history of us; class as history

OK, now we are thinking. As Keith Thomas, a historian quoted in the Preface of Cannadine's Rise and Fall of Class in Britain (p. xii), states "History enhances our self-consciousness, enables us to see ourselves in perspecitve, and helps us towards that greater freedom and understanding which comes from self-knowledge." So the comments of five of you so far on pre-departure question one start pushing us gently into thinking about our own identities in class terms. From there we need to begin to think historically of class(es) as a process: how did x become associated with y class or sub-class?; how did such a class or sub-class begin thinking of itself as a thing (with particular markers or barriers)?