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Thechattering classes is a politically active, socially concerned and highly educated section of the "metropolitanmiddle class",[1] especially those with political, media, and academic connections. It is a generally derogatory term,[1] often used bypundits and political commentators.
It is sometimes used to refer to aliberal elite, but its first use by British journalistFrank Johnson in 1980 appeared to include a wider range of pundits.[1] Indeed, the term is used by people all across the political spectrum to refer to the journalists and political operatives who see themselves as the arbiters ofconventional wisdom.[2] As such, the notion of "chattering classes" can be seen as anantonym to the older idea of an unrepresentedsilent majority, made notable by the U.S. Republican Party PresidentRichard Nixon.
In theUnited States, the term has come to be used by both theleft andright and to describe political opponents, with Stephen Perrault of theMerriam-Webster dictionary suggesting that the term has "connotations of idleness, of useless talk, that the noun 'chatter' does. ... These people don't amount to much—they like to hear themselves talk."[3]
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