The proletariat’s backwardness enabled its integration into bourgeois society

Evidence

The fact, probably noted by Lukács, that the proletariat was not the most advanced class, but rather, as a dehumanised class, was regressive and backwards, would only fit all too well here. Just take a look at the hymns and the revolutionary poetry. Moreover, the backwardness of the proletariat allowed its integration into bourgeois society. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 977

Categorization

• XREF: Reverses standard Marxist teleology of the proletariat as the most advanced class; connects to Lukács’s class consciousness and to critiques of proletarian vanguardism. — connects to: Across nineteenth-century Europe the bourgeoisie integrated into aristocratic regimes rather than overturning them — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 183; Frankfurt School members espoused proletarian solidarity while maintaining bourgeois lifestyles. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 171; The proletariat’s integration forced critical theory into transcendent critique — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 190 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Working-class movements accommodated capitalism while theory idealized a revolutionary proletariat #corroborates (0.82)
• The universal-proletariat claim persisted as non-empirical doctrine in Marxism #corroborates (0.80)