Despised

Despised
Author: Paul Embery
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 83
Release: 2020-11-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1509540008

The typical contemporary Labour MP is almost certain to be a university-educated Europhile who is more comfortable in the leafy enclaves of north London than the party’s historic heartlands. As a result, Labour has become radically out of step with the culture and values of working-class Britain. Drawing on his background as a firefighter and trade unionist from Dagenham, Paul Embery argues that this disconnect has been inevitable since the Left political establishment swallowed a poisonous brew of economic and social liberalism. They have come to despise traditional working-class values of patriotism, family and faith and instead embraced globalisation, rapid demographic change and a toxic, divisive brand of identity politics. Embery contends that the Left can only revive if it speaks once again to the priorities of working-class people by combining socialist economics with the cultural politics of belonging, place and community. No one who wants to really understand why our politics has become so dysfunctional and what the Left can do to fix it can afford to miss this authentic, insightful and passionate book.

Common People

Common People
Author: Kit de Waal
Publisher: Unbound Publishing
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2019-05-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1783527471

Working-class stories are not always tales of the underprivileged and dispossessed. Common People is a collection of essays, poems and memoir written in celebration, not apology: these are narratives rich in barbed humour, reflecting the depth and texture of working-class life, the joy and sorrow, the solidarity and the differences, the everyday wisdom and poetry of the woman at the bus stop, the waiter, the hairdresser. Here, Kit de Waal brings together thirty-three established and emerging writers who invite you to experience the world through their eyes, their voices loud and clear as they reclaim and redefine what it means to be working class. Features original pieces from Damian Barr, Malorie Blackman, Lisa Blower, Jill Dawson, Louise Doughty, Stuart Maconie, Chris McCrudden, Lisa McInerney, Paul McVeigh, Daljit Nagra, Dave O’Brien, Cathy Rentzenbrink, Anita Sethi, Tony Walsh, Alex Wheatle and more.

Challenging Parental Alienation

Challenging Parental Alienation
Author: Jean Mercer
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2021-12-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000485838

This book addresses the concept of parental alienation – the belief that when a child of divorced parents avoids one parent, it may be because the preferred parent has persuaded the child to do this. It argues against the unquestioning use of parental alienation concepts in child custody conflicts. Increasing use of this concept in family courts has led at times to placement of children with abusive or violent parents, damage to the lives of preferred parents, and the use of treatments that have not been shown to be safe or effective. The 13 chapters cover the history and theory of "parental alienation" principles and practices. Methodological and research issues are considered, and diagnostic and treatment methods associated with "parental alienation" beliefs as well as those recommended by research and ethical evidence are analyzed. The connections of "parental alienation" with gender and domestic violence issues are discussed as are the experiences of individuals who have experienced "parental alienation" treatments. The book argues that "parental alienation" principles and practices should be avoided by family courts, in the best interests of children in custody disputes. This book will be useful reading for lawyers, judges, children’s services workers including social workers, child protection court workers, and mental health professionals involved in child custody decisions.

Higher Education and Working-Class Academics

Higher Education and Working-Class Academics
Author: Teresa Crew
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 147
Release: 2020-12-09
Genre: Education
ISBN: 303058352X

This book examines how a working-class habitus interacts with the elite culture of academia in higher education. Drawing on extensive qualitative data and informed by the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the author presents new ways of examining impostor syndrome, alienation and microaggressions: all common to the working-class experience of academia. The book demonstrates that the term ‘working-class academic’ is not homogenous, and instead illuminates the entanglements of class and academia. Through an examination of such intersections as ethnicity, gender, dis/ability, and place, the author demonstrates the complexity of class and academia in the UK and asks how we can move forward so working-class academics can support both each other and students from all backgrounds.

The Making of the Black Working Class in Britain

The Making of the Black Working Class in Britain
Author: Ron Ramdin
Publisher: Verso Books
Total Pages: 625
Release: 2017-08-22
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1786630664

This is the first comprehensive historical perspective on the relationship between Black workers and the changing patterns of Britain's labour needs. It places in an historical context the development of a small black presence in sixteenth-century Britain into the disadvantaged black working class of the 1980s. The book deals with the colonial labour institutions (slavery, indentureship and trade unionism) and the ideology underlying them and also considers the previously neglected role of the nineteenth-century Black radicals in British working-class struggles. Finally, the book examines the emergence of a Black radical ideology that has underpinned the twentieth-century struggles against unemployment, racial attacks and workplace grievances, among them employer and trade union racism.

Victorian Christianity and Emigrant Voyages to British Colonies C.1840-c.1914

Victorian Christianity and Emigrant Voyages to British Colonies C.1840-c.1914
Author: Rowan Strong
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2017
Genre: History
ISBN: 0198724241

Rowan Strong looks at the religious component of the nineteenth-century British and Irish emigration experience, by examining the varieties of Christianity adhered to by most British and Irish emigrants in the nineteenth century, and consequently taken to their new homes in British settler colonies.

Developments in British Politics 10

Developments in British Politics 10
Author: Richard Heffernan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2016-09-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137494751

In recent years British politics has seemed increasingly unpredictable. The Conservative Party's return to single-party government in 2015 surprised commentators and the electorate alike, and Labour's choice of Jeremy Corbyn as its leader marked a striking change in direction for the party. Cuts to public welfare and spending have led to growing dissatisfaction among sections of the public, and the increasing popularity of parties critical of the government's immigration, economic and social policies appears to represent a call for fundamental change in British politics. With a question mark hanging over the country's global standing following the EU referendum, and with further calls for Scottish independence, Britain's immediate future seems uncertain. In the 10th edition of this highly acclaimed text, leading authorities reflect on the latest developments in British politics. Drawing on current research, the chapters provide a state-of-the-art, yet accessible, account of British politics today. All the chapters are newly commissioned for this edition and together they provide a systematic analysis of key trends, issues and debates. Topics covered include the legacy of Cameron's governments, the politics of austerity, immigration, and the question of what, if anything, is distinctively 'British' about the British political system.

The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844

The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844
Author: Frederick Engels
Publisher: BookRix
Total Pages: 478
Release: 2014-02-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 3730964852

The Condition of the Working Class in England is one of the best-known works of Friedrich Engels. Originally written in German as Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England, it is a study of the working class in Victorian England. It was also Engels' first book, written during his stay in Manchester from 1842 to 1844. Manchester was then at the very heart of the Industrial Revolution, and Engels compiled his study from his own observations and detailed contemporary reports. Engels argues that the Industrial Revolution made workers worse off. He shows, for example, that in large industrial cities mortality from disease, as well as death-rates for workers were higher than in the countryside. In cities like Manchester and Liverpool mortality from smallpox, measles, scarlet fever and whooping cough was four times as high as in the surrounding countryside, and mortality from convulsions was ten times as high as in the countryside. The overall death-rate in Manchester and Liverpool was significantly higher than the national average (one in 32.72 and one in 31.90 and even one in 29.90, compared with one in 45 or one in 46). An interesting example shows the increase in the overall death-rates in the industrial town of Carlisle where before the introduction of mills (1779–1787), 4,408 out of 10,000 children died before reaching the age of five, and after their introduction the figure rose to 4,738. Before the introduction of mills, 1,006 out of 10,000 adults died before reaching 39 years old, and after their introduction the death rate rose to 1,261 out of 10,000.

Representations of Working-Class Masculinities in Post-War British Culture

Representations of Working-Class Masculinities in Post-War British Culture
Author: Matthew Crowley
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2020-02-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0429535716

This book presents an analysis of representations of white, heterosexual, working-class masculinities in British culture between 1945 and 1989 to trace the development of the sociocultural and material conditions that shaped the masculinities which are helping to shape contemporary culture. This book seeks to fan the ‘spark of hope’ in the past that informs our present. The period which saw the establishment of the welfare state and the construction and breakdown of the post-war consensus in British politics was of great significance in the formation and maintenance of working-class masculinities and their correspondent representations. The author engages with a variety of cultural texts across various modes and media including films (Alfie), plays (Don’t Look Back in Anger), television (Boys from the Blackstuff), and music (The Beatles), and employs the analysis of the representation of working-class masculinities as a lens through which to examine a range of historical and cultural moments. This book reinstates class as a central precept in the study of British cultural representations and offers a timely intervention in ongoing debates around class and gender identities in Britain. The book will be key reading for students and researchers with interests in twentieth-century social and cultural British history, masculinities and gender studies, twentieth-century British literature, British television, and cultural studies more broadly.