AMONG the most fundamental and least appreciated features of society’s historical advance is its inherently dialectical nature, which is to say that the benefits of development have never accrued equally to all members of society. Taking one’s cue from Marx, it could be argued that expropriation of the many has always gone side by side with enrichment of the few.

In the post-Cold War world, this historical fact no longer garners significant attention. It is unfashionable to view the world through categories like class, and many otherwise extremely informed people believe that ‘globalisation’ promises windfall gains for the majority. A large body of evidence can be mobilised to dispel such fantasies, but, even then, seemingly compelling contrary evidence already in circulation tends to dominate the argument.

If one were to undertake an objective analysis of existing class dynamics in contemporary Pakistan, what sort of picture would emerge? According to the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey — the most comprehensive government household survey available in the public domain — almost 20pc of Pakistanis submitted that their living standards had increased in the past year. The corresponding figure the previous fiscal year was three percentage points lower.

There are of course important differentials across provinces, with households in Punjab and KP more upwardly mobile than those in Sindh and Balochistan. But the aggregated facts speak for themselves: a fifth of Pakistani households are climbing up the social ladder.

It is safe to assume that the majority of these households are neither exceedingly rich nor poor. Less certain, but also a plausible hunch, is that this story of upward mobility is concentrated in urban areas. In short, there’s an urban middle-class bulge and this trend is not likely to level off in the near future. In fact, it is likely to intensify.

As noted at the outset, this is a two-way street. A recent report prepared by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in conjunction with the UNDP confirmed that almost 60 million Pakistanis are poverty-stricken. A staggering 46pc of rural households are poor, with only 18pc of urban households in the same category. Only 19pc of households in Punjab, the most urbanised province, are poor, and the vast majority of these are in the relatively rural Seraiki-speaking districts in the province’s southern and western parts.

On the whole, then, capitalist modernity continues to churn out both prosperity and immiseration, with the absolute numbers of poor growing over time. Yes, there are greater opportunities than ever before for a certain segment of the lower orders to graduate to a higher class bracket, but this does not mean there has been much transformation in the structure of class privilege.

Perhaps more than anything, what has changed is the discourse and practice of politics. Thirty years ago, the story of conflict between the expropriators and expropriated could not simply be ignored in the intellectual and political mainstream. Indeed, the working masses were the subjects of all major narratives of history, with everyone including the far-right acknowledging the former even as they sought to crush working-class power.

The current incarnation of politics — even of the mass variety — is of a decidedly more middle-class tone and tenor. The emphasis on formalistic slogans such as ‘rule of law’ and populist rants against ‘corruption’ speaks for itself. Marxist calls to collective action have been replaced by liberal appeals to individual liberties. Identity — multifarious and decentred — is considered far superior to the reductionism of class.

The objective changes that have taken place over the past few decades — urbanisation, middle class expansion, financialisation, information revolution — were not in and of themselves a guarantee of a change in the way politics was to be conceived and practised. An explanation for the decline of class politics must be sought in the machinations of state and capital, and the attendant inability of the left to pre-empt the rug being pulled out from under its feet.

Either way, there’s no question of rewinding back to the past. Those committed to doing so must build a new, relevant politics of class from the bottom-up. The first step is to force class and exploitation back onto the political and intellectual map.

This means exposing the sloganeering of right-wing populists and bringing back the idea that development never produces universally beneficial outcomes. There will always be winners and losers. Whether the losers acquiesce to the prevailing rules of the game or consciously choose to challenge status quo will determine in the future, as it has in the past, how the story of humanity unfolds.

The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.