[Luke Bunyip]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

How about:

Dwarves are the filthy proletariat, or at least part of it along with the humans, laboring in dark, Satanic mills and producing various technological wonders (elevators, horseless carriages, zeppelins, etc.). The elves are the aristocracy, living on their country estates and nicely-appointed town houses and telling everyone else what to do. They may not care much for technology, but it's mostly an "out of sight, out of mind" thing, much as corporate executives of the recent-but-not-too-recent past might benefit from the existence of computers but never touch one themselves; that's for secretaries, technicians, and other workers. The brass and steam gadgets are concealed behind facades of lacquer, oak panels, hammered metalwork, and velvet brocade.

...and that is why there is a dwarven edition of Das Kapital.