This long awaited sequel to The Origins of Modern English Society explores the rise of the forgotten middle class' to show a new principle of social organisation. A rare example of a work both accessible to the general reader and indispensable to the professional scholar.' - The Observer No social historian can afford to be without it.' - New Statesman and Society ...an audacious and exciting piece of synthesis. His mastery of political, economic, social and urban history is intimidating.' - New York Review of Books Now available in paperback, this book is the long awaited sequel to The Origins of Modern English Society . Stimulating and controversial, it will be widely read by all those who seek an understanding not just of Britain since 1880, but of all mature economies of the world today. The theme is the rise of 'the forgotten middle class', the non capitalist or professional class which the chief social commentators left out of their analyses. England, like all post-industrial societies, has come to be dominated by growing numbers of 'experts'. As Harold Perkin shows, a new principle of social organization has emerged, based on trained expertise, selection and reward by merit - in a word, on professionalism.