The transition to twenty-first century post-industrial capitalism from the 'welfare' industrial capitalism of the twentieth century, has affected the ways in which class is lived in terms of relational inequality and the factors that structure identity. Class After Industry takes a complex realist approach to the dynamics of individual lives, places, the social structure and analyses their significance in terms of class. A wide range of quantitative and qualitative studies are drawn on to explore how 'life after industry' shapes class, and the consequent potential for social change. The book will be of interest across the social sciences and beyond, to those concerned with how class forms might translate into political action.

David Byrne is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Durham University, UK. He has written on issues of inequality, methodology, and the complexity frame of reference. Books include Social Exclusion (2005), Applying Social Science (2011), Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences - The State of the Art (with Callaghan, 2014), and Paying for the Welfare State in the 21st Century (with Ruane, 2017).