JF

It seems odd to talk about the liberal/NGO world constructing identity politics as a deflection without recognizing that much of the heavy lifting was already done by the conversion of class struggle into election debates around the social wage and access to consumption.

"Access to consumption" is a pretty loaded way to describe means of subsistence Don

thats not what hes referring to.

How do we distinguish the two?

the recent history in the us re inequality of consumption isnt usually about base subsistence, its been about access to "quality of life" goods and services. subsistence is still an issue for many ppl but its not what he was referring to wrt working class stratification

Where do we draw the line? Fridges? AC? TVs? Video games? How do we know where reproduction of labor power ends and luxury begins?

its not about drawing the line or making an argument to determine relative opression of specific cases, the fact is that the working class in the metropole and elsewhere has been split, sometimes along reactionary lines, by the competition for access to these things