lumpenproletariat

American  

[luhm-puhn-proh-li-tair-ee-uht] / ˈlʌm pənˌproʊ lɪˈtɛər i ət /

noun

(sometimes initial capital letter)

1. the lowest level of the proletariat comprising unskilled workers, vagrants, and criminals and characterized by a lack of class identification and solidarity.

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lumpenproletariat British  

/ ˌlʌmpənˌprəʊlɪˈtɛərɪət /

noun

1. (esp in Marxist theory) the amorphous urban social group below the proletariat, consisting of criminals, tramps, etc

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Etymology

Origin of lumpenproletariat

1920–25; < German (Marx, 1850), equivalent to Lumpen rag or Lumpen-, combining form of Lump ragamuffin + Proletariat proletariat

Example Sentences

“You know, I just saw ‘The Hairy Ape’ by Eugene O’Neill, and the line that keeps recurring in this lumpenproletariat protagonist in the play is ‘I don’t belong,’ ” he says.

From Washington Post • May 11, 2017

Schuman’s bildungsroman channels the weltschmerz of a former wunderkind rejected by the professoriat and exiled to the creative lumpenproletariat.

From Slate • Feb. 16, 2017

He realized that he’d been part of the lumpenproletariat, a term that Marx coined to describe “thieves and criminals of all kinds, living on the crumbs of society.”

From The New Yorker • Jan. 8, 2017

I assumed my forebears had been poor, but poverty homogenises – the labouring poor, the working class, the lumpenproletariat – as if it were an identity and not a condition.

From The Guardian • Oct. 11, 2014

This damaged soul lives among others of Hollywood's lumpenproletariat in Gower Gulch, a sort of surrealist Hooverville.

From Time Magazine Archive