Contents

Preface

1 Introduction: The Rise and Fall of Class?

I. Class as History

II. Class Dismissed

III. Class as Social Description

IV. Class Here, Now and Then

2 The Eighteenth Century: Class Without Class Struggle

I. English Social Worlds

II. British Social Worlds

III. Social Life and Social Perceptions

IV. Creating a Classless Society

3 The Nineteenth Century: A Viable Hierarchical Society

I. Social Visions and Social Divisions

II. The ‘Politics of Class’ Propounded

III. The ‘Politics of Class’ Denied

IV. The Way They Saw Things Then

4 The Twentieth Century: Social Identities and Political Identities

I. The ‘Politics of Class’ Propounded Again

II. The ‘Politics of Class’ Denied Again

III. Class Acts and Class Facts

IV. New Society, Old Society

5 Conclusion: Towards a ‘Classless Society’?

I. Long-Term Retrospective

II. The Impact of Thatcher

III. Major, Blair and Beyond

IV. How We See Ourselves

Notes

Index