The neoliberal trick of creating the 401k to replace the pension has been an effective tool in getting the professional class to further associate themselves with the bourgeoisie and away from their fellow proletarians. They are the largest segment of the population that the news anchors are talking to when they talk about business & “the economy.”
Pensions hardly exist anymore. People don’t have a choice in using a 401(k) or similar as a retirement fund.
I think the simplest explanation is to look at where the person’s money is coming from. If they earn wages through labor, they are a worker. If they earn wages through business or property ownership, they aren’t.
I wouldn’t think so, because the most important part of the definition is to show the characteristics of said population that it defines. And I don’t see any material difference between a retirement with or without stocks, it is still just a retirement. Differently from when the retirement plan on somebody is getting a property and renting it out, then the person is in a position of landlord, they have control over selling the property and rising or lowering the rent, so they can directly affect the people that sends the money to theme. While the stock it really works much more like another form of compensation rather than any sort of control over any part of and mean of production.
No, because if you buy stocks with the money you save up from working, then you can never buy a significant amount to matter.
Similarly, you cannot affect US policy by voting. L
Chances are, if you are working class, the majority of your wealth would be in real estate.
Ref chart 1b.
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/who-counts-as-a-retail-investor-2020-12-17
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Petty bourgeoise people derive most of their income from their capital while not significantly controlling the economy or politics. There are two ways to look at the retirement account: 1) principally as interest-bearing capital, 2) as deferred compensation with more ideology.
I am somewhat inclined towards 2) since A) very few pensioners ever have enough capital available to start a business and become capitalists in earnest and B) the withdrawal rules make large investments very difficult. That said, someone with a juicy 401k or anxiety about getting their 401k juicy is being conditioned to care about the market whereas someone with a traditional pension has a layer of separation.
