@Ardeija@literatur.social @juergen_hubert@mementomori.social @Colman@mastodon.ie Thinking a little further on this, the upswing in aspirational motifs may also have something to do with the fear that the French Revolution inspired in the upper- and middle classes of other European nations. Policy post 1789 was aimed at preventing revolt. If you can offer the peasants just enough, then perhaps they will think of what they could lose by revolting. If one peasant girl can marry a prince, then why should your own daughter not do the same? It's the same mechanism as the American Dream lie – everyone may be a deferred millionaire for as long as they support the very ideology that oppresses them.