Evans argues that we should treat class as “active relationships” within capitalism and the “function” that different workers and agents play in the system. For example, the function of a low-paid supervisor is to discipline the workforce, giving them proximity to management and alignment with their interests. This helps to reproduce cultural, social, and ideological positions – such as anti-collectivism, opposition to trade union organising, rugged individualism, promotion-seeking and upward mobility. A Nation of Shopkeepers explores the unstoppable rise of the petite-bourgeoisie, one of the most powerful, but underexplored, classes in modern society. Dan Evans’ new book cuts through the nonsense and provides useful working definitions for fractions of the Middle Class and their role in the capitalist system. Building on the work of thinkers such as Poulantzas, Bourdieu and Marx, his analysis challenges syndicalists to learn how to build alliances with those fractions with whom we share common interests.

A vivid and passionate account of the renewal of class divisions in British society and the visceral forms they take. Anyone who doubts the relevance of contemporary class divides is encouraged to read this book.” Initially identified as a powerful political force by theorists like Marx and Poulantzas, the petit-bourgeoisie was expected to decline, as small businesses and small property were gradually swallowed up by monopoly capitalism. Yet, far from disappearing, structural changes to the global economy under neoliberalism have instead grown the petty bourgeoisie, and the individualist values associated with it have been popularized by a society which fetishizes "aspiration", home ownership and entrepreneurship. So why has this happened? However, a significant amount of the TPB has actually done okay in recent years; successful tradespeople buy the new-build house, get the nice car and flash the money about after their 70-hour work week – Evans even has a section named ‘In Defence of Deano’, about the infamous meme satirising ‘vulgar’ nouveau-riche petit bourgeois comsumer tastes. The TPB is, to a significant extent, upwardly mobile, though this is certainly not a permanent or universal feature of this class. What is the New Petite Bourgeoisie? The Traditional Petit Bourgeoisie (TPB) is a diverse class, made up largely of self-employed workers who tend to be clustered in the service economy but comprise a huge range of activty – shopkeepers, tradespeople, small landlords, freelancers, farmers, management consultants, personal trainers, tutors etc. They can range from wealthy entrepreneurs, graduates, or people who left school at sixteen. There's a veiled criticism in this saying, that the English are fit for little else, and it comes as no surprise that the two contenders who might claim coinage of it come from two nations with some disdain for the English - the Scots and the French.I suspect that Evans does not delve into issues of nationality because of his stated hostility toward identity politics - a fair stance given liberalism’s successful co-optation of potential sources of genuine radicalism (race in particular) into toothless, individualized points of interpersonal grievance. But it is just plain wrong to speak of the “working class” without considering the global division of labor, and where the Western working class fits into that. Just to give an example, he endorses Trotsky’s line of argument the petty bourgeoisie don’t support labour movements because they’re weak but argues that they’re weak because they’re dominated by the professional-managerial class…but the original argument is unrelated to that and its historical context was one where that domination didn’t exist. So there must be another reason why labour movements are weak or another reason the petty bourgeoisie don’t support them. To me the latter seems more plausible chiefly because of arguments *Evans convincingly made earlier in the book*.

Reading this book was a bit like marking a mathematical solution where the pupil gets every step wrong but somehow gets to the right answer at the end. Evans does this in a storming final chapter that excoriates Labourism and left wing activism - for both their disconnect from and contempt for working class people - and ultimately suggests a return to the workplace. A Nation of Shopkeepers: Trade Ephemera from 1654 to the 1860s in the John Johnson Collection by Julie Anne Lambert (Oxford, Bodleian Library, 2001) Initially identified as a powerful political force by theorists like Marx and Poulantzas, the petit-bourgeoisie was expected to decline, as small businesses and small property were gradually swallowed up by monopoly capitalism. Yet, far from disappearing, structural changes to the global economy under neoliberalism have instead grown the petite-bourgeoisie, and the individualist values associated with it have been popularized by a society which fetishizes "aspiration", home ownership and entrepreneurship. So why has this happened? The phrase "a nation of shopkeepers" is an expression commonly used to refer to England or the United Kingdom. It is often attributed to Napoleon, though this claim is disputed and earlier occurrences exist. Haven't fully 'read' this to my satisfaction yet, but marking as such so I can write some thoughts here.

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A brilliant examination of the life and ideology of the petty bourgeoisie, the silent majority of ‘normal people’ whose safe, suburban, newbuild lifestyle belies their huge political influence and violent history.”– Joe Glenton, author of Veteranhood The “Network” model of Industrial Unionism was developed during the IWW’s foray into organising Deliveroo and JustEat riders in 2017-2018, through the IWW Couriers Network. These gig-economy workers were technically “self-employed” and thus had no trade union rights and competed against one another for work. The Network was a way to bring these atomised workers together into an Industrial Union to develop common demands that would make work-life better for them all. It had lots of local successes in various cities (particularly Cardiff and Glasgow) and culminated in the large #FFS410 strike in October 2018. Though the project unfortunately derailed, for reasons that can be found in this piece by FW Pete Davies, it is a model that could be adapted and practiced in different circumstances.The North America-based IWW Freelance Journalists Union is a similar project aiming to unite isolated workers, and there are conversations in UK and Ireland to form an organisation by and for freelance artists. The author recommends that the new petty bourgeoisie abandon social mobility, to dispense with its obsessive focus on climbing the career ladder, to embrace and accept downward social mobility, to realise one can have an identity and meaning without a "career", and that there is nothing wrong with staying rooted and not leaving your small town. The logic is that this would lead to the gradual erosion of class boundaries between the subordinate classes and help guarantee the formation of broad political alliances.

After the war English newspapers sometimes tried to correct the impression. For example the following article appeared in the Morning Post of 28 May 1832: [6]

A Nation of Shopkeepers

This confused me. I remember thinking that there must be plenty of people who didn’t ‘own the means of production’, but who also wouldn’t qualify as ‘working class’. My parents were teachers with no power over the curriculum, but they were hardly proletarian. I flipped the problem round. Tradespeople controlled their own ‘production’, but I wouldn’t have called a plasterer or electrician ‘bourgeois’. Well-meaning though the speaker had been, I felt like his simplistic interpretation of class made little sense. This is a vivid and passionate account of the renewal of class divisions in British society and the visceral forms they take. Anyone who doubts the relevance of contemporary class divides is encouraged to read this book.”– Mike Savage, author of The Return of Inequality A book of theoretical and political clarity that will help all of us think through the political and economic striation of the petty bourgeoisie.”– Catherine Liu, author of Virtue Hoarders Book Review: Dan Evans “A Nation of Shopkeepers: The unstoppable rise of the petty bourgeoisie” (2023) 8 th February 2023 because ‘working class’ means anyone who eats chips and has an accent (which of course can be anyone), ‘middle class’ has similarly become an almost totally useless term to describe a set of nebulous behaviours and ‘posh’ consumption practices which can include anyone from the petty bourgeoisie, to comfortable professionals, right the way up to the actual Royal family.”