A Phenomenology of Working-Class Experience (Cambridge Cultural Social Studies)

This moving and challenging 1999 book by Simon Charlesworth deals with the personal consequences of poverty and class and the effects of growing up as part of a poor and stigmatized group. Charlesworth examines these themes by focussing on a particular town - Rotherham - in South Yorkshire, England, and using the personal testimony of disadvantaged people who live there, acquired through recorded interviews and conversations. He applies to these life stories the interpretative tools of philosophy and social theory, drawing in particular on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Merleau-Ponty, in order to explore the social relations and experiences of a distinct but largely ignored social group. The culture described in this book is not unique to Rotherham and Charlesworth argues that the themes and problems identified in this book will be familiar to economically powerless and politically dispossessed people everywhere. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Series-title......Page 5 Title......Page 7 Copyright......Page 8 Contents......Page 9 Acknowledgements......Page 10 1 Introduction: Dead Man’s Town......Page 15 (b) Habitus......Page 43 (d) Doxa......Page 44 (e) Reflexivity......Page 45 1. Rotherham: a brief history......Page 46 2. Rotherham: a demographic view......Page 49 3. Rotherham: a sense of the place......Page 61 3 Class and the objectifying subject: a reflexive sociology of class experience......Page 77 4 A landscape with figures?......Page 100 5 Understanding the barriers to articulation......Page 145 6 Necessity and being working class......Page 164 7 The culture of necessity and working class speech......Page 217 8 Conclusion......Page 289 2 Introducing some concepts: practice, habitus, ethos, doxa, reflexivity......Page 309 4 A landscape with figures?......Page 311 6 Necessity and being working class......Page 314 7 The culture of necessity and working class speach......Page 316 8 Conclusion......Page 318 References......Page 319 Index......Page 324 "This moving and challenging book by Simon Charlesworth deals with the personal consequences of poverty and class and the effects of growing up as part of a poor and stigmatized group. Charlesworth examines these themes by focusing on a particular town - Rotherham - in South Yorkshire, England, and using the personal testimony of people who live there, acquired through recorded interviews and notes from conversations. He applies to these life stories the interpretative tools of philosophy and social theory, drawing in particular on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Merleau-Ponty, in order to explore the social relations and experiences of a distinct but largely ignored social group."--Jacket

Charlesworth examines themes of poverty and class by focusing on a particular town—Rotherham—in South Yorkshire, England, and using the personal testimony of disadvantaged people who live there, acquired through recorded interviews and conversations. He applies to their life stories the interpretative tools of philosophy and social theory, drawing in particular on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Merleau-Ponty. Charlesworth argues the culture described in this book is not unique to Rotherham and the problems identified in this book will be familiar to economically powerless and politically dispossessed people everywhere.

This work is a description of lives in one of the old industrial areas of Britain. Simon J. Charlesworth. Includes Bibliographical References.