[cojadate]

I really don't think article is meant to be taken very seriously. I mean dividing society into three powers, the footballers, the artists and the nerds... is not a sociological theory that anyone is going to defend without the aid of several pints of beer. And I'm sure that the author realizes that top sportsmen were highly revered in the 70s (even if in the UK there were more big-name cricketers and rugby players and less celebrity footballers) and that 'creative types' still get plenty of cultural kudos today (which has never been the same thing as easy money).

The only elements of seriousness I can detect are in the snipe at pirates and the allusion to the struggles of the creative industries, but I think there are genuinely two sides to those stories so I find it hard to get worked up it.