Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to give me your considered opinion concerning the interpretation of the expression in bold in the following sentences?

I had dropped down from the proletariat into what sociologists love to call the “submerged tenth” (J. London, War of the Classes”)

Let us remember that year ago, the miners…were looked upon as a sort of “submerged tenth” and accordingly treated with scant respect by the coal-owners and “superior” people throughout the country.

the submerged tenth = the déclassé, the buried in misery part of the population

V.