“The Future of History” and the Middle Class: A Discussion with Francis Fukuyama

Abstract

This paper seeks to rebut Francis Fukuyama's criticism of Marx from three aspects. First, Fukuyama's contention that in modern times the vast majority of developed countries' population consists of the middle class is based on a misunderstanding of Marx's conception of the middle class. Second, Fukuyama's view that the majority of the working class has attained a prosperous life of the middle class in the developed countries is also based on his failure to understand the basis of the modern development of the capitalist class society. Third, Fukuyama's belief that the rise of an authoritarian yet partially marketized China would pose a serious threat to the liberal democratic order is also based on a lack of understanding of uneven development in capitalism.

Keywords:

• Francis Fukuyama
• the middle class
• well-off workers
• China
• uneven development

Notes on Contributor

Masao Watanabe is Professor of sociology at Hitotsubashi University in Japan. His books include: Class! The Conceptual Framework of Social Analysis (in Japanese; Sairyusha, 2004), Civil Society and Welfare State: The Social Scientific Approach for the Modern Age (in Japanese; Showado, 2007), and Class Politics! How the Emerging Political Crisis Has Developed (in Japanese; Showado, 2009).

Notes

¹The upper of the wage earners is looking forward to moving upwards into the capitalist class, and the lower is the poor classes pushed out from the labor market or with unstable employment, so it is clear that there is by no means only one and the same class among the wage earners.