Who Rules Britain?

List of illustrations VII

Acknowledgements IX

Introduction 1

1 What is a Capitalist Class? 7

The Orthodox Marxist View 8

The Fabian View 16

Burnham and the Managerial Revolution 19

Post-war Revisionism 20

The Capitalist Class Reconsidered 23

2 What is a Ruling Class? 25

Marx on the British Ruling Class 26

The Orthodox Marxist View 27

An Unorthodox Marxist View 29

The Power Bloc and the State 31

3 The Making of the Ruling Class 40

The Ancien Regime in Europe 41

The Old Society in England 44

The Transition to Modernity 57

4 Is there still a Capitalist Class? 63

Who are the Capitalists? 64

The Development of the Business Class 72

Contours of the Capitalist Class 80

Class Reproduction and Capital Reproduction 90

5 Is there still an Upper Circle? 93

The 'Traditional' Status System 93

'Tradition', Social Networks and Class Reproduction 106

6 Is there still a Ruling Class? 118

Power Elites and the Ruling Class 118

The Changing Anatomy of Political Rule 124

The Structure of Political Domination 139

Notes 153

Index 165