Class and Contemporary British Culture

by A. Biressi, H. Nunn

Overview

How does culture articulate, frame, organise and produce stories about social class and class difference? What do these stories tell us about contemporary models of success, failure, struggle and aspiration? How have class-based labels been revived or newly-minted to categorise the insiders and outsiders of the new 'age of austerity'? Drawing on examples from the 1980s to the present day this book investigates the changing landscape of class and reveals how it has become populated by a host of classed figures including Essex Man and Essex Girl, the 'squeezed middle', the 'sharp-elbowed middle class', the 'feral underclass', the 'white working class', the 'undeserving poor', 'selfish baby boomers' and others. Overall, the book argues that social class, although complicated and highly contested, remains a valid and fruitful route into understanding how contemporary British culture articulates social distinction and social difference and the significant costs and investments at stake for all involved.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230240568
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	04/23/2013
Edition description:	2013
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Anita Biressi is Reader in Media Cultures at the University of Roehampton, UK. Her research interests include news and tabloid journalism, reality television, class and popular culture, gender and political representation. She is the author of Crime, Fear and the Law (2001) and co-author of Reality TV: Realism and Revelation (2005).

Heather Nunn is Professor of Culture and Politics at the University of Roehampton, UK. Her research interests include political communication, formations of gender and class, documentary and images of childhood. She is the author of Thatcher, Politics and Fantasy (2002) and co-author of Reality TV: Realism and Revelation (2005).

Table of Contents

PART I: INTRODUCTION: BEGINNING THE WORK OF CLASS AND CULTURE

1. Class-work: Social Change and Class Critique after the 1980s

2. Class-work after 'the Death of Class'

3. Class and Contemporary British Culture: Outline

PART II: ESSEX: CLASS, ASPIRATION AND SOCIAL MOBILITY

1. Essex, Conservatism and 'the New Sociology of Aspirations'

2. The Discovery of Essex Man

3. I've got loadsamoney!

4. Class, Taste and the Essex Girl

PART III: THE REVOLTING 'UNDERCLASS': 'YOU KNOW THEM WHEN YOU SEE THEM'

1. The 2011 English Riots and the 'Feral Underclass'

2. The 1980s: 'The Underclass, so Long Prophesied, is Now Emerging'

3. The 1990s: from the 'Underclass' to the Socially Excluded

4. The 'Underclass' Returns: Lifestyle, Consumerism, Precariousness

PART IV: TOP OF THE CLASS: EDUCATION, CAPITAL AND CHOICE

1. Inspiring the Uninspired

2. Sharp Elbows and the Competition for Resources

3. The Choice-directive or Choosing to Choose

4. The Parent-citizen and the Deployment of Capital

5. More Dream Schools

6. Poor Choices

PART V: THE ONES WHO GOT AWAY: CELEBRITY LIFE STORIES OF UPWARD SOCIAL MOBILITY

1. Celebrity Biography: Production and Consumption

2. Celebrities Working to Keep it Real

3. I Dreamed a Dream: Celebrity Origins

4. 'How did I get here from there?': Celebrity Endings

PART VI: THE UPPER CLASSES: VISIBILITY, ADAPTABILITY AND CHANGE

1. The Business of Arisracy

2. The Royal Family at Work

3. Upper Class Life-stylists: the Knowledge, the Gift and the Rules

PART VII: 'ARE YOU THINKING WHAT WE'RE THINKING?' : CLASS, IMMIGRATION AND BELONGING

1. Borders, Belonging and 'Saloon bar' Britons

2. Hylton-Potts and the Cabbies' Manifesto

3. The 'Good Woman' from Rochdale

4. All White in Barking

PART VIII: AUSTERITY BRITAIN: BACK TO THE FUTURE

1. In Times of Strife: the Myth of the 1970s Now

2. The Embattled Citizen: Keeping Calm and Carrying On

3. Past Times, Present Politics

4. 'The isle is full of noises': History Answers Back

Afterword: 'We are all in this together'

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Biressi and Nunn's brilliant analysis of the binding centrality of class in Britain is historically rich, intellectually astute, finely detailed and deeply knowledgeable. This book offers a vital, compelling analysis of why dissecting the cultural is necessary for understanding the social and, as such, it is essential reading for anyone studying the complex reinforcement of class relations in contemporary life." - Sally Munt, University of Sussex, UK

"This richly evidenced, tightly argued and deeply self-reflexive book, while national in its initial focus, addresses a question of international importance: what happens to class in societies supposedly organised around market freedoms, but ever more unequal in their operations? Anita Biressi and Heather Nunn's answer, demonstrated in a series of brilliant analyses, is that class gets reshaped as a field of harsh cultural differentiation, hard-wired into a supposedly open and plural popular culture. If you care about the fate of society in neoliberal democracies such as Britain, you really must read this book. A wholly admirable piece of work." - Nick Couldry, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, and author of Why Voice Matters

"Class and Contemporary British Culture makes for imperative reading. It's a superb book, one I'd highly recommend to anyone remotely interested in (what's horribly wrong with) contemporary Britain." - David Marx Book Reviews

"This book examines a range of issues relating to British culture and class with chapters focusing on social mobility, the underclass, education, celebrity culture, the upper classes, immigration and austerity. The chapter on the 'revolting underclass' is one of the most concise, well written and researched overviews of the 'underclass' available in scholarly literature." - LSE Review

"Class and Contemporary British Culture serves as an important indicator not just of how deeply engrained harmful class perceptions remain, but also of how far Britain needs to go before it can even pretend to call itself tolerant and democratic." - Elliot Murphy, Ceasefire

"An intellectual tour de force boasting of a rare combination of theoretical rigour and page-turning clarity, it sets out to answer key questions about the appearance and reality of class in modern British life." - Michael Pierse, Irish Left Review 1.2, Autumn 2013

'This is a highly accessible book and would be ideal for students or readers with little knowledge of class discourses.' - Stefanie Williamson, The Sociological Review

Editorial Reviews

"Biressi and Nunn's brilliant analysis of the binding centrality of class in Britain is historically rich, intellectually astute, finely detailed and deeply knowledgeable. This book offers a vital, compelling analysis of why dissecting the cultural is necessary for understanding the social and, as such, it is essential reading for anyone studying the complex reinforcement of class relations in contemporary life." - Sally Munt, University of Sussex, UK

"This richly evidenced, tightly argued and deeply self-reflexive book, while national in its initial focus, addresses a question of international importance: what happens to class in societies supposedly organised around market freedoms, but ever more unequal in their operations? Anita Biressi and Heather Nunn's answer, demonstrated in a series of brilliant analyses, is that class gets reshaped as a field of harsh cultural differentiation, hard-wired into a supposedly open and plural popular culture. If you care about the fate of society in neoliberal democracies such as Britain, you really must read this book. A wholly admirable piece of work." - Nick Couldry, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, and author of Why Voice Matters

"Class and Contemporary British Culture makes for imperative reading. It's a superb book, one I'd highly recommend to anyone remotely interested in (what's horribly wrong with) contemporary Britain." - David Marx Book Reviews

"Thisbook examines a range of issues relating to British culture and class with chapters focusing on social mobility, the underclass, education, celebrity culture, the upper classes, immigration and austerity. The chapter on the 'revolting underclass' is one of the most concise, well written and researched overviews of the 'underclass' available in scholarly literature." - LSE Review

"Class and Contemporary British Culture serves as an important indicator not just of how deeply engrained harmful class perceptions remain, but also of how far Britain needs to go before it can even pretend to call itself tolerant and democratic." - Elliot Murphy, Ceasefire

"An intellectual tour de force boasting of a rare combination of theoretical rigour and page-turning clarity, it sets out to answer key questions about the appearance and reality of class in modern British life." - Michael Pierse, Irish Left Review 1.2, Autumn 2013

'This is a highly accessible book and would be ideal for students or readers with little knowledge of class discourses.' - Stefanie Williamson, The Sociological Review

From the Publisher