this post was submitted on 01 May 2026
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Streamers aren't petite-bourgeois unless they're extracting surplus value from editors or something.
You don't need to extract surplus value from workers to be petite bourgeoisie, self-employed people with autonomy are also petite bourgeois. What makes someone petite bourgeoisie is the fact that they own some capital, but also must themselves work, even if they employ others. Streamers that make their income from streaming are petite bourgeoisie.
No, you're wrong.
What capital does a streamer own? And what does this capital do that isn't the extraction of surplus value?
Streamers are performance artists. They usually own their streaming setups, and take donations or sell subscriptions for private streams. When you own your own means of production, your labor is not being exploited. Streamers do use platforms where capitalists own them, but streamers are not proletarianized by them, and it's closer to a business owner paying rent to a landlord. The subclass "artisan" is most applicable, and has been recognized as part of the petite bourgeoisie since Marx.
They also sell commodities they fashion, not their labor power for a wage or piece-wage, the commodity being entertainment. They are not selling their labor-power to their viewers, but the direct product of their labor-power, to which the platform takes a cut as rent.
Prolewiki's article on the Petite Bourgeoisie backs this up:
This coincides with the class outlook of self-employed people, who seek individual autonomy over collective bargaining (on average), whereas proletarian workers tend to come to the class outlook seeking collectivization. Artisinal reaction was covered by Marx. Independent artists struggle against proletarianization in a similar way to small business owners and other self-employed individuals. They can also be allied with the proletariat, due to their precarious social position.
Fine then labor aristocracy. At this point, potato potato.
They're not even that, they're probably equivalent to, like, sportsmen. Disposable job-lottery winners who are generally unskilled and lucky. I think they realize that and that's why they're so reactionary, thinking it hides how useless they are to society and how precarious their class position is.
Edit: also why their bases are so anti-"cancel culture" because they're one of the few jobs where it actually works because it's easy to abstain from some streamer dipshit than it is boycotting a food company.
I know I explained here, but the reason artisans like streamers tend to be reactionary is because, like the rest of the petite bourgeoisie, they stand to lose their autonomy. The petite bourgeoisie as a broad class collectively tend to value independence and fight against losing their autonomy.
This is the precariousness they have, whereas the proletariat has already lost their independence and so seeks collectivization. The petite bourgeoisie lose their independence through collectivization, but depending on the level of class struggle can actually side with the proletariat despite this against a common enemy, the haute bourgeoisie.
To be clear, they are petite bourgeoisie, I explained how and why here. The reason they tend to be reactionary is because their class position as petite bourgeoisie is precarious, as they stand to lose their autonomy and become proletarianized. However, the petite bourgeoisie can be allied with the proletariat against the haute bourgeoisie.
Don't they almost always do that, though? I don't know, I don't really pay attention to streamers, but I was under the possibly mistaken impression that streamers tend to have a group of employees doing all the tech shit (like editing), "research" and marketing, and even things like makeup for them. At least once they are big enough to make a decent living off it. That's not the case?
They are petite bourgeoise with or without workers under them, as self-employed individuals and not proletarianized they fall into the broad category of petite bourgeoisie, such as artisans. They cease to be petite and become haute when they have enough capital to live off of the labor of others, and work by choice to maximize earnings, rather than necessity, so Mr. Beast would fall into haute bourgeoisie.