The book presents findings and analyses from six years of research on class structure and class identity in Soweto, South Africa's most populous and politically-important township. This is placed within the context of: heightened socio-economic inequalities in nearly all countries around the world; renewed academic interest in class alongside a paucity of literature on the character of class in the global south; and the specific value of a study on South Africa, with its extremes of unemployment, strike action, and ongoing insurrectionary unrest among the urban poor. The book draws on a large, wide-ranging representative survey and extensive qualitative fieldwork. It makes an original contribution to the sociology of class and to the politics of contemporary South Africa.