lumpenproletariat

[ luhm-puhn-proh-li-tair-ee-uht ]

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.

lumpenproletariat

/ ˌlʌmpənˌprəʊlɪˈtɛərɪət /

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of lumpenproletariat¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of lumpenproletariat¹

German, literally: ragged proletariat

Example Sentences

Brown’s older brothers became part of the lumpenproletariat until the law caught up with them.

From Washington Post

Other people around me thought of the region’s lumpenproletariat as lazy and undisciplined, the sort that warranted whatever came their way.

From The Guardian

“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

“For the many, not the few”? One can agree with the principle, while strongly doubting that most individual voters want to see themselves as part of a seething, undifferentiated mass, “the many”, or the lumpenproletariat.

From The Guardian

It couldn’t last, and it didn’t: The grand bargain the Republican elite thought it had struck with the loonier fringes of the lumpenproletariat came undone in spectacular fashion in 2016.

From Salon