Class Unity Vivek Chibber on The Class Matrix | A Q & A with Class Unity
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Dec 3, 2025 
Vivek Chibber, sociologist and author of The Class Matrix, defends Marxist materialism against the cultural turn. He discusses how structure shapes culture, why workers favor individual resistance, the roots of identity politics in the professional-managerial class, and practical grassroots organizing advice for building mass movements.
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Respect Workers’ Reasoning When Organizing
- Respect workers' reasoning: their beliefs adjust to survival pressures, not abstract socialization.
- Base organizing strategy on structural analysis, then engage workers where they are materially situated.
Identity Politics As PMC Expression
- Identity politics often reflects professional-managerial class interests and can act functionally as bourgeois ideology.
- Culturalism aids elitist, paternalistic attitudes that distance radicals from workers.
Write For Organizers, Not Just Academics
- Target organizers and intellectuals with clear materialist analysis to rebuild effective radical strategy.
- Reinforce organizers' confidence because they transmit ideas into movements and workplace organizing.
