Even in Germany don't like to explicitly talk about class, and I think it might be for the same reason the US doesn't like to: the most cogent notion of class isn't nobility vs commoners anymore, it's patricians vs plebeians, or the bourgeoisie vs workers. And while the old school Marxist analysis might be partially or completely wrong when it comes to finding solutions, the concepts of workers, workers aristocracy,lumpen proletatiat, petty bourgeoise vs grand bourgeoise etc. are very very applicable in analysis today.
The small store owner struggling to make ends meet and potentially "exploiting" their workers because otherwise they can't compete with Walmart is the modern petty bourgeoise, programmers sitting on golden cages complaining about meaningless jobs are the workers aristocracy etc. You can also further refine this analysis and remove the last I'll fitting things. There isn't really a good fit for the worker aristocracy owning stocks but not really wielding influence.
But what all of these (attempted) analyses of class have in common is that the are leftist, which in the US doesn't fly as easily culturally as it might in Europe - and even then, people avoid placing themselves in a lineage with Marx for historical reasons.
The small store owner struggling to make ends meet and potentially "exploiting" their workers because otherwise they can't compete with Walmart is the modern petty bourgeoise, programmers sitting on golden cages complaining about meaningless jobs are the workers aristocracy etc. You can also further refine this analysis and remove the last I'll fitting things. There isn't really a good fit for the worker aristocracy owning stocks but not really wielding influence.
But what all of these (attempted) analyses of class have in common is that the are leftist, which in the US doesn't fly as easily culturally as it might in Europe - and even then, people avoid placing themselves in a lineage with Marx for historical reasons.