Rejecting class theory outright yielded richer empirical detail than hedging it

Evidence

The Mannesmann study was peculiar in that, in the introduction, it held open the possibility that class theory would have lasting validity, while in the text itself mention of the various forms in which class theory had survived, or of other ideas that had taken its place, was virtually omitted. By contrast, the Popitz study’s unconditional rejection of class theory formed the basis for a detailed consideration of workers’ ideas and arguments, of the stereotypes they used and of the relevance of these for social theory'. … This was an impressive, and in the West Germany of the 1950s unique, empirically based phenomenology of the various ways in which workers reacted to the conditions of their existence as workers, to the condition ouvrière’. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2106

Categorization

• XREF: Inverts the usual reflex that radical theory produces the best empirical work; connects to the earlier chapter on Adorno’s austere empiricism.