They came from or were educated into the middle class and could not breathe life into the proletarian characters they created.

ECONOMIST: Dorothy West

For a more proletarian shopping experience, try Aventura Mall (19501 Biscayne Boulevard), which has more than 250 stores, including Bloomingdale's and Macy's.

CNN: Where to spend, spend, spend in Miami

With Mike, the doorman on duty, Kendall exchanged a proletarian greeting (they both worked here, after all) on his way to the gilded elevator.

NEWYORKER: Great Experiment

When Mr Aliev returned to power in 1993, after Azerbaijan's first two post-Soviet leaders had failed to entrench themselves, he dropped all proletarian pretension.

ECONOMIST: Azerbaijan

Is the Beeb quietly atoning for the days when two of its now grandees sneered publicly at Gateshead as the very symbol of provincial, proletarian ignorance?

ECONOMIST: Broadc?sting to the nation

Rusty and dirty, but still glowing in all of its proletarian glory: A 1936 Ford (nyse: F - news - people) three window coupe.

FORBES: The Coupe Coup

Mr Mack, the former president of Morgan Stanley, was the driving force behind the 1997 merger between his aristocratic Wall Street investment bank and the distinctly proletarian Dean Witter brokerage.

ECONOMIST: Return of the Mack | The

The main evidence of Mr Obama's proletarian sympathies is a couple of advertisements recently released by his campaign depicting Bain Capital, the private-equity firm Mr Romney founded and ran for 15 years, as a rapacious corporate raider.

ECONOMIST: Lexington