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Subscribe to Working-Class Perspectives - Working-Class Perspectives offers weekly commentaries on current issues related to working-class people and communities. Contributors discuss a variety of issues, from what class means to how it intersects with race and gender to how class is shaping American politics. We welcome relevant comments of 500 words or less.
For questions or comments about this blog, e-mail Sherry Linkon. For assistance with news stories about working-class politics and culture, call or e-mail John Russo, 330-207-8085. Categories
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The State of the Working Class
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Author Archives: deindustrial
Chums or Comrades: Working-Class Perspectives after Johnson
While Boris Johnson may have lost his premiership in recent weeks, a fascinating and profoundly depressing new book by Financial Times journalist Simon Kuper reminds us of why the story behind the rise to power of Johnson and his circle … Continue reading
Studs Terkel’s Working 50 Years On
As I prepared to teach my module on work this year, I realised that Studs Terkel’s book Working celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in 2022. It’s a book that both reflects and helps to explain working-class life. I first encountered it … Continue reading
Accounting for Class
Recently global accountancy giant KPMG made headlines for its new policy on social class and its mission to increase working-class representation amongst its workforce. In what seems like a ground-breaking initiative, the company has set itself the target of increasing … Continue reading
Posted in Contributors, Issues, Tim Strangleman, Understanding Class, Working-Class Culture
Tagged Class diversity, class identity
3 Comments
Labour and the Working Class in the UK
After decades of consistently supporting the Labour Party, voters in Hartlepool recently elected their first Tory MP, in a byelection caused by the previous MP standing down as a result of a scandal. Hartlepool sits on the North-east coast of … Continue reading
Posted in Contributors, Issues, Tim Strangleman, Working-Class Politics
Tagged Brexit, Labour Party, UK elections, working-class voters
5 Comments
Toxic Class Encounters
It’s thirty years this autumn since I began my undergraduate degree at Durham University in the North East of England. To tell you the truth I didn’t know much about the city before I applied there. My visit for the … Continue reading
Posted in Class and Education, Contributors, Issues, Tim Strangleman
Tagged class privilege, classism, Durham University, working-class students
5 Comments
Universal Basic Income and Working-Class Futures
There have been few good things to come out of COVID-19. We’ve seen a genuine sense of community spirit emerge along with greater respect for blue-collar workers in the front line. In the UK, we’ve seen another less obvious shift: … Continue reading
Counting on Class: The Continuing Appeal of Meritocracy
Neither faith in nor critiques of the idea of meritocracy is new. Michael Young’s famous 1958 book The Rise of Meritocracy argued that class privilege and advantage were likely to be amplified as financial and cultural capital passed across generations … Continue reading
Posted in Contributors, Issues, Tim Strangleman, Understanding Class
Tagged inequality, meritocracy
2 Comments
Why Can’t It Be Like That Now? Remembering What We Had and Could Have Again
‘But why can’t work be like that now?’ my colleague Julia asked when I told her about my research into the former Guinness brewery at Park Road in West London. After working on the project for the best part of … Continue reading
Posted in Contributors, Issues, Tim Strangleman, Work
Tagged changes in work, workers' experiences, working conditions, working-class culture
2 Comments
Working-Class Precarity: An Education
The teacher who most influenced me was Raphael Samuel, one of the leading social historians of his time – though I didn’t know that when I studied with him. Raph, as we came to know him, had chosen to work … Continue reading
Posted in Class and Education, Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Tim Strangleman, Work
Tagged precarity, sociology of work, working-class students
1 Comment
Working-Class Heroes On — and Behind — the Screen
Last week the British Film Institute (BFI) launched a season of screenings on Working Class Heroes at the South Bank in central London. The films selected offer a wide range of film representations of the British working class over the … Continue reading
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