Erik Olin Wright was an American sociologist and educator, working in the tradition of analytical Marxism. Wright specialized in the study of social stratification, and in possibilities for egalitarian post-capitalist social formations. He was known for diverging from classical Marxism in his breakdown of the working class into subgroups, constituted and configured differently according to varying forms of social power and corresponding degrees of class consciousness. Wright introduced theoretical innovations to adapt to this change of perspective including the concepts of 'deep democracy' and 'interstitial revolution'.