Introductory Chapter: Classes - From National to Global Class Formation

Abstract

This book is meant to start a grand debate on the investigation into the forms of global organization of the different large groups on earth, or to use the traditional concept of political economy, an investigation into a possible future global class structure1. It is evident that what holds the human species together is its genetic setup; it makes each individual member an element of the species. On the other hand, it is far less clear in which way the structuring of groups within the species evolves. Of course, the continuing growth of the number of individuals increases the impact on the environment of the species as well as on its internal structure necessary to maintain its flourishing. As history shows, this evolution comes in the form of alternating stages: long periods of relatively smooth growth with only slightly changing structure intermitted by much shorter periods during which the old structure is broken up, new organization forms, and social entities emerge, while some others are eliminated2. The focus of political economy is to understand this highly complicated nonlinear dynamic process, needless to say that a formal treatment is out of sight as Long as even a preliminary canonized understanding of its major ingredients in prose is not aavilable. The task here therefore is more modest. It is just one step in the long-run evolutionary process of human progress that is considered: the step from nation states and their internal class structure to the emergence of possible global classes. This introduction will present some General ideas on how the growth of the sheer size of political entities-governance of countries, of continents, and of the whole earth-interacts with the traditional class concepts and enforces their theoretical adaption.