Working class

Working class is the common English term for the Proletariat. Though all Proletarians are working class, some writers argue that only advanced countries have a Proletariat, and so there are peasants who are working class but not Proletarians. ^{[instances needed]}

A working class is any class in a given class society which produces surplus labor for the other idle, exploiting classes. One or many working classes may exist in a given social formation at a time. The two most common types of working class by far have been the slave class and the serf or peasant class, but in modern capitalist society, the term almost always refers to the proletariat, but may also include the millions of smallholding farmers globally who directly sell their produce.

See also

• Proletariat
• Lumpenproletariat