Abstract

In 1974 Paolo Sylos Labini published Le classi sociali in Italia (The Social Classes in Italy), a book that is a milestone in the study of social classes for many reasons: for the methodology used, for the interpretations proposed, for the attention paid to the evolution of the capitalist system and the possibility of introducing progressive reforms in that system. Fifty years later, these notes aim to put forward some reflections, also in the light of subsequent developments, on the definition and quantification of social classes proposed by Sylos Labini; to highlight the great difficulties encountered by any attempt to define classes in today’s complex society and, finally (but perhaps mainly), to question the relationship between social classes and the possibility of introducing reforms to make society ‘better’, which was perhaps Sylos Labini’s main concern.