working class

See also: working-class

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Noun

working class (plural working classes)

1. The social class of those who perform physical work for a living, as opposed to the professional or middle class, the upper class, or others.

   Synonym: proletariat

   Coordinate terms: lower class, middle class, professional class, upper class, upper middle class

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them.

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 47:

     It may seem that the Met was a snobbish outfit, a betrayer of the egalitarian dreams of Charles Pearson, but in being one of the pioneers of working men's fares the company had helped to bring about a revolution that would allow the working classes to live in London. Cheap trains would supersede Gladstone's well-meant Parliamentary Trains.

Translations

social class doing physical work

• Afrikaans: werkersklas
• Albanian: klasë punëtore f
• Arabic: اَلطَّبَقَة الْعَامِلَة f (aṭ-ṭabaqa l-ʕāmila) (definite)
• Armenian: բանվոր դասակարգ (banvor dasakarg)
• Azerbaijani: işçi sinfi, işçi təbəqə
• Belarusian: рабо́чы клас m (rabóčy klas), рабо́чая кля́са f (rabóčaja kljása)
• Bengali: শ্রমিক শ্রেণি (sromik sreni)
• Bulgarian: рабо́тническа кла́са f (rabótničeska klása)
• Burmese: အလုပ်သမားလူတန်းစား (a.lupsa.ma:lutan:ca:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 工人階級 / 工人阶级 (zh) (gōngrén jiējí), 勞動階級 / 劳动阶级 (láodòng jiēji)

• Czech: dělnická třída (cs) f
• Danish: arbejderklasse c
• Dutch: arbeidersklasse (nl) f
• Esperanto: laboristaro
• Estonian: töölisklass (et)
• Finnish: työväenluokka (fi)
• French: classe ouvrière (fr) f
• Galician: clase traballadora f
• Georgian: მუშათა კლასი (mušata ḳlasi)
• German: Arbeiterklasse (de) f
• Greek: εργατική τάξη (el) f (ergatikí táxi)
• Hebrew: מַעֲמָד הַפּוֹעֲלִים m (ma'amád ha-po'alím) (definite)
• Hindi: कामगार वर्ग m (kāmgār varg)
• Hungarian: munkásosztály (hu)
• Icelandic: verkalýður (is) m, verkalýðsstétt (is) f, verkamannastétt (is) f
• Ido: laboristaro (io)
• Indonesian: kelas buruh
• Irish: lucht oibre m
• Italian: classe lavoratrice f
• Japanese: 労働者階級 (ろうどうしゃかいきゅう, rōdōsha kaikyū)
• Kazakh: жұмысшы табы (jumısšı tabı)
• Khmer: វណ្ណៈពលករ (vannaʼ pŭəlkɑɑ), វណ្ណៈកម្មករ (vannaʼ kamkɑɑ)
• Korean: 노동자 계급(勞動者階級) (nodongja gyegeup), 로동자 계급(勞動者階級) (rodongja gyegeup) (North Korea), 노동계급(勞動階級) (nodonggyegeup), 로동계급(勞動階級) (rodonggyegeup) (North Korea)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: çîna karker f

• Kyrgyz: жумушчу табы (jumuşcu tabı)
• Lao: ຊົນຊັ້ນແຮງງານ (son san hǣng ngān), ຊົນຊັ້ນກຳມະກອນ (son san kam ma kǭn)
• Latvian: strādnieku šķira f
• Lithuanian: darbininkų klasė f
• Macedonian: рабо́тничка кла́са f (rabótnička klása)
• Malay: kelas pekerja
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: ажилчин анги (ažilčin angi)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: arbeiderklasse m or f

  Nynorsk: arbeidarklasse m or f

• Occitan: classa obrièra f
• Pashto: کارګره طبقه f (kārgara tabaqá)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: طَبَقِهٔ کارْگَر (fa) (tabaġe-ye kârgar)

• Polish: klasa robotnicza (pl) f, klasa pracująca f
• Portuguese: classe trabalhadora f, classe operária f, proletariado (pt) m
• Romanian: clasa muncitoare (ro) f
• Russian: рабо́чий класс (ru) m (rabóčij klass)
• Scottish Gaelic: clas-obrach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: радничка класа f, ра̑днӣштво n

  Latin: radnička klasa f, rȃdnīštvo (sh) n

• Slovak: robotnícka trieda f
• Slovene: delavski razred m
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: dźěłaćerska klasa f

• Spanish: clase obrera f, clase trabajadora f
• Swedish: arbetarklass (sv) c
• Tagalog: uring manggagawa
• Tajik: синфи коргар (sinf-i korgar), табақаи коргар (tabaqa-yi korgar)
• Tatar: эшче сыйныф (eşçe sıynıf)
• Thai: ชนชั้นแรงงาน (chon-chán-rɛɛng-ngaan)
• Turkish: işçi sınıfı
• Turkmen: işçi synpy
• Ukrainian: робітни́чий клас m (robitnýčyj klas)
• Urdu: مَزْدُور طَبَقَہ m (mazdūr tabaqa)
• Uyghur: ئىشچىلار سىنىپى (ishchilar sinipi)
• Uzbek: ishchi sinfi
• Vietnamese: giai cấp công nhân (階級工人), giai cấp vô sản (階級無產)
• Welsh: dosbarth gweithiol (cy) m
• Yiddish: אַרבעטער־קלאַס m (arbeter-klas)

Adjective

working class (comparative more working class, superlative most working class) (usually working-class before noun)

1. Alternative spelling of working-class.
   • 1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, page 417:

     Socialism has never and nowhere been at first a working class movement. It is by no means an obvious remedy for an obvious evil which the interests of that class will necessarily demand.

Usage notes

The term working class is often used according to cultural rather than strict socio-economic criteria. It can be politically charged or neutral. Similarly, it can be derogatory, neutral, or positive.

Anagrams

• crosswalking