Class, Culture and Social Change : On the Trail of the Working Class

Class, Culture And Social Change: On The Trail Of The Working Class Challenges The Notion Of The 'death Of The Working Class'. It Does This By Taking A Broad Historical And Theoretical Overview Of The Way Class - In Particular Ideas Of The British Working Class - Has Been Represented In A Range Of Cultural Forms From Ethnography And Cultural Theory, To Film And The Novel. The Author Examines A Number Of Key Issues For Working-class Studies: The Idea Of The 'death' Of Class; The Importance Of Working-class Writing; The Significance Of Place And Space For Understanding Working-class Identity; And The Centrality Of Work In Working-class Lives. Drawing On The Work Of Raymond Williams, Valentin Volosinov, Mikhail Bakhtin And Others, The Book Seeks To Revive Ways For Thinking About Working-class Identity And Experience. Northern Exposure : The Travails Of Class In A Post-industrial Landscape -- In Search For The Working Class : The Rise Of British Cultural Studies -- Abyss-mal Sites : Representation And The British Working-class -- 'speaking For More Than Itself' : Answerability And The Working-class Text -- Working Through Change (i) : Oral Testimony And The Language Of Class -- Working Through Change (ii) : Work-life Histories And Narratives Of Class. John Kirk. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 219-227) And Index. Drawing on the work of Raymond Williams, Valentin Volosinov and Mikhail Bakhtin, the book examines key issues for working-class studies including: the idea of the 'death' of class; the importance of working-class writing; the significance of place and space for understanding working-class identity; and the centrality of work in working-class lives. Class, Culture and Social Change: On the Trail of the Working Class challenges the notion of the 'death of the working class'. It does this by taking a broad historical and theoretical overview of the way class - in particular ideas of the British working class - has been represented in a range of cultural forms from ethnography and cultural theory, to film and the novel. The author examines a number of key issues for working-class studies: the idea of the 'death' of class; the importance of working-class writing; the significance of place and space for understanding working-class identity; and the centrality of work in working-class lives. Drawing on the work of Raymond Williams, Valentin Volosinov, Mikhail Bakhtin and others, the book seeks to revive ways for thinking about working-class identity and experience Front Matter....Pages i-vi Introduction....Pages 1-12 Northern Exposure: The Travails of Class in a Post-Industrial Landscape....Pages 13-37 In Search of the Working Class: The Rise of British Cultural Studies....Pages 38-72 Abyss-mal Sites: Representation and the British Working Class....Pages 73-102 ‘Speaking for more than Itself’: Answerability and the Working-Class Text....Pages 103-141 Working through Change (i): Oral Testimony and the Language of Class....Pages 142-168 Working through Change (ii): Work-life Histories and Narratives of Class....Pages 169-202 Conclusion....Pages 203-208 Back Matter....Pages 209-232 Challenges the notion of the 'death of the working class'. This book examines a number of key issues for working-class studies which include: the idea of the 'death' of class; the importance of working-class writing; the significance of place and space for understanding working-class identity; and, the centrality of work in working-class lives