Class

Intelligent, but unpalatably nasty Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2004 The greatest irony of this admittedly meanspirited but smart little satirical study might seem initially that, in the intervening twenty years since it was published, it has become literally a social climbing guide for status-seeking readers. Many upper-class aspirants still religiously look to it to learn how, for example, to have their suits tailored (no "prole gap" between jacket and neck!) or decorate their living rooms. But perhaps this irony isn't so great after all. Despite the often brilliant (although now dated) observations Fussell makes, the loathing he feels for the middle classes and mockery he shows towards the "proles" really isn't balanced by any similar feelings for the upper classes, or for what Fussell designates as his own class ("class X"). Just as he describes the wealthiest of the wealthy as "out of sight," so is any pointed satire aimed towards them. Worst of all, his argument (like Freudian psychoanalysis or Marxism) is neatly unfalsifiable: any criticism you might make of his argument is neatly explained away on his terms as symptomatic of your own class insecurity, which functions as a kind of false consciousness. It's an exceptionally intelligent book, but too mean-spirited and blind to its own prejudices ultimately to be as trenchant as it means to be.