The British working class, 1832-1940 / Andrew August.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

August, Andrew, 1962-

Series:

Studies in modern history (Longman (Firm))

Studies in modern history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Working class--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Working class.

Social classes.

History.

Great Britain.

Working class--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Social classes--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Social classes--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Physical Description:

ix, 286 pages ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Harlow, England ; New York : Pearson Longman, 2007.

Summary:

In this insightful new study, Andrew August examines the British working class in the period when Britain became a mature industrial power working men and women dominated massive new urban populations, and the extension of suffrage brought them into the political nation for the first time. Between 1832 and 1940 there were huge fluctuations in Britain's economic status and the circumstances of working-class life. Standards of housing and sanitation changed drastically, efforts to control fertility resulted in smaller families, and as working hours got shorter, leisure activities played a greater role in people's lives. Nonetheless, the role of the family remained central, and certain leisure interests helped define the working class. The shared experience of manual labour remained at the core of working-class life, and distinctive patterns of work, leisure and family life nourished class consciousness.

Framing his subject chronologically, but treating it thematically, August gives a vivid account of working class life between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, examining the issues and concerns central to working-class identity. Identifying shared patterns of experience in the lives of workers, he avoids the limitations of both traditional historiography dominated by economic determinism and party politics, and the revisionism which too readily dismisses the importance of class in British society.

Contents:

Part 1 1832-70 7

Introduction: Britain in 1832 9

1 Forming the urban working class 13

Migration 13

Urbanization 16

Housing and sanitation 17

The family and community 21

2 Labour in the 'factory age' 30

Hours of labour 31

Scale and technology 33

Skill, sex roles and authority 34

Industrial conflict 39

3 Leisure and the urban worker 51

Popular leisure in the early nineteenth century 51

Early and mid-Victorian working-class leisure 52

Repression and reform 57

The limits of reform 60

4 Working-class identity and politics 68

Class and identity 68

Politics and worker frustration in the 1830s 73

Chartism 75

Mid-Victorian radicalism and protest 78

Resisting and manipulating the mid-Victorian state 80

Part 2 1870-1914 89

Introduction: Discontinuity in 1870? 91

5 The 'traditional' working-class community 95

The working-class neighbourhood 96

Housing and sanitation 97

The family economy 100

6 Control, conflict and collective bargaining in the workplace 110

Employer initiatives and worker responses 111

Gender and age 113

Unionization 116

The state and worker organizations 120

7 Expanding leisure opportunities 127

Informal leisure 129

Commercial leisure 132

Philanthropic leisure and self-help 135

8 Class identity and everyday politics 146

Complex identities 146

Party politics 153

Informal politics 156

Part 3 1914-40 165

Introduction: The working class and the Great War 167

9 Old and new working-class communities 173

Population 173

Migration 176

Housing 178

Health 182

Family economies and communities 183

10 Unemployment, dislocation and new industries 191

Growth and unemployment 192

Employer initiatives in the workplace 194

Unions, conflict and the state 198

11 Cinema, dance hall and streets 207

Informal leisure 209

Commercialized leisure 212

Associations, clubs and the regulation of leisure 218

12 Patriotism, politics and identity 227

Patriotism, nationalism and empire 228

Formal and informal politics 233

Conclusion: Change and continuity 243.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780582381308

0582381304

OCLC:

76898030