Mining and Social Change (Routledge Revivals) Durham County in the Twentieth Century

The strong community ties of mining villages are the central concern of this book, which deals with the social history and sociology of mining in County Durham in the twentieth century. Focusing on the country as a whole, this title, first published in 1978, asks what is most distinctive about the area in the past and how it is changing in the present. The personal documents presented in the first chapters of the book bring to life the local mining community with an evocative picture of village life at the turn of the century. These first-hand accounts are integrated with the results of social research carried out at Durham University over a number of years. Mining and Social Change will be of interest to students of history and sociology.

Contributors; 1. Introduction 2. Social Structure and Social Change in the Twentieth-Century 3. The Legacy of Mining 4. Durham Mining Villages 5. The Leek 6. The Influence of Peter Lee 7. Politics and Housing in a Durham Mining Town 8. The Stronghold if Labour 9. The Character of Local Politics 10. Inter-War Unemployment in West Durham 11. Employment and Unemployment in Mining 12. Change, Policy and Planning since 1918 13. The Origins of Newton Aycliffe 14. The Foundations of Peterlee New Town 15. The Decline of Mining: a Case Study in Spennymoor 16. The Growth of Factory Industry: Miners become Textile Operatives; Appendix A: Guide to Further Reading on County Durham; Appendix B: The Study of Coal-Mining Settlements and Theories of ‘Community’; Appendix C: Personal Documents as Sociological Data; Acknowledgements; Index