The old proletariat and the old bourgeoisie are gone. Instead we see what has sometimes been called a “levelled-in middle-class society,” albeit one with an important elite of the super-rich at one end and an underclass at the other.
党派的衰落反映了阶级的衰落。旧的无产阶级和旧的资产阶级已不复存在，取而代之的是所谓的“椭圆形中产阶级社会”，纵使其两端分别为极其富有的精英阶层和下层社会。