Class: A Guide through the American Status System by Paul Fussell.

In the United States, the top and bottom classes are out-of-sight: simply invisible to anyone bar themselves and those nearest them in class or conscience. Like most TV dramas, Fussell pre-occupies himself with the more visible classes.

This dates the book, as it is these two invisible classes that are increasing in population count and popularity. Witness the two subreddits for these paths to invisibility: (1) FatFIRE (in reddit-speak),¹ where one has amassed at least 10 million USD and (2) LeanFIRE, where one is practically destitute, eg. a hobo in a wagon.

Regardless, this trend of people opting out of traditional work (especially males) seems set to continue (see FRED data series LNS12300001). All of which seems to make the "manager" vs. "managed" debate increasingly less important.

The core question is how much societal wealth are they generating? Perhaps the long-unaddressed gender imbalance in non-GDP work (housework, childcare) is re-balancing? Are the FIRE'd creating value other ways?

The worst would be another epidemic, where people down-shifted in one area of production and didn't up-shift in another, cf. alcoholism in Russia.

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