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What is happening to the working class?

And do we really care?

To explore who the working class are

To consider whether they still exist

To appreciate the experiences and thoughts of the working class today

Learning objectives:

What impression do people get about the working class from these images?

Is this FAIR or TRUE?

How is the working class changing?

The working class-

Is composed of manual workers (classes 5, 6 and 7 on the ONS)

In 1951- 70% of the working population

Like the middle and upper classes, the working class can now be divided into different groups

Traditional working class – 1950s

Male breadwinners

Home centred (conjugal roles)

Family (extended)

Community (eg mining communities/Mill towns)

Working class pride – labour party etc

The “New Working Class”-

Privatised Changing gender roles Materialist Socially mobile Leisure

The “underclass” (Murray, 1994)-

Lazy, scroungers Irresponsible attitude to parenthood Live off benefits or the proceeds of crime

Saunders (1990)-

“Inactivity breeds apathy. Empty hours are filled with sleep, and days go by in a dull haze of television programmes and signing on. Sooner or later, the unemployed become unemployable.”

Using the materials provided – produce a poster/display that explores:

Working class life Working class attitudes Working class concerns

Does class still matter?