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Class
The concept of class distinguishes groups within a population. It is important to recognize that differing conceptions of class do so in disparate ways. As it takes shape as an issue in eighteenth-century political thought, class cuts society along the lines of economic function—focusing, for instance, upon landowners and merchants as economically distinct groups. It was commonly argued that members of a class shared interests that differed from, and might conflict with, those of other classes. The implications, however, for interests of class as position within the economic order were disputed. In understanding the place of class in political thought since 1750, it is essential to grasp that the questions of how best to define class and to understand its operation, were often inextricably bound ...
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