1. relating to dispossessed and uprooted individuals cut off from the class structure of society
Usage: Marxist theory; often used in compound lumpenproletariat

1. a member of the lumpenproletariat
Usage: Marxist theory

Examples

• The lumpen elements of society were excluded from traditional class analysis.
• Marx distinguished between the proletariat and the lumpen masses.
• The revolution failed to mobilize the lumpen population effectively.
• Urban decay created more lumpen communities on the city’s outskirts.
• The lumpen lack the class consciousness of organized workers.
• Sociologists studied the lumpen as a distinct social category.