The working class in mid twentieth-century England Community, identity and social memory

This book maps how working class life was transformed in England in the middle years of the twentieth century. National trends in employment, welfare and living standards are illuminated via a focus on Brighton, providing valuable new perspectives of class and community formation. Based on fresh archival research, life histories and contemporary social surveys, the book historicises important cultural and community studies which moulded popular perceptions of class and social change in the post-war period. It shows how council housing, slum clearance and demographic trends impacted on working-class families and communities. While suburbanisation transformed home life, leisure and patterns of association, there were important continuities in terms of material poverty, social networks and cultural practices.This book will be essential reading for academics and students researching modern and contemporary social and cultural history, sociology, cultural studies and human geography.

Ben Jones is Teaching Fellow in History at the University of Sussex.

Introduction * Class: jobs, families, mobilities and social identities * Place: The social geography of working class housing * Community: Neighbours, networks and social memory * Home: family, memory and modernity * Conclusion * Biographical appendix * Bibliography * Index