Austen's novels focus on the lives of a small percentage of the English population: rich landowners. These people held the most wealth in that society, and the wealth inequality between this class and the working and lower classes was an extraordinary one. Unfortunately, 200 years later we continue to live in a society with massive wealth inequality. The problems that the working and lower classes faced mirror those of today, and the disconnect between these and the top 1% is similar to that of Austen's time. Bernie Sanders made this the focus of his campaign in the Democratic Primary and touches upon it in his reaction to the results of the general election.
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