The entrepreneurial middle class in Nova Scotia : an economic and social profile (1984)

Abstract

This examination has concentrated on a form of society that is defined by the mode of production: capitalism.

The contribution of the entrepreneurial middle class in a modern capitalist economy has four dimensions. First, it serves to legitimate personally and privately owned property (albeit in varying amounts). Second, it supports the economy (capitalist) in that proprietors use their assets to produce commodities (goods and services) that are sold in a market. Third, small ventures sustain capitalist society by giving an opportunity for deprived echelons within the occupational structure to advance. And finally, the entrepreneurial middle class serves to legitimate capitalism by providing a material basis for certain systemic beliefs and values.

This thesis has concentrated on the small venture proprietor(s) of the entrepreneurial middle class in Nova Scotia because within the context of the capitalist relations of production, members of this class use both capital and (some) labour as resources that are exploited to determine and establish their conditions of economic and social existence. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)