The term kleiner Mann ('little man') is not a strictly defined sociological category. It is, rather, a loose expression used both in the everyday world of colloquial exchanges and also in more formal discourse to evoke associations with, and sympathy for, the lot of ordinary people in a world in which important decisions are taken by a small and powerful but largely invisible group of people 'up above'. The kleiner Mann is the underdog who feels the odds are stacked against him. The sense of being insignificant or helpless has of course been a widespread one in the mass society of the industrial age: the kleiner Mann is not a marginal creature but a very representative figure – 'the man on the street', 'the ordinary guy', or, in older parlance, 'the common man', 'Everyman'. Furthermore, his predicament has been articulated not only by writers but by artists from a variety of national and ethnic backgrounds, and working in a range of media and genres, who, in the midst of the confusing modern world of factories, machines, cities, bureaucracies, commercial entertainment and mass politics, have collectively created a 'culture of the little man'.