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.