Something I came across last night

I downloaded a sample of Vampire Forensics; Uncovering the Origins of and Enduring Legend, by Mark Collins Jenkins, which I plan to buy once I have about $14 I can spare. In it he quotes Peter Nicholls, editor of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction:

Vampires are aristocratic, drinking only the most refined substances, usually blood. In the iconography of horror, the vampire stands for sex. The werewolf, who stand for instability, shapeshifting, lack of self-control, is middle-class and lives in a dog-eat-dog world. The zombie or ghoul, who shambles and rots, is working class, inarticulate, dangerous, deprived, wishing only to feed on those who are better off; in the iconography of horror the zombie stands for the exploited worker.

I never quite thought of it that way. Hmmm....