Ehrenreich’s most important contribution to political theory was her work on what she called the “professional managerial class”. Ehrenreich argued that the new middle classes – highly educated and with white-collar professional skills – had taken over key parts of running society in liberal democracies like New Zealand, including political parties, the media, the education system and the public service. Ehrenreich regarded this as major problem and saw this group as a class that had become increasingly detached, hostile and disparaging towards the working class majority in society.
