Social class in Italy

Social classes in Italy are bourgeoisie, white-collar middle class, urban petite bourgeoisie, rural petite bourgeoisie, urban working class and rural working class.^[1]

1970s Italian social classes according to Labini

In his Essay on social classes the Italian economist Paolo Sylos Labini presented the following classification, based on his analysis of income distribution:

• Bourgeoisie (properly so called), composed by big urban and rural landowners; entrepreneurs and managers of stock companies; autonomous professionals;
• Petite bourgeoisie
  • Clerical petite bourgeoisie
  • Relatively autonomous petite bourgeoisie: farmers, artisans (including small professionals), traders;
  • Petite bourgeoisie composed by particular categories, such as militaries and clergymen;
• Working class;
• Lumpenproletariat.^[2]

Contemporary Italian social structure

A hierarchy of social class rank in Italy today.

1. Bourgeoisie (10% of the working population)^[1] includes high-class entrepreneurs, managers, politicians, self-employed people, highest-ranking celebrities, etc.

2. White-collar middle class (17% of the working population)^[1] includes middle class workers not employed in manual work.

3. Urban petite bourgeoisie (14% of the working population),^[1] is mainly made up of shopkeepers, small-business entrepreneurs, self-employed artisans etc.

4. Rural petite bourgeoisie (10% of the working population)^[1] consists of small entrepreneurs or estate owners who operate in the countryside, mainly in agriculture and forestry.

5. Urban working class (37% of the working population)^[1] refers to the people employed in manual work.

6. Rural working class (9% of the working population)^[1] consists of people operating in the primary industry, such as farmers, loggers, fishermen etc.

References