lumpenproletariat

lum·pen·pro·le·tar·i·at  (lmpn-prl-târ-t, lm-)

n.

1. The lowest, most degraded stratum of the proletariat. Used originally in Marxist theory to describe those members of the proletariat, especially criminals, vagrants, and the unemployed, who lacked class consciousness.

2. The underclass of a human population.

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[German : Lumpen, pl. of Lump, ragamuffin (from Middle High German lumpe, rag) + Proletariat, proletariat (from French prolétariat; see proletariat).]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

lumpenproletariat - (Marxism) the unorganized lower levels of the proletariat who are not interested in revolutionary advancement Marxism - the economic and political theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that hold that human actions and institutions are economically determined and that class struggle is needed to create historical change and that capitalism will ultimately be superseded by communism labor, labour, proletariat, working class - a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages; "there is a shortage of skilled labor in this field"