Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
class struggle

class struggle

4 5.4
A conflict between rich owners and workers over money and power
  • noun
  • /klæs ˈstrʌɡl/
translation icon : lucha de clases
  • Marxist doctrine stresses class struggle as the driving force behind historical progress.
  • historical class struggle
  • class struggle drives
  • class struggle and society

So Marxism is concerned with this class struggle, with respecting the working class.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Although it has become unfashionable worldwide to talk about class struggle, the divisions in Latin America have become sharper.

    Academic text (1993)

  • We may also agree that state finance in modern democracy intensifies class struggles.

    Academic text (1994)

  • We must completely get rid of the political culture of class struggle.

    Academic text (1990)

  • The situation was made worse by the policy of "taking class struggle as the key link" during the Cultural Revolution.

    Academic text (1992)

  • It was all about class struggle and social control.

    Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party (2016)

  • We fully expect to see an intensification of class struggle in the near term.

    Blog text (8)

  • For social democrats, the international class struggle became subordinate to the national one.

    Academic text (1997)

  • At the second level, the debate seemed to reflect a segmented class struggle.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Merchants needed to maintain their authority among Chinese immigrants, and their testimonies reflected these class struggles within the Chinese community.

    Academic text (2003)

  • The concept of class struggle is often discussed in economics courses.

Synonyms

class warfare
vsclass struggle
24 6.4

Conflict between rich and working people over money and power

is framed in ideological terms of workers versus capital rather than wealth alone
class war
vsclass struggle
5 5.8

A fight between rich and poor groups over money and power

is a broader term for ongoing antagonism rather than open conflict

How Intense

class war
5 5.8
class warfare
24 6.4
class struggle
4 5.4

Surface Forms

class struggle singular
class struggles plural

Morphology

class + struggle

The meaning 'conflict between social or economic classes' is directly compositional from 'class' (a category of people by social/economic status) and 'struggle' (open conflict). This concept and word combination is cross-linguistically common and would be inferable by a B1 learner who knows both constituent words and the social sense of 'class'.

Etymology

Class struggle comes from the ideas of Karl Marx about society. It gives a simple image: class means groups like rich and poor and struggle means a fight, so imagine workers and owners pulling against each other over jobs and money, which is why it means 'conflict between social or economic classes'.