Class is Out: Erasing Social Class in Applied Linguistics D. Block: Social Class in Applied Linguistics

Block argues that the increasing stratification and inequality of neoliberal times are bringing about a renewed interest in social class. As Piketty’s (2014) recent analysis of capital shows, the redistribution of income in wealthy nations that occurred in the middle of the 20th century has been reversed in the last 30 years, with increased capital in the hands of a tiny minority, increased inequality across many societies, and a return to the patrimonial capitalism of 19th century Europe. Vandrick’s (2014) recent special journal issue on social class—arguing that class strongly affects ‘the lived experiences of participants in second-language education’ (p. 89)—suggests that this may indeed be emerging as focal topic of applied linguistics. So what is social class? As Block argues, while class is ‘fundamentally an economic notion’ (p. 56), it also needs to be understood in terms of ‘class as lived experience’ (p. 58), or class as a cultural as well as social category.