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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
Listen to Working-Class Perspective editor Sherry Linkon's recent interview about Working-Class Studies on KERA's Think with Krys Boyd.Links
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Author Archives: deindustrial
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
The Future of Working-Class Studies
In 2005, John Russo and Sherry Linkon published their edited collection New Working-Class Studies, drawing together a rich array of writers across a range of disciplines. This was by no means the first book that addressed working-class life and culture, … Continue reading
Know Your Place: A New Generation of Working-Class Voices
A literary festival isn’t the obvious place to discuss class, but a couple of weeks ago I found myself introducing a session at my local Faversham Literary Festival on a new book called Know Your Place. Edited by Nathan Connolly … Continue reading
Miseducation and the Working Class
A couple of weeks ago my daughter passed the ‘Kent Test’, the exam ten year olds in my area sit in order to stream them for their secondary education. In our town, the options are stark. Those who pass, like … Continue reading
Posted in Class and Education, Contributors, Issues, Tim Strangleman
Tagged income inequality, public school, testing, working-class students
4 Comments
Is Class Really Forgotten?: Working-Class Studies Association 2017 Awards
Over the last week, I’ve read a couple of pieces in which elite academics highlight their discovery of the importance of class, both noting how the topic has been neglected by academia and ‘the elite’. In a Financial Times interview … Continue reading
