A question about class.

[eric922]

Hey, everyone I have a question about what class my family is. My parents are private investigators, so they are technically self-employed and do make decent money, however all their work comes from a small handful of lawyers and whenever the lawyers want to meet, my parents have to drop whatever their doing and go to meetings.

They often work at least 5 days a week from 8 in the morning to 6 at night and that doesn't count when my dad has to go into court or go interview people late a night, because that is the only time they are available.

I would assume they are petite-bourgeois, but I am confused because they do have to work for a living and can't make their money by reinvesting capital.

Perhaps this question would be easier to answer if I explained what my parents do. They mostly watch arrest videos, summarize and comment on them, read over cases and summarize them, and take photos of arrest scenes, and do interviews. The vast majority of their cases are DUI defense work.

[Nox]

Yes, they're petite-bourgeois. They exploit the labour of the lawyers.

[Hit The North]

Yes, they're petite-bourgeois. They exploit the labour of the lawyers.

No, law firms exploit the labour of lawyers. The OP's parents simply facilitate the labour of lawyers.

But I agree that they are best considered as petite bourgeois because they own their own business.

[Экс-фашистских]

The bourgeois programme is a pyramid system that aims to enslave everyone who isn't a part of the elite.

Your parents have fallen victim to the (lawyer) bourgeois, whom of which can only serve their master(s).

[eric922]

Yes, they're petite-bourgeois. They exploit the labour of the lawyers.
How do they exploit the labor of the lawyers? They work for the lawyers and the lawyers make at least 4 times as much as they do.

[Rooster]

Lawyers in a firm are generally considered to be partners. The secretaries and general staff are the ones who are usually exploited. I would consider PIs to be in the same category as cops.

[eric922]

Lawyers in a firm are generally considered to be partners. The secretaries and general staff are the ones who are usually exploited. I would consider PIs to be in the same category as cops.
I agree with everything, except your last sentece since it seems to really depend on what the PIs do. My parents work for defense firms so they work against cops, though I know there are some PIs that do pretty much the same thing as cops. Honestly though, I really don't like cops or DAs for that matter or anyone who assists them, simply because I think they are the enemies of the working class.

[Rooster]

PIs usually do the dirty work, from my experience, of governments or private firms. Stuff that cops won't usually touch. Going around, compiling evidence, just so that the law can bust them. Don't PIs have to be approved by cops?

[eric922]

PIs usually do the dirty work, from my experience, of governments or private firms. Stuff that cops won't usually touch. Going around, compiling evidence, just so that the law can bust them. Don't PIs have to be approved by cops?
PIs have to be approved by the state. As to your question, I have no doubt some PIs do, but as I said in my edited OP, my parents do DUI defense work and their job consists of mostly: watching arrest videos, summarizing them and pointing out any mistakes the police made or any possible violations of the law made by the police, doing interviews with the clients, typing case summaries up for the lawyers, transcribing 911 audio tapes, and taking pictures of arrest scenes.

When they first started doing this job, I asked my dad if PIs did some of the things you mentioned(as well as private security) and he said that some do, but he said they couldn't pay him enough to do it.

[redtex]

Perhaps this question would be easier to answer if I explained what my parents do. They mostly watch arrest videos, summarize and comment on them, read over cases and summarize them, and take photos of arrest scenes, and do interviews. The vast majority of their cases are DUI defense work....

...pointing out any mistakes the police made or any possible violations of the law made by the police...

I don't know about whether they are bourgois or proletariat (shades of grey in this case), but I do know that anyone who thwarts anything the police/prosecutors are trying to do is ok in my book.

[syndicat]

self-employed who have no employees are in a grey, boundary line between the working class and the dominating classes. but very often people who are nominally self-employed are really employees...if their work is totally directed by the firm that gives them the contracts...as with many truck drivers for example. until they have employees, i tend to think of the self-employed as still part of the working masses.

one of the people from my old neighborhood where I grew up, a guy i went to high school with, is now a PI. his only employee is his son, which doesn't really count. his father was a bus driver. i don't think he's really left the working class.

"petit bourgeoisie" is a vague term. a small capitalist needs to be a capitalist, and thus actually have employees, that is, enter into the capital/wage-labor relationship with the people being exploited.

"human capital" is an invention of liberals. i wouldn't put too much stock in it. a person's abilities can't be separated from that person, unlike actual capital.

i would tend to view lawyers & judges as part of the bureaucratic class, along with managers, generals, etc.