David Runciman writes:

The 99 per cent are a lot more numerous than the 1 per cent; they are also a lot more divided, and it’s the second fact that counts. These divisions are not the ones that the champions of the rich sometimes like to suggest. As Barbara and John Ehrenreich point out in their essay in the Occupy Handbook, ‘for decades the most stridently promoted division within the 99 per cent was between what the right calls the liberal elite – composed of academics, journalists, media figures etc – and pretty much everyone else.’ This was a political strategy, designed to prey on the irritation many people feel when encountering authority figures telling them what to do. It was also a deliberate distraction, intended to draw attention away from the growing divide between the Wall Street elite and ordinary professionals, who were often struggling to get by.

(LRB 25 October 2012)

Back Bay Books | Paperback 256 pp. |ISBN: 9780316220217