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a t leas t acti ve cl ass struggle, is here trea ted as a transito ry p henomenon ,
deriving from the stra ins invo lved in th e break with traditi ona lism,
where the emerging industri a l o rder has no t yet become full y ma tured
and subj ect
LO
no rma tive regul a tion . Class divi sions produ ce active
struggles, according
to
thi s view, onl y in the ea rl y ph ases of
111-
dustri a liza tio n. As cl ass confli ct becomes institutiona lized in the
economy in the fo rm of recognized modes of arbitra tion and the
conduct o f disputes, and in th e po lity in the shape of the regul a ted
competition o f labo r and conserva tive pa rti es (s tressed pa rticul a rl y by
Lipset), it loses its transfo rma ti ve force. Some industri a l society theor–
ists, like Lipset, hold tha t industri a l society is still a class society, a lbeit
o ne in whi ch class divi sions have become fruitfull y accommoda ted
to
th e indu stri a l o rder. Others have held tha t, in a differentia ted indu stria l
society, the very concept of class loses an y usefulness-thereby aga in
fo llowing Sa int-Simon , whose society o f
industriels
was to be a "one
class society," and thereby an o rder in whi ch class has become obso lete,
through evolution ra ther than revo luti on.
As elabo ra ted up to the middl e 1960s, the theory o f industria l
society helped to underpin an optimisti c libera lism through thi s
evo luti onary versi on of classlessn ess, and furth ermo re o ffered a ready
account of the (puta ti ve) declin e of Ma rxi sm . T h e interpreta ti on of
cl ass conflict associa ted with th e no tion of indu stri a l soc iety tied in
cl osely
to
th e thes is of the "end of ideology." Th e end of ideo logy
a lways meant above a ll the end o f Marxi sm as an influentia l movement
in the advanced societies. Ma rxi sm , for these writers, is an ideo logy
stemming from the class struggles of nascent industria l society. As
Durkh eim rem arked , it is a "cry o f pa in " ra ther than wha t it cl a imed
to
be, a scientific analys is o f histo ry. and thus it in creasingly di ssolved as
the condition s giving ri se
to
it were changed by the accommoda ti on o r
institutiona liza tion of cl ass conflict. Wha t used , in th e nineteenth
century, to be call ed
the
socia l probl em , the problem of cl ass confli ct,
thus appeared as bas icall y resolved, es tablishing the basis fo r progres–
sive socia l reform. Such reform, it was held, was well under way during
the two decades after the War, leadin g to in creased socia l and educa–
tio na l mo bility, the diffusion of power amo ng competitive elites, the
severance of property ownership from manageri al control, and the
expanding inco rpo ra tion of mino rity ethni c groups within the demo–
cra ti c structure of the po lity.
These views a lways had their critics, but some o f the leading ones
were eith er no t Ma rxists, o r occupi ed an ambi guous position with
regard to Ma rxism (e.g. ,
c.
Wright Mill s). The more o rthodox Marxi st
