From a Bloomberg Businessweek profile of economist Janet Yellin: [At the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco], "Yellen continued her tradition of standing in the cafeteria lunch line with the proletariat and eating with the staff, which was unheard of at the time."
Is there are profession other than journalism where in 2013 people actually use the word "proletariat" in a non-ironic way? (Sociology professors? Community organizers?) Or is this supposed to be ironic? And do staff members at the central bank — who presumably include some more junior economists as well as janitors and office support staff — really qualify as the "proletariat"?