The Politics of the PMC

Vivek Chibber on how we should understand capitalism's middle strata — and why so many professionals are moving toward anti-capitalist politics.

The “professional-managerial class” (PMC) has become a staple of political debate on the Left.

In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber explains why the PMC is better understood as a heterogeneous layer within capitalism rather than a distinct class, how and why the middle strata have expanded, and what has pushed so many professionals toward anti-capitalist politics. While skeptical of the PMC as a precise analytical category, Chibber argues that the term still captures something real about one of the most politically influential groups in modern America.

Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Jour