Working Classes

The Importance of Informal Volunteering

by Jon Dean

Paper at the NCVO/VSSN Conference 2011. Themed panel on 'Challenging Narratives: Towards an Understanding of the History of Volunteering', with Georgina Brewis, Anjelica Finnegan and Nicholas Deakin.

This working paper seeks to highlight two issues. Firstly, that the research community often ignores the importance of... more This working paper seeks to highlight two issues. Firstly, that the research community often ignores the importance of informal volunteering, and secondly that to do so causes most harm to working-class communities.

Gender and uneven working-class formation in the Irish linen industry

by Jane Gray

Gray, Jane. 1996. “Gender and Uneven Working Class Formation in the Irish Linen Industry.” Pp. 37-56 in L.L. Frader and S.O. Rose, eds. Gender and Class in Modern Europe. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

This analysis of the cultural changes associated with class formation centers on the gendered meanings attached to the... more This analysis of the cultural changes associated with class formation centers on the gendered meanings attached to the consumption of beer and tea in the poems of "rhyming weavers" from the northeast of Ireland. These works, published by subscription during the first half of the nineteenth century, give unique clues to how ordinary people understood and represented the changes surrounding the transition to centralized production.

Gender and plebian culture in Ulster

by Jane Gray

Gray, Jane. 1993. “Gender and Plebian Culture in Ulster.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 24 (Autumn): 251-270.

Colonial products, such as tea and tobacco, were still considered luxury items in Ireland at the end of the eighteenth... more Colonial products, such as tea and tobacco, were still considered luxury items in Ireland at the end of the eighteenth century, but their consumption by spinners and weavers of linen yarn and cloth increased from about 1780 onward. The changing cultural meanings that Irish linen producers attached to tea-drinking are explored in this article through an analysis of poems and songs written by weavers (and one spinner) around the turn of the nineteenth century. Conspicuous luxury commodity consumption formed part of a new, collective identity among rural industrial producers in Ireland and throughout Europe

Folk Poetry and Working Class Identity in Ulster: An Analysis of James Orr's 'The Penitent'.

by Jane Gray

Published in Journal of Historical Sociology, 6 (3). pp. 249-275.

This paper explores changing patterns of collective identity amongst rural industrial producers in the North of... more This paper explores changing patterns of collective identity amongst rural industrial producers in the North of Ireland through an extended analysis of a single poem, 'The Penitent,' written by the weaver-poet James Orr in 1800.

Pierre Bourdieu and the Distinctive Body

by Nadeem Fayaz

Benvenuti in tempi interessanti di Slavoj Žižek. La rivoluzione è possibile nel regno dell’uomo-massa?

by Pietro Piro

Recensione critica a S. Žižek, Benvenuti in tempi interessanti, Ponte alle Grazie, Milano 2012.

E' vero che per soppiantare efficacemente il capitale, ciò di cui abbiamo bisogno è l'opera graduale, lunga e faticosa... more E' vero che per soppiantare efficacemente il capitale, ciò di cui abbiamo bisogno è l'opera graduale, lunga e faticosa di riorganizzare interamente il processo produttivo in modo tale che le forze di alienazione della regolamentazione tanto del mercato quanto dello Stato vengano sostituite da un'autentica pianificazione organizzata "dal basso", in un rapporto di trasparenza con i produttori come afferma S. Žižek, oppure, il capitale non si tocca perché garantisce la lunga vita dell'uomo-massa?

La lotta di classe dopo la lotta di classe di Luciano Gallino. Vedute sul mondo triste e reale che abitiamo.

by Pietro Piro

Recensione critica a L. Gallino, La lotta di classe dopo la lotta di classe. Intervista a cura di Paola Borgna, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2012. Ora in Revista Sociologia del Trabajo, n. 76, Madrid, Akal (2012) (en prensa).

Il fatto è che le classi sociali ci siano, ma quai nessuno le veda, le senta, le interpreti, ne rappresenti gli... more Il fatto è che le classi sociali ci siano, ma quai nessuno le veda, le senta, le interpreti, ne rappresenti gli interessi, ha provocato notevole danno ai processi d'integrazione sociale, altro concetto fondamentale del pensiero sociologico. Il venir meno della visibilità delle classi sociali nella vita quotidiana, mentre rimane più che mai profonda ed estesa la loro presenza nella realtà dell'economia e della produzione, ha portato con se il declino del senso della comunità, di appartenenza ad una collettività, che si concreta nell'avvertire di una sorta di dovere verso gli altri, dai quali si riceve nel contempo riconoscimento sociale e solidarietà. L'individualismo rozzo che ha preso piede nella nostra società come in tutte le società europee, per non parlare di quella americana, deriva anche dal fatto che la collettività, la comunità, i gruppi che in qualche modo sono pezzi di classi sociali a vari livelli di formazione, sono praticamente scomparsi.

Luciano Gallino, La lotta di classe dopo la lotta di classe.

Class, Productive and Unproductive Labour: Divisions in the Global Working Class?

by Timothy Kerswell

Published Journal Article

Political interactions are alliances and conflicts between various social forces. This article discusses the... more Political interactions are alliances and conflicts between various social forces. This article discusses the distinction between productive and unproductive labour in relation to the various activities that take place during the production and consumption of a commodity. Most importantly, this article demonstrates that the ability to perform unproductive labour is dependent on the performance of productive labour. On the basis of this, a greater understanding of the divisions that exist between workers in the global North and in the global South is achieved

'Absent Fireguards and Burnt Children: Coroners and The Development Of Clause 15 Of The Children Act 1908'

by Vicky Holmes

Law, Crime And History 1 (2012), 21-58

Building a Working Class Archaeology: The Colorado Coal Field War Project

by Randall McGuire

McGuire, Randall H. & Paul Reckner
2003 Building a Working Class Archaeology: The Colorado Coal Field War Project. Industrial Archaeology Review 25(2):83-95.

See also
Larkin, Karin and Randall H. McGuire
2009 The Archaeology of Class War: The Colorado Coalfield Strike of 1913-1914. University of Colorado Press, Boulder.

The Unromantic West: Labor, Capital, and Struggle

by Randall McGuire

McGuire, Randall H. & Paul Reckner
2002 The Unromantic West: Labor, Capital, and Struggle. Historical Archaeology 36(3):44-58.

A gang of historians has gunned down the "romantic West." They have dismissed the notion of the West as a... more A gang of historians has gunned down the "romantic West." They have dismissed the notion of the West as a frontier of opportunity for all comers. The American West has been redefined as an arena of struggle involving complex relations of class, gender, ethnicity, and race. Western work camps and company towns existed as extensions of a global economy centered on the eastern United States. From the mid-19th century through the first decades of the 20th century, capital and people flowed into the West from Europe, Asia, and Mexico. In this internal periphery of U.S. capitalism, workers experienced the same type of exploitation and engaged in the same struggles as their brethren in other parts of the United States. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in the coalfields of Colorado. The work camps and company towns that archaeologists excavate were loci of struggle, and historians cannot claim to understand them without considering these conflicts.

Class Confrontations in Archaeology

by Randall McGuire

McGuire, Randall H. and Mark Walker
1999 Class Confrontations in Archaeology. Historical Archaeology 33(1)159-183.

An updated version of this paper appears in Archaeology as Political Action, 2008

Archaeologist not only study class they also live it. Archaeology as a discipline serves class interests and as a... more Archaeologist not only study class they also live it. Archaeology as a discipline serves class interests and as a profession,or occupation, it has its own class structure. The discipline of archaeology has, since its founding, primarily served middle class interests. It has formed part of the symbolic capital that has been necessary for membership in the middle class during this century. Archaeology has traditionally reproduced itself in the university using a guild model of apprenticeship and mastery. In both the academy and in cultural resource man agement today this guild model has become an ideology that obscures the existence of an archaeological proletariat of teaching assistants, adjuncts, and field techs. The ideology justifies denying these archaeologists respect, a living wage, job security, and benefits. A seven step program is proposed to rectify the structural class inequalities of modern archaeology.

Rabochie i "rabochaya demokratiya: Borʹba v RKP(b) na rubezhe 1923-1924 godov.

by Alexander V. Reznik

published in Bulletin Nr. 6 of Deutsches Historisches Institut Moskau

"...статьи глеба альберта и александра резника раскрывают потенциал исследования коммунистического движения на... more "...статьи глеба альберта и александра резника раскрывают потенциал исследования коммунистического движения на его социальной и географической периферии. исследуя внутрипартийный дискурс об интернационализме, альберт задается вопросом о его значении для мобилизации нижних партийных чинов в первые послереволюционные годы. резник обращается к изучению оппозиционных группировок внутри большевистской партии в первые годы НЭПа. оба исследователя ставят в центр изучения самопонимание и поведенческие практики низовых и локальных партийных кадров. тем самым авторы вносят свой вклад в понимание большевиков как социального движения, значение которого вовсе не ограничивалось пределами Москвы и Петрограда" (Катя Бруиш).

The Many Headed Hydra: Plebeians in the World c.1660-1820

by William Farrell

This conference explores the role of plebeians in the colonial and commercial expansion across the world from c.1660-1820. Inspired by the themes of Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker’s The Many Headed Hydra (2000) the papers will explore the book’s central themes in the light of new research, as well as taking it into new areas. The role of seas and ships, armies and navies, and commercial interests in creating and regulating a mobile, multi-ethnic workforce will be explored. Research on traditions of popular protest and radical political and religious ideologies will also be presented. As well as the English-speaking Atlantic, there will be papers on French Canada, Brazil, the Middle East and the Cape Colony.

Keynote speaker: Prof. Richard Drayton (KCL).

Date: Thursday, April 12 2012.

Venue: Room 532, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX.

The conference is free to attend, but places are limited. Please email: manyheadedhydra.2012@gmail.com to book a place.

Supported by Dept of History, Classics & Archaeology, Birkbeck & History Workshop Journal.

Organisers: William Farrell (Birkbeck), Stephen Dean Jnr (KCL).

Gérer la distance à la base. Les permanents CGT d'un atelier SNCF

by Julian Mischi

Sociétés contemporaines, 2011/4 n° 84, p. 53-77.

Managing Distance in the “Rank-and-file”
Full-time CGT Officials from an SNCF Workshop

À partir de l’ethnographie d’un syndicat de cheminots situé en milieu rural, cet article explore les liens que des responsables CGT entretiennent avec l’entreprise (un atelier de la SNCF) où ils sont de moins en moins présents. Appréhender les logiques de la professionnalisation syndicale « par en bas » fait apparaître le rôle déterminant du contexte local et du groupe des pairs : les permanents sont confrontés à de multiples rappels à l’ordre de la part des salariés. L’article analyse comment ces permanents définissent leur rôle et font face à la pression de leurs collègues, comment ils sont amenés à envisager des stratégies de sortie de poste afin d’échapper à une situation (de distance au terrain mêlée de proximité) qui, à un certain moment de leur trajectoire, devient trop coûteuse.

Based on the ethnography of a railway workers’ union in a rural environment, this article explores the relations that... more Based on the ethnography of a railway workers’ union in a rural environment, this article explores the relations that CGT representatives maintain with the company (an SNCF railway workshop) where they are less and less present. Examining the logics of union professionalisation “from the rank-and-file” exposes the determining role of the local context and of peer groups: full-time union officials are frequently being called to order by the workers. This article analyses how these union officials define their role and handle pressure from their colleagues and how they eventually envisage exit strategies from their positions in order to avoid situations (of being distanced from “the field” combined with familiarity) which, at a certain point in their trajectory, become too onerous.

Reforming Arbitration: Class, Gender and the Conseil des Prud'hommes in Tourcoing, 1848-1894

by Mathieu Brûlé

Richard Carlile: 1790-1843

by Emilie Frenkiel

Passato prossimo e futuro anteriore: la classe operaia nell'immaginario collettivo italiano

by Andrea Sangiovanni

saggio in "Quaderno di storia contemporanea", Rivista dell'Istituto per la Storia della Resistenza e della Società Contemporanea in provincia di Alessandria, n. 46, 2009

Un saggio sul modo in cui la figura dell'operaio della grande fabbrica si è sedimentato nellìimmaginario collettivo... more Un saggio sul modo in cui la figura dell'operaio della grande fabbrica si è sedimentato nellìimmaginario collettivo italiano, e sulle forme della sua progressiva scomparsa 

Nutrition, hygiene, and mortality. Setting parameters for Roman health and life expectancy consistent with our comparative evidence

by Geoffrey Kron

In E. Lo Cascio (a cura di), L’impatto della “peste antonina,” (Collana di Pragmateiai) (Bari: Edipuglia) (in press)

Any hypotheses regarding the likely long-term demographic impact of the Antonine plague will have to take into... more Any hypotheses regarding the likely long-term demographic impact of the Antonine plague will have to take into account, not only the cause of the epidemic, but also the underlying mortality and fertility regime of the Roman empire. Health, nutritional status and hygiene have a significant effect upon the virulence of some epidemics, while for others, like the bubonic plague, for example, they are largely irrelevant. But whatever the effect on the morbidity of the epidemic, the underlying mortality regime of the population will have a significant impact on determining both the extent to which the population will be able to absorb this excess mortality, and the extent to which it will or will not recover.

At least since the influential work of Keith Hopkins in the 1960’s, a broad consensus has emerged among ancient historians setting the life expectancy at birth in the Roman Principate and Empire at between 20 and 30 years of age, with most estimates falling on the lower end of this range, often below 25 years. As the trenchant critiques of Tim Parkin and Walter Scheidel have emphasized, however, solid evidence for the calculation of ancient life expectancy simply does not exist. Recent estimates must therefore remain largely educated guesses based on comparative evidence from early-industrial Europe or the contemporary Third World. I intend to argue that at least three strong considerations suggest that the present scholarly consensus is unrealistically low. .

First, a more careful reading of the modern demographic evidence will show that the life expectancies as low as those conjectured for Roman Italy are rarely documented for Western European societies, generally only in brief periods of extreme poverty and stress, or for limited segments of society.

Second, researchers of ancient demography have generally neglected the critical role of nutrition in the modern rise in life expectancy, as argued in a classic, if controversial, work by Thomas MacKeown, and confirmed by the correlation between the secular increase in heights and decline in mortality in modern Europe and North America drawn by Robert Fogel. In fact, anthropometric evidence of ancient heights suggests that Greco-Roman societies enjoyed a significantly higher biological standard of living than the working classes of 18th and 19th century Western Europe. Early industrial life expectancies are therefore likely to represent a floor, rather than a ceiling, for plausible Greco-Roman estimates.

Finally, there is evidence that, in addition to enjoying superior nutritional standards, Greco-Roman populations likely faced fewer health stresses from contaminated drinking water, over-crowding, poor hygiene and sanitation, lack of exercise, and social inequality generally than the poor of the European ancien régime.

Capitalism, Desperation and Urgency

by Deniz Yonucu

Red Thread / Archive /  Issue 3 (2011)

In July 2003, an incident took place in Hasköy, Istanbul that was newsworthy, even though it was not in the papers: 5... more In July 2003, an incident took place in Hasköy, Istanbul that was newsworthy, even though it was not in the papers: 5 young men around the ages16-17 want to enter the new shopping mall that opened in their neighborhood. However, the security guard, who is also a resident of the same neighborhood, does not let them enter as per his instructions. Because according to the mall management the youth of the neighborhood are "dangerous." The young men get angry and an argument ensues at the entrance. Among the group, a young man of 16 is exasperated with being denied entrance, and as his friends are arguing with the guard, he begins to run back and forth to crash into the large glass shop window. At his third strike, the glass shatters and the young man succeeds in entering the mall alongside the glass cutting his body. In this article, drawing on my research in Hasköy and Güzeltepe[2] which once used to be organized working class neighborhoods of Istanbul, I will discuss the effects of contemporary capitalism on working class youth and certain forms of responses they devise in face of this. More specifically, I will explore the ways in which Hasköy and Güzeltepe youth's struggle against social and economic exclusion is shaped by a sense of urgency -sometimes at the expense of their future- as exemplified in the reaction of the young man who finds an alternative way to enter the mall at the expense of his body.