virtual community and the new class

I thought I'd draw a connection between the concept of virtual community and that of the "new class" mentioned in the Liu text. I was intrigued by the idea of a "cultural" rather than economic class, as Bourdieu envisions it, and I was wondering whether the "the virtual community" could be divided up in a hierarchy of "cultural classes". I am personally not at all convinced by the concept of a social class detached from economics; after all, how can you detach "culture" from political economy and the power relationships it functions on? Liu is right to criticize Bourdieu, but he could have gone further and discussed the relationship between culture and economics. Fernback makes some good points when arguing for an economic hierarchy within the "virtual community": "only those with good credit or lots of disposable income may end up being targeted" (p.8), "individuals are ranked according to their estimated propensity to pay/default and their creditworthiness" (ibid.) etc.