It takes the form of northeastern liberal elites who decry and despise the South(east) and mid-Western parts of the country—ostensibly because the latter are ignorant, prejudiced, fat, gun-toting racists—while there are elements of truth to those stereotypes (average body weight is much higher in those areas) a lot of it in my opinion is driven by crypto-classism, same as you are talking about. These areas (especially the “Deep South”) are much poorer than the Northeast, and by obsessing focusing on the racism of people there (whether accurately or not) implicitly draws attention away from the powerful class distinctions that exist in America, in terms of region (thereby preserving them for those on top).

What I also find interesting is that such a thing would happen in England, since I thought class there was an everyday topic, while in the U.S. it is a “conversation killer”—even using the word opens you up to accusations of communism and anti-Americanism among most people.

I never implied that these characteristics are the characteristics of the working class. I think, however, that the massively exagerrated use of the coloquial/dialect in his quote above – to the extent that is at odds with contemporary literary conventions – speaks for itself.

For the record I agree with Jim, that the assumption that these people are, or represent, the working class is dodgy.

Or are you saying that working class people are drunk, sexist arseholes? You appear to be, because there’s nothing in the quote to suggest these guys are working class at all – that’s an assumption you’ve made based on… what?