictatorship_of_the_proletariat) over the [capitalist class](/source/capitalist_class), and eventually to create a [socialist](/source/Socialism) society free from class distinctions.{{cite book|last=Aron|first=Raymond|author-link=Raymond Aron|date=2017|orig-date=1955|chapter=The Myth of the Revolution|title=The Opium of the Intellectuals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bTYrDwAAQBAJ|edition=reprint|publication-place=London|publisher=Routledge|page=56|isbn=9781351478120|access-date=24 July 2023|quote=[...] Marx offered the classless society as the solution to the enigma of history.}} The philosopher [Bernard Stiegler](/source/Bernard_Stiegler) extended the marxist concept to what he defines as the "deprivation of [knowledges](/source/Knowledge)". ==Roman Republic and Empire== {{Further|Constitution of the Roman Republic}} [[File:Secessio plebis.JPG|left|thumb|[Secessio plebis](/source/Secessio_plebis), a form of protest in ancient Rome where the plebeians would leave the city, causing the economy to collapse]] The {{lang|la|proletarii}} constituted a [social class of Roman citizens](/source/social_class_in_ancient_Rome) who owned little or no property. The name presumably originated with the [census](/source/census), which Roman authorities conducted every five years to produce a register of citizens and their property, which determined their military duties and voting privileges. Those who owned 11,000 {{lang|la|[assēs](/source/as_(Roman_coin))}} (coins) or fewer fell below the lowest category for military service, and their children—{{lang|la|prōlēs}} (offspring){{Em dash}}were listed instead of property; hence the name {{lang|la|proletarius}} (producer of offspring). Roman [citizen-soldiers](/source/political_history_of_the_Roman_military) paid for their own horses and arms, and fought without payment for the [commonwealth](/source/Common_good), but the only military contribution of a {{lang|la|proletarius}} was his children, the future Roman citizens who could colonize conquered territories. Officially, propertyless citizens were called {{lang|la|[capite censi](/source/capite_censi)}} because they were "persons registered not as to their property...but simply as to their existence as living individuals, primarily as heads ({{lang|la|caput}}) of a family."Adolf Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law'' (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society 1953) at 380; 657.{{NoteTag|[Arnold J. Toynbee](/source/Arnold_J._Toynbee), especially in his ''[A Study of History](/source/A_Study_of_History)'', uses the word "proletariat" in this general sense of people without property or a stake in society. Toynbee focuses particularly on the generative spiritual life of the "internal proletariat" (those living within a given civil society). He also describes the "heroic" folk legends of the "external proletariat" (poorer groups living outside the borders of a civilization). Compare Toynbee, ''A Study of History'' (Oxford University 1934–1961), 12 volumes, in Volume V ''Disintegration of Civilizations, part one'' (1939) at 58–194 (internal proletariat), and at 194–337 (external proletariat).}} Although explicitly included by name in the {{lang|la|Comitia Centuriata}} ([Centuriate Assembly](/source/Centuriate_Assembly)), {{lang|la|proletarii}} were the lowest class, largely deprived of voting rights.Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law'' (1953) at 351; 657 (quote). Not only did {{lang|la|proletarii}} have less voting "weight" in the various elections, but since voting ran hierarchically starting with the highest social ranks, a majority could be reached early and their votes never even taken. Late Roman historians such as [Livy](/source/Livy) vaguely described the {{lang|la|Comitia Centuriata}} as a popular assembly of early Rome composed of {{lang|la|centuriae}}, voting units representing classes of citizens according to wealth. This assembly, which usually met on the {{lang|la|[Campus Martius](/source/Campus_Martius)|italic=no}} to discuss public policy, designated the military duties of Roman citizens.Titus Livius ({{circa|59 BC}} – AD 17), ''[Ab urbe condita](/source/Ab_Urbe_Condita_(book))'', 1, 43; the first five books translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt as Livy, ''The Early History of Rome'' (Penguin 1960, 1971) at 81–82. One of the reconstructions of the {{lang|la|Comitia Centuriata}} features 18 {{lang|la|centuriae}} of cavalry, and 170 {{lang|la|centuriae}} of infantry divided into five classes by wealth, plus 5 {{lang|la|centuriae}} of support personnel called {{lang|la|[adsidui](/source/adsidui)}}, one of which represented the {{lang|la|proletarii}}. In battle, the cavalry brought their horses and arms, the top infantry class full arms and armour, the next two classes less, the fourth class only spears, the fifth slings, while the assisting ''adsidui'' held no weapons. If unanimous, the cavalry and top infantry class were enough to decide an issue.[Andrew Lintott](/source/Andrew_Lintott), ''The Constitution of the Roman Republic'' (Oxford University 1999) at 55–61, re the {{lang|la|Comitia Centuriata}}. A deeper reconstruction incorporating social backgrounds found that the senators, the knights, and the first class held 88 out of 193 {{lang|la|centuriae}}, the two lowest propertied classes held only 30 {{lang|la|centuriae}}, but the {{lang|la|proletarii}} held only 1. Musicians, by way of comparison, had more voting power despite far fewer citizens, with 2 {{lang|la|centuriae}}. "[F]or the voting to reach the {{lang|la|proletarii}} a very profound split in the elite and the higher classes was required."Henrik Mouritsen, ''Plebs and Politics in the Late Roman Republic'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 94–95. {{ISBN?}} ==Modern use== ===Classic liberal view=== left|thumb|Jean-François Millet – The man with the hoe In the early 19th century, many Western European liberal scholars{{Em dash}}who dealt with social sciences and economics{{Em dash}}pointed out the socio-economic similarities of the modern rapidly growing industrial worker class and the classic proletarians. One of the earliest analogies can be found in the 1807 paper of French philosopher and political scientist [Hugues Felicité Robert de Lamennais](/source/Hugues_Felicit%C3%A9_Robert_de_Lamennais). Later it was translated to English with the title "Modern Slavery".{{cite book|first1=Félicité Robert|last1=de Lamennais|title=Modern Slavery|year=1840|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-1MXAAAAYAAJ&q=proletarian&pg=PA9|page=9|publisher=J. Watson}} Swiss liberal economist and historian {{lang|fr|[Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi](/source/Jean_Charles_L%C3%A9onard_de_Sismondi)|italic=no}} was the first to apply the proletariat term to the working class created under capitalism, and whose writings were frequently cited by [Karl Marx](/source/Karl_Marx). Marx most likely encountered the term while studying the works of Sismondi.{{cite book |last1=Ekins |first1=Paul |last2=Max-Neef |first2=Manfred |title=Real Life Economics |year = 2006 |publisher=Routledge |pages=91–93 }}{{cite book |last1=Ekelund |first1=Robert B. Jr. |last2=Hébert |first2=Robert F. |title = A History of Economic Theory and Method|edition=5th |year = 2006 |publisher=Waveland Press |page=226 }}{{cite book |last = Lutz |first = Mark A. |title=Economics for the Common Good: Two Centuries of Economic Thought in the Humanist Tradition |year = 2002 |publisher=Routledge |pages=55–57 }}{{cite book |last1=Stedman Jones |first1=Gareth |editor1-last=Aprile |editor1-first=Sylvie |editor2-last=Bensimon |editor2-first=Fabrice |title = La France et l'Angleterre au XIXe siècle. Échanges, représentations, comparisons |chapter=Saint-Simon and the Liberal origins of the Socialist critique of Political Economy |year = 2006 |publisher=Créaphis |pages=21–47 }} ===Marxist theory=== {{Marxism|Concepts}} left|thumb|Adolph Menzel – Iron rolling mill (1872–1875) Marx, who studied [Roman law](/source/Roman_law) at the [Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin](/source/Humboldt_University_of_Berlin),Cf., [Sidney Hook](/source/Sidney_Hook), ''Marx and the Marxists'' (Princeton: Van Nostrand 1955) at 13. used the term ''proletariat'' in his socio-political theory ([Marxism](/source/Marxism)) to describe a progressive working class untainted by [private property](/source/private_property) and capable of [revolutionary action](/source/Revolution) to topple capitalism and [abolish social classes](/source/classless_society), leading society to ever higher levels of prosperity and justice. With reference to such expectations, [Andreas Dorschel](/source/Andreas_Dorschel), alluding to [Sigmund Freud](/source/Sigmund_Freud)'s notion of "super-ego" ("Über-Ich"), calls Marx's proletariat a "super-we" ("Über-Wir") installed above any actual workers' movement.Andreas Dorschel, ''Die Welt verändern. Zur Poetik des Manifests.'' Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 2026 (Politische Philosophie 2), p. 84. Marx himself defined the proletariat as the social class having no significant ownership of the [means of production](/source/means_of_production) (factories, machines, land, mines, buildings, vehicles) and whose only means of subsistence is to sell their labour power for a [wage](/source/wage) or [salary](/source/salary).{{cite book|last=Marx|first=Karl|title=Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie|publisher=Progress Publishers|year=1887|editor=Frederick Engels|location=Moscow|trans-title=Capital: Critique of Political Economy|chapter=Chapter Six: The Buying and Selling of Labour-Power|author-link=Karl Marx|access-date=10 February 2013|chapter-url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch06.htm}} Borders between the proletariat and adjacent social classes have been defined only vaguely in Marxist theory. In the socially superior, less progressive direction are the lower [petty bourgeoisie](/source/petite_bourgeoisie), such as small shopkeepers, who rely primarily on self-employment at an income comparable to an ordinary wage. Intermediate positions are possible, where wage-labor for an employer combines with self-employment. In another direction, the [lumpenproletariat](/source/lumpenproletariat) or "rag-proletariat", which Marx considers a retrograde class, live in the [informal economy](/source/informal_economy) outside of legal employment: the poorest outcasts of society such as beggars, tricksters, entertainers, buskers, criminals and prostitutes.{{Cite web|title=Lumpenproletariat | Marxism|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lumpenproletariat|website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}{{cite book|last=Marx|first=Karl|title=Manifesto of the Communist Party|date= 1848|publisher=Progress Publishers|chapter=Bourgeois and Proletarians|access-date=10 February 2013|chapter-url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm}} [Socialist](/source/Socialism) parties have often argued over whether they should organize and represent all the lower classes, or only the wage-earning proletariat. [[File:Pyramid of Capitalist System.jpg|thumb|left|200px|A 1911 ''[Industrial Worker](/source/Industrial_Worker)'' publication advocating industrial unionism based on a critique of capitalism. The proletariat "work for all" and "feed all".]] According to Marxism, capitalism is based on the [exploitation of the proletariat](/source/Exploitation_of_labour) by the bourgeoisie: the workers, who own no means of production, must use the property of others to produce goods and services and to earn their living. Workers cannot rent the means of production (e.g. a factory or department store) to produce on their own account; rather, capitalists hire workers, and the goods or services produced become the property of the capitalist, who sells them at the market. Part of the net selling price pays the workers' wages (variable costs); a second part renews the means of production (constant costs, capital investment); while the third part is consumed by the capitalist class, split between the capitalist's personal profit and fees to other owners (rents, taxes, interest on loans, etc.). The struggle over the first part (wage rates) puts the proletariat and [bourgeoisie](/source/bourgeoisie) into irreconcilable conflict, as market competition pushes wages inexorably to the [minimum necessary](/source/Iron_law_of_wages) for the workers to survive and continue working. The second part, called capitalized surplus value, is used to renew or increase the means of production ([capital](/source/Capital_(economics))), either in quantity or quality.Luxemburg, Rosa. [The Accumulation of Capital](/source/The_Accumulation_of_Capital). Chapter 6, Enlarged Reproduction, http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1913/accumulation-capital/ch06.htm The second and third parts are known as [surplus value](/source/surplus_value), the difference between the wealth the proletariat produce and the wealth they consume.Marx, Karl. The Capital, volume 1, chapter 6. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch06.htm Marxists argue that new wealth is created through labor applied to [natural resource](/source/natural_resource)s.Marx, Karl. [Critique of the Gotha Programme](/source/Critique_of_the_Gotha_Programme), I. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/ch01.htm The commodities that proletarians produce and capitalists sell are valued not for their usefulness, but for the amount of [labour](/source/Labour_economics) embodied in them: for example, air is essential but requires no labor to produce, and is therefore free; while a diamond is much less useful, but requires hundreds of hours of mining and cutting, and is therefore expensive. The same goes for the workers' labor power: it is valued not for the amount of wealth it produces, but for the amount of labor necessary to keep the workers fed, housed, sufficiently trained, and able to raise children as new workers. On the other hand, capitalists earn their wealth not as a function of their personal labor, which may even be null, but by the juridical relation of their property to the means of production (e.g. owning a factory or farmland). Marx argues that history is made by man and not destiny. The instruments of production and the working class that use the tools in order to produce are referred to as the moving forces of society. Over time, this developed into the levels of social class where the owners of resources joined to squeeze productivity out of the individuals who depended on their labor power. Marx argues that these relations between the exploiters and exploited results in different modes of production and the successive stages in history. These modes of production in which mankind gains power over nature is distinguished into five different systems: the Primitive Community, Slave State, Feudal State, Capitalist System, and finally the Socialist Society. The transition between these systems were all due to an increase in civil unrest among those who felt oppressed by a higher social class.{{Cite book|last=M.|first=Rius|title=Marx for beginners|date=1994|publisher=Icon Books|isbn=1-874166-14-5|oclc=442879412}} The contention with feudalism began once the merchants and guild artisans grew in numbers and power. Once they organized themselves, they began opposing the fees imposed on them by the nobles and clergy. This development led to new ideas and eventually established the Bourgeoisie class which Marx opposes. Commerce began to change the form of production and markets began to shift in order to support larger production and profits. This change led to a series of revolutions by the bourgeois which resulted in capitalism. Marx argues that this same model can and should be applied to the fight for the proletariat. Forming unions similar to how the merchants and artisans did will establish enough power to enact change. Ultimately, Marx's theory of the proletarian's struggle would eventually lead to the fall of capitalism and the emergence of a new mode of production, socialism. Marx argued that the proletariat would inevitably displace the capitalist system with the [dictatorship of the proletariat](/source/dictatorship_of_the_proletariat), abolishing the social relationships underpinning the class system and then developing into a communist society in which "the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all".Marx, Karl. [The Communist Manifesto](/source/The_Communist_Manifesto), part II, Proletarians and Communists http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htm During the [Chinese Communist Revolution](/source/Chinese_Communist_Revolution), the concept of the proletariat emphasized having a proletarian [class consciousness](/source/class_consciousness), rather than having proletarian social attributes (such as being an industrial worker).{{Cite book |last1=Cai |first1=Xiang |url= |title=Revolution and its narratives: China's socialist literary and cultural imaginaries (1949–1966) |last2=蔡翔 |date=2016 |publisher=[Duke University Press](/source/Duke_University_Press) |others=Rebecca E. Karl, Xueping Zhong, 钟雪萍 |isbn=978-0-8223-7461-9 |location=Durham |oclc=932368688}}{{Rp|page=363}} In this way of defining the proletariat, a proletarian class consciousness could be developed through a subjective standpoint with political education supplied by the [Chinese Communist Party](/source/Chinese_Communist_Party).{{Rp|page=363}} This conception of the proletariat allowed for a Marxist theoretical framing under which the revolution could address the relative weakness of industrial working classes in China.{{Rp|page=363}} Exactly what constituted a proper proletarian class consciousness was subject to intellectual and political debate.{{Rp|page=97}} ==== Proletarian culture ==== Marx argued that each social class had its characteristic culture and politics. The [socialist states](/source/List_of_non-communist_socialist_states) stemming from the [Russian Revolution](/source/Russian_Revolution) championed and created the official version of [proletarian culture](/source/Socialist_realism). Some{{Who|date=June 2023}} have argued that this assessment has become outdated with the advent of mass education, mass communication and globalization. According to this argument, the [working-class culture](/source/working-class_culture) of capitalist countries tend to experience "prole drift" (proletarian drift), in which everything inexorably becomes commonplace and commodified. Examples include best-seller lists, films, music made to appeal to the masses, and shopping malls.{{cite book|last=Fussell|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Fussell|title=Class, A Guide Through the American Status System|publisher=Ballantine|date=1992|location=New York|isbn=978-0-345-31816-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aPbF1kuayJYC}} === Stieglerian approach === ==== Extension of the Marxist concept ==== [[File:2016 HTNM Bernard Stiegler (30301265471) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Bernard Stiegler, [philosopher of technology](/source/Philosophy_of_technology).]] Through a rereading of the [Grundrisse](/source/Grundrisse)'',{{cite web|access-date=2025-08-01|date=2019-01-03|language=fr-FR|last=Ballast|title=BALLAST • Bernard Stiegler : « Le capitalisme conduit à une automatisation généralisée »|url=https://www.revue-ballast.fr/bernard-stiegler-le-capitalisme-conduit-a-une-automatisation-generalisee|website=BALLAST}}'' the philosopher [Bernard Stiegler](/source/Bernard_Stiegler) expands the concept of proletariat.{{Cite thesis |last=Levin|first=François|title=L'intelligence artificielle au défi de ses critiques philosophiques|date=2024-12-17|degree=PhD|publisher=Institut Polytechnique de Paris|url=https://theses.hal.science/tel-04974628|language=fr}} According to him,
The proletariat is defined by [Engels](/source/Friedrich_Engels) and [Marx](/source/Karl_Marx) in [The Communist Manifesto](/source/The_Communist_Manifesto) not by impoverishment, but by the loss of knowledge (of which impoverishment is a consequence), and which, they write, will ultimately affect "all strata of the population".{{Cite web |date=2015-10-15|title=Le poids des mots, le choc des idées|url=https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/le-journal-des-idees/le-poids-des-mots-le-choc-des-idees-2597196|access-date=2026-04-11|website=France Culture|language=fr}}
He links this phenomenon to a loss of [individuation](/source/individuation), a concept developed by [Gilbert Simondon](/source/Gilbert_Simondon):
Simondon offers a new perspective on the question of proletarianization: he frames it as a process of de-individuation that results in a loss of knowledge through its externalization into machines and devices."{{Cite book |last=Alombert|first=Anne|title=Penser avec Bernard Stiegler|date=|publisher=Presses universitaires de France|year=2015|isbn=2130882641|location=Paris|pages=236-237|language=French}}
According to Stiegler, [proletarianization](/source/proletarianization) is a process. It identifies three phases of [automation](/source/automation) throughout the history of capitalism: the [Industrial Revolution](/source/Industrial_Revolution), the advent of the [consumer society](/source/Consumerism), and [surveillance capitalism](/source/surveillance_capitalism). These phases are accompanied, respectively, by three stages of proletarianization: the [proletarianization of skills](/source/Deskilling), of [social skills](/source/social_skills), and of [critical thinking](/source/critical_thinking). The current stage of capitalism is that of "widespread proletarianization", which
affects all tasks: domestic, educational, recreational [...], as well as those carried out by research, design, production, and logistics units, etc.{{Cite journal |last=Stiegler|first=Bernard|date=2019|title=L'''ergon'' dans l'ère de l'Antropocène et la nouvelle question de la richesse|journal=Collège de France|series=Le travail su XXe siècle|pages=79}}
More broadly, these skills might include [cooking](/source/cooking), [educating](/source/Education), residing in a place, living together, counting or measuring, etc.{{Cite journal |last=Alombert |first=Anne |last2=Krzykawski |first2=Michał |date=3 February 2021 |title=Vocabulaire de l'Internation |url=https://journals.openedition.org/appareil/3752 |journal=Appareil |doi=10.4000/appareil.3752 |issn=2101-0714}} ==== Examples ==== Stiegler considers the renowned economist [Alan Greenspan](/source/Alan_Greenspan), who served as chairman of the [U.S. Federal Reserve](/source/Federal_Reserve) during the [subprime crisis](/source/Subprime_mortgage_crisis), to be a proletarian. Indeed, Greenspan admitted during the congressional hearing that he did not understand the complex financial products he had popularized and, furthermore, that no one understood them.{{Cite journal |last=Watt|first=Calum|date=1 August 2020|title=The legend of Saint Alan: Larnaudie and Stiegler in the Oversight Committee Room|journal=French Cultural Studies|volume=31|issue=3|pages=173-184|doi=10.1177/0957155819874750|issn=0957-1558}} [Chatbots](/source/Chatbot), such as [ChatGPT](/source/ChatGPT), are a proletarianizing technology because users delegate their ability to think.{{Cite web |last=Manzini|first=Frédéric|date=|title=Anne Alombert: "Nous déléguons déjà à l'IA nos capacités expressives, linguistiques et symboliques"|url=https://www.philomag.com/articles/anne-alombert-nous-deleguons-deja-lia-nos-capacites-expressives-linguistiques-et|archive-url=|website=Philosophie Magazine}} ==== Deproletarianization ==== The process of proletarianization can be reversed through what Stiegler calls "deproletarianization", that is, the reappropriation of knowledge.{{Cite journal |last=Deslandes|first=Ghislain|last2=Paltrinieri|first2=Luca|date=30 July 2017|title=Entretien avec BERNARD STIEGLER|url=https://shs.cairn.info/revue-rue-descartes-2017-1-page-119|journal=Rue Descartes|volume=91|issue=1|pages=119-140|doi=10.3917/rdes.091.0119|issn=1144-0821}} He cites the example of [collaborative practices](/source/Peer_production), such as those found in the [open-source software](/source/open-source_software) community, [fab labs](/source/Fab_lab), and [Wikipedia](/source/Wikipedia), which he places at the center of his theory of the contributory economy.{{Cite book |last=Alombert|first=Anne|title=Penser avec Bernard Stiegler|date=16 April 2025|publisher=Presses universitaires de France|isbn=2130882641|location=Paris|pages=265|language=French}} All of these practices contribute to the recreation of the [commons](/source/commons) (including [digital commons](/source/digital_commons)).{{Cite journal |last=Landau|first=Olivier|date=2022|title=La relation humain-machine au temps du numérique|url=https://doi.org/10.4000/activites.7848|journal=Activities|volume=19|issue=2|doi=10.4000/activites.7848|issn=1765-2723}} For Stiegler, contributors invest themselves
because they want to expand their knowledge and skills. Such a thirst for knowledge is a desire to become deproletarianized.{{Cite journal |last=Stiegler|first=Bernard|date=2015|title=Demain, le temps des automates et le temps de la désautomatisation|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/intel_0769-4113_2015_num_63_1_1028|journal=Intellectica|volume=63|issue=1|pages=151-160|doi=10.3406/intel.2015.1028}}
Deproletarianization goes through a "de-automation".{{Cite book |last=Deslandes|first=Ghislain|title=Le managérialisme n'est pas un humanisme|date=21 October 2020|publisher=Presses Universitaires de France|isbn=978-2-13-082526-5|pages=23-74}} However, Stiegler emphasizes that this does not have to be done in opposition to machines. He cites the example of [Wikipedia contributors](/source/Wikipedia_contributor) - of whom he is one{{Cite news |last=Rédaction|date=20 March 2012|title=Bernard Stiegler: "Le marketing détruit tous les outils du savoir"|url=https://basta.media/bernard-stiegler-le-marketing-detruit-tous-les-outils-du-savoir|work=Basta!|quote=Just like Wikipedia. It's unbelievable. Seven people keep Wikipedia running—ninety-three employees. Employees serving hundreds of thousands of contributors, including myself, and millions of internet users around the world. They contribute out of a passion to do something good.}} - who are assisted by [bots](/source/Wikipedia_bots) for tedious and repetitive tasks.{{Cite book |last=Stiegler|first=Bernard|title=L'emploi est mort, vive le travail !|last2=Kyrou|first2=Ariel|date=2015|publisher=Mille et une nuits|isbn=978-2-7555-0746-1|pages=63}} ==See also== {{div col}} * {{Annotated link|Working class}} * {{Annotated link|Blue-collar worker}} * [Consumtariat](/source/Consumtariat) – global lower class in the framework of [netocracy](/source/netocracy) * {{Annotated link|Deskilling}} * {{Annotated link|Laborer}} * {{anl|Median income}} * {{Annotated link|Peasant}} * {{Annotated link|Precariat}} * [Proles (Nineteen Eighty-Four)](/source/Nineteen_Eighty-Four) – analogue to the proletariat in George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" * {{Annotated link|Prolefeed}} * {{Annotated link|Proletarianization}} * {{Annotated link|Proletarian internationalism}} * {{Annotated link|Proletarian literature}} * {{Annotated link|Wage slavery}} {{div col end}} ==Notes== {{NoteFoot}} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Further reading== * {{cite news|title=Why workers can change the world|url=http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=11839|url-status=dead|last=Blackledge|first=Paul|year=2011|journal=Socialist Review|location=London|quote=364|access-date=2011-12-03|archive-date=2011-12-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111210115927/http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=11839}} * [Hal Draper](/source/Hal_Draper), ''Karl Marx's Theory of Revolution, Vol. 2; The Politics of Social Classes''. (New York: Monthly Review Press 1978). ==External links== {{Wikiquote}} {{Wiktionary|proletariat}} {{Marxist & Communist phraseology}} {{Social class}} {{Authority control}} Category:Proletariat Category:Working class Category:Communism Category:Socialism Category:Marxism Category:Marxist theory Category:Measurements and definitions of poverty --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Proletariat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proletariat) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proletariat?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.