proletarianize means to turn (a person or group) into proletariat. It carries an Arena rating of 1203, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, proletarianize ranks #2,248 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #3,251 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #3,915 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #4,709 of 17,131 for Scariest Words.
Why “proletarianize” is a great word
To transform a person or group into members of the industrial working class, stripping them of property and independent status to integrate them into the wage-labor system. The term proletarianize derives from English proletarian, which itself comes from Latin proletarius, 'a citizen of the lowest class who served the state only by having children' (from proles, 'offspring'), combined with the verb-forming suffix -ize. Unlike 'embourgeoisify,' which implies an ascent into the comforts of property ownership, or 'marginalize,' which suggests a powerless exclusion from the social core, to proletarianize is to enforce a specific, grinding assimilation into the central machinery of capital. It is the artisan’s hands learning the repetitive rhythm of the assembly line, the farmer’s knowledge of seasons rendered obsolete by the factory whistle, and the intellectual’s library sold for bread—the systematic conversion of diverse human capital into a uniform, expendable resource, the uniform, grinding melody of modernity composed for an ever-growing chorus.
Etymology
From proletarian + -ize.
verb
- To turn (a person or group) into proletariat.e.g.“The industrial revolution proletarianized small farmers.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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