Asset classes? Some reflections on the ‘new class realities’ of rentier capitalism Article Swipe

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Capitalism Asset (computer security) Class (philosophy) Economic system Neoclassical economics Sociology Economics Market economy Political science Epistemology Philosophy Politics Law Computer science Computer security

Roger Burrows ·

YOU? · · 2025 · Open Access · · DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/07255136241312267 · OA: W4407181336

In their recent work, Lisa Adkins, Melinda Cooper and Martijn Konings challenge traditional employment-based class models, arguing that asset ownership, particularly housing, is now central to understanding class dynamics in the present conjuncture, which some critics characterize as rentier capitalism. This paper examines the historical antecedents of their analysis, especially its relationship to the work of Peter Saunders in the 1990s. It also provides commentary on some of the criticisms of their approach and reflects on the analytic utility, or otherwise, of their asset-based class schema considering these criticisms.