On Class

So, the typical understanding of class is connected to economic, or social status.  That there are three classes: Upper, Middle, Working.  If you dig a little deeper, these are then divided into subclasses (Upper-working, Lower-middle, etc.).  Are these categorizations still useful?  Well, sort of.

First of all, the history of the development of the notion of class is tied more-or-less directly to the Industrial Era.  Pre-capitalist societies tended to be caste systems: aristocracy, kings, peasants.  With the rise of a true middle-class along with capitalism and industrialization, the rigid divisions began to fall away and classes developed.

But this was also a time when one understood class and associated with others based on class divisions.  Being working-class meant something in terms of identity, and that doesn't appear to be the case, at least not in the same way as it used to.  So, I wonder if class is a useful term anymore, at least in America.  There definitely is a sense of haves, have mores and have nots, but there isn't the same sense of identity.

So, then, as a revolutionary, what is one to do?  Should one (or the better question is, can one) encourage the development of a "working-class culture"?  How does one do that if people don't identify as working class?  Is there another identity structure that can be used to encourage the development of a revolutionary culture?