[Ads-l] dangerous classes -- not in OED

[Robin Hamilton]

The OED has entries for PROLETARIAT (1852),  LUMPENPROLETERIAT (1924) and UNDERCLASS (1918), but not for the DANGEROUS CLASSES, though the term is widespread in a range of contexts from its first appearance in English in 1842, in a review of the 1840 French text which began the vogue for the phrase:

_The Quarterly Review_ Vol. 70 (1842), pp. 1-44, reviewing Fregier, _Des Classes dangereuse_(2 vols., Paris, 1840), with the running-title, “Paris – its dangerous Classes”:

“In the present instance the original treatise, in accordance with the terms of the submitted question, was confined entirely to the dangerous classes among the lower orders of society.” 
         (p. 2, and numerous later examples in the course of the review).

        https://books.google.com/books?id=MYxZAAAAIAAJ

While the OED has no entry for the phrase as such, an Advanced Search for “dangerous [followed by] classes” shows that the editors were aware of the term.

It should also be included in the Thesaurus, alongside the terms listed above.

Robin Hamilton

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