000			01649nam a2200193Ia 4500
999			_c23010 _d23010
005			20220201222146.0
008			200202s9999 xx 000 0 und d
020			_a9780192159557
082			_a305.5 FUR
100			_aFurbank. P.N.
245		0	_aUnholy Pleasure: the idea of social class
260			_aLondon
260			_b1985
260			_c0
300			_a154p.
520			_aWhat is 'class'? Is it a concept invented only in the nineteenth century, and if so, what relationship does it bear to earlier concepts such as 'order', 'rank', and 'estate'? How did the English idea of the 'gentleman' compare with, say, the French concept of the honnête homme? These are some of the questions this book attempts to answer. It explores the derivation of our ideas about social class and takes a close look at our intentions in deploying 'class' terminology. What did Marx really mean when he spoke of the 'bourgeois'? Do historians and sociologists have the right to use the term 'class', over which they disagree so bitterly? What are the motives of those who take 'unholy pleasure' in finding class amusing? The discussion ranges from these to more concrete topics, such as the master-servant relationship, the popularity of etiquette books, and the mysterious significance of the dropped h. The author's unambiguous conclusion is that 'class' is a rhetorical term, invariably used as a form of social action; and, it is argued, the concept of class has had its day: great novelists like Dickens, Kafka, and Proust show us how to see through it and beyond it.
650			_aSocial Classes.
942			_cB _2ddc