ABSTRACT
Dangerous class(es) An expression widely and uncritically used by the elite (from at least the eighteenth century onwards well into this century) to refer in general to the poor, criminals and vagrants and their particular propensity to riot or engage in other ‘dangerous’ activities. The expression is important since its existence more readily permitted the use of repressive legislation and penal measures. L. Chevalier (1973), Labouring Classes and Dangerous Classes: in Paris during the first half of the Nineteenth Century.
