Blue, I would say there have always been two or three kinds of "upper class" in this country.
One is the "upper class" of mone, often composed of "nouveaux riches," whose mentality was often as petty-bourgeois as the class they came from, and who had their own equivalents of the unused parlor and/or the plastic-covered furniture. Conspicuous consumption, a la Thorstein Veblen, is what we have here.
Secondly, the "upper class" of old family, some of whose members used to affect beat-up VW bugs, rather than Rolls Royces. No unused parlours here.
Thirdly, the "upper class" of what used to be called "cultivated" people. ("Intelligentsia" is too European a word.) They wouldn't be caught dead sitting in an unused parlor, let alone having one in their own homes. And they wouldn't even speak to a person who had plastic wrap on the furniture.
Joan |
