An old joke has an Oxford professor meeting an American former graduate student and asking him what he's working on these days. 'My thesis is on the survival of the class system in the United States.' 'Oh really, that's interesting: one didn't think there was a class system in the United States.' 'Nobody does. That's how it survives. Christopher Hitchens
About This Quote

A common, but somewhat outdated, joke is about an Oxford professor meeting an American former graduate student. The professor asks him what he's working on these days. The student responds that he's writing his thesis on how much longer society will tolerate the class system. To which the professor replies that it doesn't look like much longer to him.

He then asks why he's working on this topic. The student responds that he wants to know how long the system will "survive."

Source: Hitch22: A Memoir

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