Class Unity Vivek Chibber on The Class Matrix | A Q & A with Class Unity
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Dec 3, 2025 
Vivek Chibber, sociologist and author of The Class Matrix, defends Marxist materialism against the cultural turn. He discusses how structure shapes culture, why workers favor individual resistance, the roots of identity politics in the professional-managerial class, and practical grassroots organizing advice for building mass movements.
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Structure Shapes But Doesn’t Fully Determine Culture
- Vivek Chibber defends a materialist view where economic structure determines key social outcomes but not everything.
- Culture mediates but is shaped by structural imperatives that give people reasons to act the way they do.
Capitalism Selects For Compatible Cultures
- Chibber argues cultural explanations overstate worker consent and underestimate structural pressures.
- Capitalism creates incentives that produce the culture it needs by rewarding compatible behaviors and penalizing deviations.
Individual Resistance Beats Collective Risk
- Workers resist but prefer individual tactics because collective risk is high and job loss is devastating.
- Material dependency on employment explains resignation more than ideological consent.
