The Ideologies of Class Social Relations in Britain 1880-1950

In this incisive analysis of the social character of the British working class from 1880 to the early 1950s, McKibbin examines different aspects of British political, social, and economic history to give an integrated explanation of the development of modern British society and the ideological assumptions on which it is founded.

This is a study of the social character of the British working class in the period from the 1880s to the early 1950s, when about seventy-five per cent of the population were manual workers, or their dependents. It has three central themes: the nature of working-class culture and working-class organization; the relationships between the working class and other classes; and the role of both World Wars and the state in shaping class relations. Ross McKibbin examines different aspects of British political, social, and economic history to give an integrated explanation of the development of modern British society, and the ideological assumptions on which it is based. Attitudes to work and leisure are also explored, to build a coherent picture of the ideological world of Britain's social classes.

Abbreviations; Why was there no Marxism in Great Britain?; Arthur Henderson as Labour leader; The franchise factor in the rise of the Labour party; Working class gambling in Great Britain, 1880-1950; Class and poverty in Edwardian England; The economic policy of the second Labour government, 1929-1931; The 'Social Psychology' of unemployment in inter-war Britain; Class and conventional wisdom: The Conservative party and the 'public' in inter-war Britain; Conclusion; Index