A distinctive feature of US politics, compared to most other industrialized nations of the world, is its virtual lack of class politics. President George W. Bush, for example, said the class is for “European democracies or something else – not for the United States of America.” We will not be divided by class” (quoted in Harrigan, 2000: 6). And this seems to be the general attitude that pervades all of American society, to the point that military action on a class basis could even be seen as culturally repugnant. It is a fact that in the 1990s union members represented only 15% of all salaried workers, down from 25% in 1975. This was despite the fact that 30% of all workers were still employed in blue-collar jobs in 1996 ( McKay, 2001: 226; Vanneman and Cannon, 1987: 5). Between the two major political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, there are only relatively minor ideological differences, with the former leaning slightly more to the "liberal" side, while the latter are more "conservative", although neither article anything that looks like a classroom. politics. This has led to much speculation among scholars as to why this might be the case. Numerous reasons have been put forward, including:1. America is primarily a middle-class society, with an individualistic culture; high levels of social mobility; and equal opportunities, which are rewarded over collective action.2. America does not have a feudal past, from which class divisions can be derived.3. America is the richest industrialized nation in the world, and therefore has an overall higher standard of living, which minimizes any class action potential.4. The American working class is sharply divided along ethnic and racial lines.5. America's two-party system makes it difficult for radical political parties to develop. However, despite this lack of class politics, the United States continues to experience some of the most exacerbated income and wealth inequalities in the industrialized world, with the gap between the rich and the poor having widened over the past thirty years. Furthermore, according to official data, the share of the population living in poverty is around 14-16% (McKay, op. cit. :27). This raises the question of the nature of class in the United States and how the US class structure (if there is one) is reflected in mainstream politics..