pre-departure query two (on Cannadine, Introduction)

For the second of the four pre-departure questions (you should already have read, Cannadine, "Chapter One, Introduction: Beyond Class - Forward to Class?"), I am basically repeating one I made last year about Marx's concepts of class "in itself" and "for itself" (summarized in Rise and Fall of Class in Britain, 1999, pp. 2-4). What does Marx mean? Give two examples [either "in itself" and "for itself" from either history or private life; or either "in itself" or "for itself" from both history and private life, or....] of what he means. That is, can you describe an example from history that shows class "in itself" at work or as a factor, one from history that shows class "for itself," one from your own life or that of your family that shows class "in itself," or from your own life/family that shows class "for itself." Those drawn from British history would be nice, but not necessary. Finally, why do you think historians have become less interested in class explanations since 1980?

• This is the first one so I'll start. In history, I might give the example of the sans culottes in the French Revolution. The sans culottes were a group of artisans and small shopkeepers who became briefly influential in the revolution in Paris, during the radical phase, 1792-94. They demanded fixed prices which helped them compete and able to earn a living. Because many of them were of this one social level (lower bourgeoisie?), they (or many of them) were objetively a class "in itself." But they also defined themselves as the sans culottes (or, "without breaches") which means that they saw themselves as without breaches and fine stockings which were the clothes of the nobility. This class consciousness meant they were to some extent a class "for itself."
  
• In my own life, my father was a junior officer when I was young, so we lived in fairly small houses. But not only did he save his money a rise through the ranks, he inherited a small ranch and stocks. So, even though I did not attend private prep schools, it was unsuprising that I attended and succeeded at a fairly elite college. Shorthand, I was from upper, or lower upper, middle class "in itself," and so my college career reflected that. As far as class "for itself," while in London in the mid-70s living with my parents, I adopted the phrase "ta" (meaning, "thank you, very much"). A British friend of my father's told him that I probably shouldn't use that slang as it was very lower class ("'kyou," pronounced "kew," was probably a bit more elevated). My father's friend, then, seems to have been aware of his class "for itself."

OK, you aren't going to want to go on at that length (and I haven't answered the question of why I think there is a decline in interest in class), but that is the sort of thing I am looking for.