Frustrated Respectability: Local Culture and Politics in London's Docklands

1993 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 523-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Ethnic Relations ◽  
Local Identity ◽  
Moral Politics ◽  
Local Labour ◽  
History Of ◽  
Tabloid Press

How useful is the concept of urban community in modern society? The author considers the arguments of some observers of modernity who view local community as insignificant. Although the economic foundations of such community might well be eroded, definitions of local identity continue to have significance in lived culture and are important in shaping the political views of those who live in traditional working-class neighbourhoods. The history of London's Docklands is examined. The defence of local labour markets and the wish for the community to be viewed as respectable rather than rough, largely account for the residents' desire to mark out the boundaries of locality. The spatial limits of specific communities cannot themselves be objectively deduced from structural forces such as class or ethnic relations. Yet on a subjective level the popular desire to mark out the limits of community can be understood with reference to such forces. From the 1970s the Docklands economic base was destabilised and the foundations of the traditional community was weakened, In Bermondsey, large numbers of new residents took up residence in the 1970s. They were seen by the locals as threatening to undermine an authentic local identity. The conflict between traditional and newer residents was evident in the struggles within the Bermondsey Labour Party branches in the early 1980s, which preceded the endorsement of the ‘newcomer’ Peter Tatchell as the official Labour Party Parliamentary candidate. Tatchell was subsequently attacked by the tabloid press for his sexuality, his appearance, and his ‘trendy’ inner-city radicalism. He was presented as the very antithesis of the authentic Bermondsey worker. This campaign of villification resulted in the defeat of Tatchell in a safe Labour seat in the by-election. This defeat demonstrates how the moral politics of the New Right, which were being given expression by the press, converged with the frustrated respectability of the white working class in the area.

scholarly journals The Emergence of the Independent Labour Party in Bradford

1975 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Reynolds ◽  
K. Lay Bourn
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Union Support ◽  
Domesday Book ◽  
History Of

Opening the 21st anniversary of the ILP in Bradford in April 1914, J. H. Palin, one of Bradford's most prominent trade unionists, remarked: “Of ordinary historical association, Bradford has none. In Domesday Book, it is described as a waste, and the subsequent periods of capitalist exploitation have done little to improve it. […] The History of Bradford will be very largely the history of the ILP.”1 Palin's remark – unjust as it is, perhaps, to a distinguished list of Victorian philanthropists – stands as testimony to the authority and influence which the labour movement in Bradford had acquired by that date. It also provides a clue to the origins of that authority and influence, for it demonstrates the importance which he and other Bradford trade unionists attached to their association with the independent labour movement. Whatever the reactions of trade unionists in the rest of the country, in Bradford, trade unionists were vital to its success. Indeed, strong trade-union support proved to be an essential corollary of effective independent working-class political action.

Homophobia, Class and Party in England

1992 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Rayside
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
North American ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Tabloid Press

AbstractInstitutionalized homophobia in England has been intensified over the last decade, linked to concerns about “permissiveness” so prominent within the lower middle classes so courted by the modern Conservative party. However, anti-gay norms have long been embedded in working-class and middle-class cultures, more than in continental European and North American societies. Moralistic crusades against homosexuality have been common in England, and are still reinforced by the police, the courts and especially the tabloid press. Opposition has been roused within Labour party and Liberal/Liberal Democratic circles, but often reluctantly, and framed by a limited form of tolerance.

The Labour Church Movement, 1891–1902

1999 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Bevir
Keyword(s):  
Religious Belief ◽  
Labor Movement ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Fugitive Slaves ◽  
Local Labour ◽  
History Of ◽  
Edward Carpenter ◽  
Church Service ◽  
Fabian Society ◽  
Religious Aspect

Historians of British socialism have tended to discount the significance of religious belief. Yet the conference held in Bradford in 1893 to form the Independent Labour Party (I.L.P.) was accompanied by a Labour Church service attended by some five thousand persons. The conference took place in a disused chapel then being run as a Labour Institute by the Bradford Labour Church along with the local Labour Union and Fabian Society. The Labour Church movement, which played such an important role in the history of British socialism, was inspired by John Trevor, a Unitarian minister who resigned to found the first Labour Church in Manchester in 1891. At the new church's first service, on 4 October 1891, a string band opened the proceedings, after which Trevor led those present in prayer, the congregation listened to a reading of James Russell Lowell's poem “On the Capture of Fugitive Slaves,” and Harold Rylett, a Unitarian minister, read Isaiah 15. The choir rose to sing “England Arise,” the popular socialist hymn by Edward Carpenter:England arise! the long, long night is over,Faint in the east behold the dawn appear;Out of your evil dream of toil and sorrow—Arise, O England, for the day is here;From your fields and hills,Hark! the answer swells—Arise, O England, for the day is here.As the singing stopped, Trevor rose to give a sermon on the religious aspect of the labor movement. He argued the failure of existing churches to support labor made it necessary for workers to form a new movement to embody the religious aspect of their quest for emancipation.

scholarly journals Landscape Heritage Protection and Perception in Urban Fringe Area: the Case of southern Part of Warsaw

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrianna Kupidura
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
Local Identity ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Heritage Protection ◽  
Landscape Heritage ◽  
Fringe Area

The inhabitants and local governments may treat landscape heritage resources as a cumbersome legacy, which disrupts development, or may see its potential, which may serve as the cornerstone for building a sense of local identity. These issues shall be of special importance in the case of areas located on the outskirts of cities, which are subject to strong urbanization pressure. New inhabitants of such areas often know nothing about the past and history of the landscape in which they have decided to live. This article presents two approaches to landscape heritage that can be observed in the southern outskirts of Warsaw. It presents the landscape heritage protection and management policy in those areas, as well as the perception of the elements of this heritage by the local community.

scholarly journals „Tenke det, ønske det, ville det med – men gjøre det! ...”. Opposisjonsinnlegg ved Steen Buscks disputatsforsvar ved Aarhus Universitet 25. november 2011 med avhandlingen Et landbosamfund i opbrud. Sundby Mors 1660-1800, 2011.

Kulturstudier ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Finn-Einar Eliassen
Keyword(s):  
Rural Community ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
English Summary ◽  
Local History ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Local Society ◽  
Agricultural Community ◽  
Administration Culture ◽  
History Of

<p>English summary</p><p><br />Steen Busck’s doctoral dissertation, Et landbosamfund i opbrud (A Rural Community Breaking etc.), is a detailed and  well-documented study of the parish of Sundby Mors in Northern Jutland in the period 1660-1800. The author analyses all aspects of this small, rural community of some 200 inhabitants in the late eighteenth century – landscape, demography, social structure, economy, administration, culture and mentality, drawing on his wide knowledge and reading, as well as nearly all available sources in public archives, to produce a very solid local history of Sundby Mors in two volumes, with nearly 1200 pages. It is a monumental work, in more than one sense. According to Busck himself, the study should be a total history, local history, microhistory and a case study of an early modern agricultural community. Although overlapping to a certain extent, these labels point in different directions, but the author does not make an effort to distinguish between them. Claiming that his purpose is to find ”typical” elements in a local society which he claims is unique, and using methods which are not comparative or synthetic, but rather descriptive and individualistic, he gets into difficulties when he tries to draw general conclusions.</p><p><br />Steen Busck’s main question is whether the parish of Sundby Mors underwent any "modernisation” dusring the studied period. However, his definitions of a "traditional” and a "modern” society represent extreme models, which would be hard to find in the real world, and so he concludes that Sundby Mors failed to modernise, although he finds changes and developments in many different fields, which seem to warrant a more nuanced conclusion. Also, his sources, which are mainly official records, are heavily weighted in favour of traditional agriculture and resident population, more likely to show stabilty than change.  And although Steen Busck draws on other local studies in  analysing the different aspects of the local society and economy, he does not attempt any general comparisons, which might indicate whether Sundby Mors was more or less ”modern” than other contemporary local societies, in Denmark or elsewhere. Admittedly, Busck faces "the pioneer’s dilemma”: the more original the study, the more unique it is, the less scope for comparisons. At present, and probably also in the future, Steen Busck’s monumental study stands alone in its thoroughness and totality.</p><p><br />And ”the taste is the proof of the pudding”. Notwithstanding the critical comments presented above, Steen Busck has written a very solid, many-facetted, interesting and readable local history of a rural parish under absolutism, demonstrating, more than anything, the growth of the state’s power in a local community. Future historians will appreciate, use and refer to his study with respect and admiration.</p>

Labour and Working-Class Lives

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
Pressure Groups ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
British Labour ◽  
History Of ◽  
Final Essay

Labour and working-class lives is a collection of essays in honour of the work and publications of the eminent and influential historian Professor Chris Wrigley. They are written by a number of leading historians – Joan Allen, Ken Brown, Malcolm Chase, Dick Geary, Kevin Jefferys, Keith Laybourn, Nicole Robertson, Andrew Thorpe, Jan Shepherd, John Shepherd, Noel Whiteside and Matthew Worley. They also draw upon a wide range of topics and offer the latest research on British labour, social and economic history. These include the study of trade unionism in relation to the Labour Party, state insurance, and the organisation of women. There are studies of both political and pressure groups, such as the Independent Labour Party, Progressive League and the Co-operative Movement. Some of the essays examine the political contribution made by figures within, or on the fringes, of the history of labour in Britain, including the Lansburys and the Herbert Gladstone. There is also a comparative study of the cultural milieu of the British and German working classes. The final essay examines the topical and almost constant question ‘Must Labour Lose?’ This collection is therefore an essential and vital contribution to the study of modern British and labour history and a fitting tribute to the inspirational work in the field made by Chris Wrigley.

British Television's Lost New Wave Moment: Single Drama and Race

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 612-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleni Liarou
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Black Population ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Audiovisual Material ◽  
British Drama ◽  
History Of ◽  
White Working Class ◽  
Written Sources

The article argues that the working-class realism of post-WWII British television single drama is neither as English nor as white as is often implied. The surviving audiovisual material and written sources (reviews, publicity material, biographies of television writers and directors) reveal ITV's dynamic role in offering a range of views and representations of Britain's black population and their multi-layered relationship with white working-class cultures. By examining this neglected history of postwar British drama, this article argues for more inclusive historiographies of British television and sheds light on the dynamism and diversity of British television culture.

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