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<title>Professional–managerial class</title>

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Professional–managerial class

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The term professional-managerial class (PMC) refers to a <a href="Social_class" title="Social class">social class</a> within <a href="Capitalism" title="Capitalism">capitalism</a> that, by controlling production processes through occupying a superior <a href="Management" title="Management">management</a> position, is neither <a href="Proletarian" class="mw-redirect" title="Proletarian">proletarian</a> nor <a href="Bourgeoisie" title="Bourgeoisie">bourgeoisie</a>. Conceived as "The New Class" by social scientists and critics such as <a href="Daniel_Patrick_Moynihan" title="Daniel Patrick Moynihan">Daniel Patrick Moynihan</a> in the 1970s, this group of <a href="Middle_class" title="Middle class">middle class</a> professionals is distinguished from other social classes by their training and education, typically business qualifications and university degrees,<a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a> with occupations thought to offer influence on society that would otherwise be available only to capital owners.<a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a> The professional-managerial class tend to have incomes above the average for their country, with major exceptions being academia and print journalism.<a href="#cite_note-3">[3]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History">History</h2></div>

<a href="James_Burnham" title="James Burnham">James Burnham</a> had proposed the idea of a leading managerial class in his 1941 book <a href="The_Managerial_Revolution" title="The Managerial Revolution">The Managerial Revolution</a>, but the term "professional-managerial class" was coined in 1977 by <a href="John_Ehrenreich" title="John Ehrenreich">John</a> and <a href="Barbara_Ehrenreich" title="Barbara Ehrenreich">Barbara Ehrenreich</a>.<a href="#cite_note-:0-4">[4]</a> The PMC hypothesis contributed to the <a href="Marxist" class="mw-redirect" title="Marxist">Marxist</a> debates on class in <a href="Fordism" title="Fordism">Fordism</a> and was used as an analytical category in the examination of non-proletarian employees. However, <a href="Orthodox_Marxism" title="Orthodox Marxism">orthodox Marxists</a> consider the PMC hypothesis to be <a href="Marxist_revisionism" class="mw-redirect" title="Marxist revisionism">revisionism</a> of the <a href="Marxian_class_theory" title="Marxian class theory">Marxist understanding of class</a>.<a href="#cite_note-5">[5]</a>

The Ehrenreichs defined the PMC as educated professionals who historically did not work in corporate environments, such as scientists, lawyers, academics, artists, and journalists.<a href="#cite_note-6">[6]</a> In a 2013 follow-up, they estimated that in the 1930s, PMC occupations made up less than 1% of total U.S. employment, but the share had risen to 24% by 1972, and 35% by 2006.<a href="#cite_note-Crash-7">[7]</a> In that same essay, they argued that the notion of the PMC as a collective grouping was "in ruins" due to economic shifts in the 1990s and 2000s which changed their professional prospects. Some members (such as highly qualified scientists) "jump[ed] ship for more lucrative posts in direct services to capital"; others (such as lawyers, tenured professors, and doctors) found themselves in increasingly "corporation-like" workplaces; while others still (like those with backgrounds in media or the <a href="Humanities" title="Humanities">humanities</a>) "spiral[ed] down to the retail workforce", unable to parlay their skills into higher-income jobs.<a href="#cite_note-Crash-7">[7]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Later_use">Later use</h3></div>

By the late 2010s, the term was more broadly used in American political discourse as a shorthand reference to <a href="Technocratic" class="mw-redirect" title="Technocratic">technocratic</a> liberals or wealthy <a href="Democratic_Party_(United_States)" title="Democratic Party (United States)">Democratic</a> voters.<a href="#cite_note-8">[8]</a><a href="#cite_note-:0-4">[4]</a> Among left-wing commentators, it is typically used as a pejorative description; in 2019, Barbara Ehrenreich expressed disapproval over using the term as an "<a href="Ultra-leftism" title="Ultra-leftism">ultraleft</a> slur".<a href="#cite_note-:0-4">[4]</a> <a href="Catherine_Liu" title="Catherine Liu">Catherine Liu</a>, in Virtue Hoarders (2021), characterized the PMC as <a href="White-collar_worker" title="White-collar worker">white-collar</a> <a href="Left_liberalism" class="mw-redirect" title="Left liberalism">left liberals</a> afflicted with a <a href="Liberal_elite" title="Liberal elite">superiority complex</a> in relation to <a href="Blue-collar_workers" class="mw-redirect" title="Blue-collar workers">ordinary members</a> of the working class.<a href="#cite_note-spiked2021-9">[9]</a><a href="#cite_note-jacobin2021-10">[10]</a><a href="#cite_note-ab2021-11">[11]</a> <a href="Hans_Magnus_Enzensberger" title="Hans Magnus Enzensberger">Hans Magnus Enzensberger</a> had previously written of the "characterless <a href="Political_opportunism" title="Political opportunism">opportunism</a>" of its members, in reference to its constant <a href="Flip-flop_(politics)" title="Flip-flop (politics)">shifting</a> of allegiances, not only between the leisured and working <a href="Marxian_class_theory" title="Marxian class theory">classes</a> but also <a href="Cancel_culture" title="Cancel culture">among themselves</a>.<a href="#cite_note-frost2019-12">[12]</a>

<ul><li><a href="Bildungsb%C3%BCrgertum" title="Bildungsbürgertum">Bildungsbürgertum</a></li>

<li><a href="Creative_class" title="Creative class">Creative class</a></li>

<li><a href="Labor_aristocracy" title="Labor aristocracy">Labor aristocracy</a></li>

<li><a href="Lumpenbourgeoisie" title="Lumpenbourgeoisie">Lumpenbourgeoisie</a></li>

<li><a href="Managerial_state" title="Managerial state">Managerial state</a></li>

<li><a href="New_class" title="New class">New class</a></li>

<li><a href="Petite_bourgeoisie" title="Petite bourgeoisie">Petite bourgeoisie</a></li>

<li><a href="Thought_leader" title="Thought leader">Thought leader</a></li>

<li><a href="Upper_middle_class" title="Upper middle class">Upper middle class</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite id="CITEREFGreen1985" class="citation book cs1">Green, Philip (1985). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=DZJI9IXbLZwC">Retrieving Democracy: In Search of Civic Equality</a>. <a href="Rowman_%26_Littlefield" class="mw-redirect" title="Rowman & Littlefield">Rowman & Littlefield</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9780847674053</bdi> – via <a href="Google_Books" title="Google Books">Google Books</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-2"><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFKellnerHeuberger1994" class="citation web cs1">Kellner, Hansfried; Heuberger, Frank W. (1994). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.routledge.com/Hidden-Technocrats-The-New-Class-and-New-Capitalism/Kellner/p/book/9781560007876">"Hidden Technocrats: The New Class and New Capitalism"</a>. <a href="Transaction_Publishers" title="Transaction Publishers">Transaction Publishers</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-3"><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFGailSlaughter1990" class="citation book cs1">Gail, Kelly; Slaughter, Sheila (1990). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=V-CKcuRAu8EC&q=Professional+Managerial+Class+salary&pg=PA254">Women's higher education in comparative perspective</a>. Springer. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9780792308003</bdi> – via <a href="Google_Books" title="Google Books">Google Books</a>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-:0-4">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:0_4-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_4-1">b</a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_4-2">c</a> <cite id="CITEREFPress2019" class="citation magazine cs1">Press, Alex (October 22, 2019). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/on-the-origins-of-the-professional-managerial-class-an-interview-with-barbara-ehrenreich">"On the Origins of the Professional-Managerial Class: An Interview with Barbara Ehrenreich"</a>. <a href="Dissent_(American_magazine)" title="Dissent (American magazine)">Dissent Magazine</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-5"><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFHorton1979" class="citation journal cs1">Horton, John (1979). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43783375">"Marxist versus Revisionist Concepts of Socialism"</a>. Synthesis. 3 (1): 34–38. <a href="ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0193-869X">0193-869X</a>. <a href="JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43783375">43783375</a>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-6"><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFEhrenreichEhrenreich1979" class="citation book cs1">Ehrenreich, John; Ehrenreich, Barbara (1979). Walker, Pat (ed.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/betweenlaborcapi00walkrich">Between Labor and Capital</a> (1st ed.). Boston: South End Press. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-89608-037-4</bdi>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-Crash-7">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Crash_7-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Crash_7-1">b</a> <cite id="CITEREFEhrenreichEhrenreich2013" class="citation web cs1">Ehrenreich, Barbara; Ehrenreich, John (February 2013). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.alternet.org/2013/02/barbara-and-john-ehrenreich-real-story-behind-crash-and-burn-americas-managerial-class/">"Barbara and John Ehrenreich: The Real Story Behind the Crash and Burn of America's Managerial Class"</a>. <a href="AlterNet" title="AlterNet">AlterNet</a>. Retrieved October 31, 2020.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-8"><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFWinant2019" class="citation magazine cs1">Winant, Gabriel (October 10, 2019). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/professional-managerial-chasm/">"Professional-Managerial Chasm"</a>. <a href="N%2B1" title="N+1">n+1 magazine</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-spiked2021-9"><a href="#cite_ref-spiked2021_9-0">^</a> <cite class="citation magazine cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/01/21/virtue-hoarders-our-scolding-elites/">"Virtue Hoarders: our scolding elites"</a>. <a href="Spiked_(magazine)" title="Spiked (magazine)">Spiked</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-jacobin2021-10"><a href="#cite_ref-jacobin2021_10-0">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/press/press-clips/the-jacobin-show-the-professional-managerial-class-w-catherine-liu">"The Jacobin Show: The Professional-Managerial Class w/ Catherine Liu"</a>. <a href="University_of_Minnesota_Press" title="University of Minnesota Press">University of Minnesota Press</a>. January 27, 2021.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-ab2021-11"><a href="#cite_ref-ab2021_11-0">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/press/press-clips/aufhebunga-bunga-podcast-the-worst-class-ft-catherine-liu">"Aufhebunga Bunga podcast: The Worst Class ft. Catherine Liu"</a>. <a href="University_of_Minnesota_Press" title="University of Minnesota Press">University of Minnesota Press</a>.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-frost2019-12"><a href="#cite_ref-frost2019_12-0">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFFrost2019" class="citation news cs1">Frost, Amber A'Lee (November 2019). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2019/11/the-characterless-opportunism-of-the-managerial-class/">"The Characterless Opportunism of the Managerial Class"</a>. <a href="American_Affairs" title="American Affairs">American Affairs</a>. Vol. 3, no. 4.</cite>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>

<ul><li><cite id="CITEREFWinant2019" class="citation magazine cs1">Winant, Gabriel (October 10, 2019). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/professional-managerial-chasm/">"Professional-Managerial Chasm"</a>. <a href="N%2B1" title="N+1">n+1 magazine</a>.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFPress2019" class="citation magazine cs1">Press, Alex (October 22, 2019). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/on-the-origins-of-the-professional-managerial-class-an-interview-with-barbara-ehrenreich">"On the Origins of the Professional-Managerial Class: An Interview with Barbara Ehrenreich"</a>. <a href="Dissent_(American_magazine)" title="Dissent (American magazine)">Dissent Magazine</a>.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFEhrenreichEhrenreich1977" class="citation magazine cs1">Ehrenreich, Barbara; Ehrenreich, John (March–April 1977). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://files.libcom.org/files/Rad%20America%20V11%20I2.pdf">"The Professional-Managerial Class"</a> (PDF). Radical America. Vol. 11, no. 2. pp. 7–31.</cite></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://jacobin.com/2024/04/professional-managerial-class-capital-labor">The PMC Is Not a New Class</a>. <a href="Jacobin_(magazine)" title="Jacobin (magazine)">Jacobin</a>. (27 April 2024)</li></ul></div><div><div class="zim-footer">

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