working class

Working class is the politically correct phrase used to describe people without a college degree. Journalists fear using phrases that will sound like they're calling someone uneducated, so they hide what they mean through the phrase working class (co-opted from the Marxists). This allows people to feel like tough blue collar laborers down in the coal mines when in actuality they're probably working in retail. Working class can refer to either the degree-less people, or to the jobs typically occupied by them. Some, but not most, working class people move their way up through the ranks and make decent pay. If they really strike it rich they may no longer be proletariat common people in typical working class jobs. This confuses pollsters who don't have a word to describe millionares without college degrees.