Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Relating to or characteristic of the social class comprising people who are employed for wages, especially in manual or industrial labor: This describes the economic and social position of people who typically earn hourly wages rather than salaried incomes.
   • Belonging to or typical of the proletariat: This emphasizes a Marxist or sociological perspective, identifying the class that does not own the means of production and must sell its labor.

Usage

• The adjective "working-class" is used to describe people, communities, families, backgrounds, values, or neighborhoods associated with this social and economic group.
• It is typically hyphenated when used as a compound adjective before a noun (e.g., a working-class neighborhood). It may sometimes be written as two separate words, but the hyphenated form is standard.

Examples

• Adjective:
  • She comes from a proud working-class family.
  • The candidate's policies strongly appealed to working-class voters.
  • The novel offers a vivid portrait of working-class life in the 1950s.

Advanced Usage

• Sociological/Political Context: The term is often used in discussions of social stratification, economic policy, and political alignment.
  • The study analyzed shifts in working-class political allegiance over the past century.

Variants and Related Words

• Working class (noun phrase): The social class itself.
  • The working class has been a powerful force for social change.
• Proletariat (noun): A synonym, often used in Marxist theory, for the working class.
• Blue-collar (adjective): An informal synonym emphasizing manual labor jobs, often contrasted with "white-collar."

Synonyms

• Blue-collar: Pertaining to wage-earning workers, especially in manual trades.
• Proletarian: Relating to the proletariat or working class (more formal, often used in political/economic contexts).
• Wage-earning: Earning a wage from labor.

Antonyms

• Middle-class: Relating to the social class between the working class and the upper class, typically comprising business and professional people.
• Upper-class: Relating to the social group with the highest status in society.
• White-collar: Relating to the work done or people who work in office, administrative, or professional jobs.

Adjective

1. working for hourly wages rather than fixed (e.g. annual) salaries
   • working-class occupations include manual as well as industrial labor
2. of those who work for wages especially manual or industrial laborers
   • party of the propertyless proletariat- G.B.Shaw