Contractors as Proleterians?

[RedSquare]

By Contractors, I mean those who are self-employed either just working for themselves or hiring one or two workers to assist them.

Many of them have are now in debt, and the wealthy developers they contracted with are now refusing to pay them by putting their companies into receivership while having extracted their own profits prior to the property collapse. Most are from working class backgrounds, former labourers who thought it best to work for themselves. Now they do not receive any of the welfare benefits employees get, such as unemployment assistance, medical care, etc.

Are these proletarians or petty bourgeoisie?

[Tjis]

They are petty bourgeois, since they do not sell their labor-power for a wage, but instead sell a product or a service.

[chegitz guevara]

Being a contractor is often a way for capitalists to get around certain benefits that full time employees have, plus, in the U.S., it puts the full burden of paying social security on the contract. The trade off is that in certain professions, contractors get more money to compensate for the lack of bennies and SS.

Whether or not a contractor is proletarian or petty-bourgeois depends entirely on their relations to the means of production. Many contractors are just skilled workers, but many are genuinely petty bourgeois.

[Hoplite]

They are petty bourgeois, since they do not sell their labor-power for a wage, but instead sell a product or a service.
What about independent contractors that sell their labor as part of their contract?

We also must consider that independent contractors can only do business in a market that allows them to do so. They can be exploited just as easily as anyone else.

[Tjis]

What about independent contractors that sell their labor as part of their contract?

We also must consider that independent contractors can only do business in a market that allows them to do so. They can be exploited just as easily as anyone else.
If someone sells their labor-power for a wage then they are a worker. If someone sells a product or service that they themselves produce (maybe with some hired hands) then they are petty bourgeois. In both cases they can be hard workers who get ripped off.

Petty bourgeois is not a moral judgement or a level of richness, it is the social class of people who make their living from selling the product of their labor instead of selling their labor-power.

So if an independent contractor gets paid for the amount of work done, then they are a worker. If they get paid for the product created through their labor, then they are petty bourgeois.

[Hoplite]

So if an independent contractor gets paid for the amount of work done, then they are a worker. If they get paid for the product created through their labor, then they are petty bourgeois.
I'm confused, so how is a worker paid by the hour different from a worker paid by how many widgets they produce during a shift?

[OhYesIdid]

I'm confused, so how is a worker paid by the hour different from a worker paid by how many widgets they produce during a shift?

Bad example. Imagine a worker in a shoe factory and a cobbler.
The first person only gets paid for working, the other one actually owns his finished product and thus is no longer a have-not.

[Tjis]

I'm confused, so how is a worker paid by the hour different from a worker paid by how many widgets they produce during a shift?
In both of those cases the worker is selling their labor-power, not the product of their labor. In order to be able to sell the product of your labor, you must first own said product. This is not the case when you're merely being paid per finished product.

The difference between worker and petty bourgeois is the difference between a farmer who owns their own field and sells their harvest on the market and a landworker who does not own the field and is paid to work on someone else's. Both farm, but their relationship to the means of production is different.

[OhYesIdid]

In both of those cases the worker is selling their labor-power, not the product of their labor. In order to be able to sell the product of your labor, you must first own said product. This is not the case when you're merely being paid per finished product.

The difference between worker and petty bourgeois is the difference between a farmer who owns their own field and sells their harvest on the market and a landworker who does not own the field and is paid to work on someone else's. Both farm, but their relationship to the means of production is different.

forget my post, Tjis said it better.