When aristocracy as such became discredited, people still found in themselves a desire, acknowledged or not, to look down on somebody. It is the old sin of pride. Just because aristocracy is abolished or muted does not mean its proud and ancient desires disappear. If they cannot achieve satisfaction in the old political structures, they shall find new ways.
And so, much of the 19th to 21st centuries’ opposition to “modernity,” however defined, may owe some of its existence to the old desire to feel superior. The aristocrat of the spirit looks down on the NOW in the name of the PAST. He cannot, perhaps even in his own eyes, despise openly in the name of “blood,” or even class, and maintain credibility. But he can cook up some theory—even one which may have considerable truth in it—wherein he stands by the past over and against the present. Thus, he can despise all and sundry about him as the benighted commoners in effect, those who do not understand or appreciate the old ways. This is a source of tremendous satisfaction. The other type of snob, the one who despises the past in the name of the present, must be content to despise the dead. It is much harder in this situation to pose as the brave knight living in enemy territory but soldiering on nonetheless. To cast one’s attack broadly against “modernity” can be to gloat in one’s superiority in the face of an enemy whose power outstrips one’s own (while, in effect, living in no greater danger than anyone else); this is more gratifying to the ego than to gloat over a helpless corpse.