Working-class Attitudes Research Articles

Patriotism, Racism, and the Disutility of the Ethnocentrism Concept

Abstract The theory underlying the concept of ethnocentrism embodies the assumption that thinking well of one's own group entails looking down on the members of other groups. Ray (1974), however, has shown that in a sample drawn from working-class suburbs of Sydney, Australia, Australian patriotism showed little relationship with racial attitudes. Because working-class attitudes could generally be poorly organized and because racial attitudes in Australia could be affected by the relative absence of blacks, similar studies were carried out by using a random sample from South Africa: 106 whites in Bloemfontein and 101 Indians in Durban. Attitude toward South Africa was found to show only a slight relationship with racism among both samples. The theory underlying the ethnocentrism concept would then appear to be essentially false.

The Law, Oral Tradition and the Mining Community

dispute of 1984-85 relied heavily on what has been inadequately described as 'folklore' to achieve a sense of solidarity, or less generously, enduring solidarity was maintained by exploiting the miners' traditional loyalty to their union and to their communities.1 This paper seeks to explore some of the lasting rebellious anti-establishment class orientated attitudes, over many generations, which have been perpetuated, in part, by oral tradition down to present day in the coalfield which remained the most solid in the 1984-85 dispute South Wales. Simultaneously it will relate these surviving and often hegemonic working class attitudes to law enforcement and to the mining community itself.2 Of all the industrial workers in Britain, the miners appear to have the greatest sense of their own history, their own community and indeed the legal process as it affects their industrial and social lives.3 This continuity has much to do with the fact that throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries British miners were to the fore in campaigning to obtain legal protection for their trade union activities and to gain improved legislation for safety and working conditions. Indistinguishable from such campaigns was the related struggle, from the Chartist period onwards, for Parliamentary representation for the working class. This sense of their own class and industrial identity appears to be still most intense in the mining valleys of South Wales. The late Phil Abrahams of Nantyglo, a leader of the unemployed, 'political prisoner' and Communist County Councillor in the 1930s, pinpointed this continuity:

Black women in double jeopardy: a perspective on birth control.

The thesis that attitudes relating family planning to racism and genocide have historical roots in the birth control and the women's movements and that black women were the targets of racist and anti working class attitudes prevalent among the conservative forces in both movements is explored. The issue of genocide is limited to black women only, because the historical material on the genocide question and the findings of current studies on minorities are generally based on data collected from the black population. The 1st stage of the birth control movement failed to address any issues that were pertinent to black women. Early in the 20th century, with the advent of the 2nd stage of the birth control movement, a public controversy demonstrated the racist and anti working class attitudes that were dominant among feminists and advocates of birth control. The issue in question was "race suicide." Many viewpoints were advocated by those using this slogan, but the most pertinent was the fear that individuals of Yankeee stock, who had lower birth rates than other groups, would be numerically overwhelmed as a result of the fertility of immigrants, nonwhites, and the poor. The leaders of the birth control and women's movements failed to examine the facts that might have convinced them of the irrationality of their position. Overall, the beginning of this century saw birth control, a valuable tool, become a weapon with which to attack the poor and those who were nonwhite. In the 1920s the professionalization of the birth control movement finally crystallized the conservative trend, as women lost their leadership positions in the movement to men. This began the movement's 3rd stage. It set the pattern of physician-dominated clinic programs that still constitute the model for the delivery of birth control services. The stage was set for accusations concerning black genocide when the federal government's entry into the field of subsidized family planning services was tied to the coercive features of the 1967 amendments to the Social Security Act. Little empirical data exist on which segments of the black community agree with the genocide indictment. Steps social workers need to take in developing an appropriate response to clients' concerns are identified.

International Conference of Historians of the Labour Movement (ITH) at Linz, Austria

twentieth conference of ITH met in Linz, Austria, from September 11-15, with close to 200 scholars in attendance. Two themes were taken up by the conference: The Working-Class Movement and Colonialism between the Two World Wars, and February 1934 in Austria and France. nature of the themes brought an unprecedented number of participants from Africa, China, and Vietnam, in addition to those from Central and East Europe. Notable by their absence, however, were historians from Italy, Spain, and Latin America. unusually large turnout and presentation of papers meant that there was little time for speakers to develop their ideas from the floor. Confusion was also created by the failure of several participants, whose papers had been circulated, to appear, and by the intervention of speakers, whose printed texts either appeared only on the morning of the conference or not at all. conference organizers often seemed more interested in getting to the conclusion of their daily agenda than in furthering discussion. But the conference was fruitful despite these limitations, per mitting mutual understanding and the establishment of contacts between scholars who had not known of each others work. This participant, for example, was able to discuss mutual interests with scholars from Denmark, Holland, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Zaire, Nigeria, and Vietnam. high point of the conference was a magisterial address by former Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, who brilliantly examined the current state of relations between developing and industrial nations in the light of the conference's major theme. Needless to say one should not look for examples of the new social history, given the nature of conference themes. All the same, it is surprising that more historians present did not examine working class attitudes toward racism and impe rialism rather than the resolutions and policies of specific parties and the interna tionals. A notable exception here was James Young's (Scotland) examination of the racism of British workers. policies of the Communist International and its member parties tended to dominate the proceedings. tendency of East Euro peans, as exemplified by Hans Piazza (GDR), to justify virtually every Comintern policy, gloss over the famous third period with its doctrine of social fascism, and

Irish Female Convicts and Tasmania

Until recently women's contributions to society and history have been largely ignored by writers and historians. Two books which tried to redress the balance clearly indicated this. Dr. Miriam Dixson in The Real Matilda argued that nearly all 'serious analysis of character?or identity?is by males about males'.1 Anne Summers in Damned Whores and God's Police agreed: 'Virtually all writers about society and history use the terms Australian and synonymously.'2 Both writers stressed the importance of Australia's convict past in shaping attitudes towards women. According to Summers, the colonisation of women and the 'Damned Whore' stereotype began with the convict period when women were sent to a rough colonial society, dominated by male convicts, in which the 'social and economic conditions of the first fifty years . . . fostered whores rather than wives'. Further, the whore stereotype was a 'calculated sexist means of social control', used and abused by men, but regarded as being the 'fault of the women who were damned by it'.3 Dixson, following to some extent R?ssel Ward's thesis, isolated Irish convicts because they had a major influence on working class attitudes.4 She asserted that the 'humble quasi-Western status of Irish women, Irish rigid sexual stereo typing and Irish fear of sexuality have done a good deal to shape the curiously low standing and impoverished self-identity of women'.5

The Agrarian Roots of Working-Class Radicalism: An Assessment of the Mann–Giddens Thesis

Of the studies by British sociologists in the last decade focusing on the determinants of working-class attitudes to the class structure, those of Michael Mann and Anthony Giddens must, I think, be seen in retrospect as the most imaginative. While much effort at the time focused on what in the event turned out to be the rather minimal implications of the impact of certain variations in work and community milieux within Britain on workers' conceptions of class, Mann and Giddens took as their point of departure the well documented differences in the radicalism of the labour movements of different Western capitalist societies and sought to develop a theory that could account for them. Why should it be, they asked, that in countries such as France and Italy workers were sufficiently disenchanted with capitalist institutions to give relatively enduring support to parties that were at least formally committed to revolutionary objectives, while in countries such as Britain and the United States they gave their allegiances to parties that seemed largely to accept the existing structure of society?

From a Place of 'Horrible Destitution' to a Paradise of the Working Class. The Transformation of British Working Class Attitudes to Australia, 1841-1851

British working-class attitudes towards Australia in the 1840s, as indicated by working-class newspapers,1 reflected not only the flow of news from Australia, but also the contemporary problems of the British working class. The latter, in what was an extraordinary eventful and turbulent decade, had a profound influence on verdicts about Australia. They were a major factor in a quite dramatic change from virtual contempt to enormous enthusiasm. The emergence of this strongly favourable image appears to have been very important in the revival of emigration in the late 1840s and in the great wave of emigration which occurred in the 1850s, and inasmuch as the image was produced by developments largely external to Australia the traditionally neglected 'push* factor in emigration seems to have been of great significance. The present study is based on an examination of eight working-class newspapers,2 particularly Northern Star and Lloyds Weekly London Newspaper. Northern Star was the principal mouthpiece of the Chartist movement, with a circulation far ahead of any other working-class news paper for most of the decade. After 1848 it declined in importance (and circulation) and by 1852 had degenerated to almost 'rat-bag' status. Lloyds, established in 1842, was less militant than Northern Star, but well attuned to working-class needs and wishes. By 1851 Lloyds had emerged as the working-class newspaper with the greatest circulation, and it main tained that position for many decades. Of the other newspapers, News of the World, examined closely from 1846, was closest to Lloyds in its views. Among working-class newspapers, it most resembled the establishment press. Glasgow Sentinel, although started in 1850, is particularly valuable as a vigorous regional represen tative of the working class. The more militant Reynolds Weekly News paper dates from the same year and is perhaps the most important of the 'post-Chartist' newspapers. Finally, there are three newspapers more akin to magazines and not so clearly aimed at working-class readers, but offering strong expositions of working-class interests: Douglas Jerrold's Weekly (1846-8), edited by this popular playwright and novelist who, later in the 1850s, became editor of Lloyds; Spirit of the Age, later renamed Spirit of the Times (1848-9), a journal of vigorous, broadly Chartist views; and the Leader, from 1850 perhaps the most 'intellectual'

Tendances actuelles dans les recherches sociologiques sur le thème « religion et classe ouvrière »

Thorough a comparative analysis of some case studies dealing with the working class attitudes towards religion and the churches, the author emphasises the weight of the cultural dimension in the study of religion in the working class.

The Bee-Hive Newspaper and British Working Class Attitudes toward the American Civil War

The Bee-Hive Newspaper and British Working Class Attitudes toward the American Civil War

Comment by De Vries

For several years now co-conveners of the dissertation sessions who have been interested in non-United States topics have complained of the paucity of dissertations. Questions have been raised about our ability to apply the New Economic History to non-American topics. This year's crop of dissertations will not put such worries to rest, but they do indicate among our graduate students a lively interest in, and a considerable capacity for, research in the economic history of foreign countries, including their histories before 1800. While these dissertations demonstrate that the study of foreign economic history is alive and well in this country, they do not demonstrate the existence of an style, let alone an American School. On the contrary, the questions asked, the methodologies employed, and the types of sources exploited vary enormously. We have under review a traditional historical study of an industry and its workers, an innovative, statistical study of fifteenth-century demography, a Marxian analysis of agrarian development, and a theoretical and comparative study of early industrialization that is the only one consciously written in the tradition of the New Economic History. These dissertations are evenly divided between departments of history and economics, and without a scorecard I doubt if many members of this Association could correctly categorize them all. Who would have predicted, even ten years ago, that a dissertation in medieval history would employ a computer to process the data of nearly 15,000 documents. On the other hand, who would have predicted that a student of Jeffrey Williamson would produce a dissertation rejecting neoclassical economics and relying almost exclusively on institutional and descriptive analysis? Schmiechen's dissertation is as much a study of the labor movement as of industrial organization. It fits neatly into a long tradition of British scholarship on working class attitudes and the origins of labor legislation. His main economic thesis, that the innovations in the form of the sewing machine and the cloth cutting machine stimulated the growth of outwork in the London clothing trades, is a clear-cut verification of the fact that industrialization was not an inexorable march toward centralized largescale production. Despite the enormous amount of evidence in support of this generalization, it still needs to be reasserted. Schmiechen's main social thesis is that unskilled workers, particularly the women workers, could not be organized until outworking was eliminated. This is not very convincing to me. Although the statement is inherently plausible, Schmiechen too readily generalizes from experience. Organization was unsuccessful in the sweatshops of the London clothing trades, but the reasons for that lack of success are perhaps not as obvious as he supposes. Something more could be expected here because in the

An Imperial War and the British Working Class: Working-Class Attitudes and Reactions to the Boer War, 1899-1902, by Richard Price

"An Imperial War and the British Working Class: Working-Class Attitudes and Reactions to the Boer War, 1899-1902, by Richard Price." Canadian Journal of History, 9(1), p. 102

R. Price, An Impérial War and the British Working Class. Working-class attitudes and reactions to the Boer War 1899-1902, Londres, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972, 260 p.

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.

Richard Price. <italic>An Imperial War and the British Working Class: Working-Class Attitudes and Reactions to the Boer War, 1899–1902</italic>. (Studies in Social History.) Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 1972. Pp. xiii, 279. $11.50

Richard Price. An Imperial War and the British Working Class: Working-Class Attitudes and Reactions to the Boer War, 1899–1902. (Studies in Social History.) Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 1972. Pp. xiii, 279. $11.50 Get access Price Richard. An Imperial War and the British Working Class: Working-Class Attitudes and Reactions to the Boer War, 1899–1902. (Studies in Social History.) Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 1972. Pp. xiii, 279. $11.50. Michael Hurst Michael Hurst St. John's College, Oxford Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Historical Review, Volume 78, Issue 5, December 1973, Page 1470, https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/78.5.1470 Published: 01 December 1973

An Imperial War and the British Working Class: Working-Class Working-Class Attitudes and Reactions to the Boer War, 1899-1902

An Imperial War and the British Working Class: Working-Class Working-Class Attitudes and Reactions to the Boer War, 1899-1902

An Imperial War and the British Working Class: Working Class Attitudes and Reactions to the Boer War, 1899-1902. Richard Price

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsAn Imperial War and the British Working Class: Working Class Attitudes and Reactions to the Boer War, 1899-1902. Richard Price A. J. A. MorrisA. J. A. Morris Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Modern History Volume 45, Number 3Sep., 1973 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/241066 Views: 4Total views on this site Copyright 1973 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

An Imperial War and the British Working Class: Working-Class Attitudes and Reactions to the Boer War, 1899-1902

An Imperial War and the British Working Class: Working-Class Attitudes and Reactions to the Boer War, 1899-1902

Ethnic Cleavages in the United States: An Historical Reminder to Social Workers

■ Unlike (lass differences, to which reference is frequently made in analyses of client behavior, ethnic differences are accorded scant attention by social workers. In this paper, however, an historical examination of intorgroup relations in the United States reveals the pervasiveness of ethnic tensions and suggests the degree to which ethnicity must be taken into account in social planning and treatment. ■ The social work literature and the pro fessional thinking of most social workers generally deal with two kinds of reality— intrapsychic and interpersonal. In discus sing the interplay between these, much attention has been given to the social ar rangements and patterns among collections of people that in some way regulate their actions toward one another, individually and in groups. Currently, the social pat ternings that engage the greatest interest of social workers and others in the helping professions are those subsumed under the idea of class. The social worker who is concerned with social as distinguished from psychological factors is likely, when he uses the word social, to be thinking of class, and when he uses the word class, to be thinking mainly, if not solely, in terms of economic variables, hence the bur geoning number of studies on the relation ship between income and mental illness, lower-class use of agency services, and the common use of phrases such as working class attitudes, middle-class values, and the like.1 Today, a social work client's position in the class structure is perhaps the major

SUPPRESSION OF HETERO‐SEXUAL INTEREST AND OF AGGRESSION BY MIDDLE CLASS AND WORKING CLASS GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS

Summary. A short summary is given of the literature relating to social class differences in attitudes to sex and aggression and to the influence of social mobility on working class attitudes. The sample and the methods of investigation are described. The results are discussed. They show significant social class differences regarding suppression of hetero‐sexual interest but no differences regarding suppression of aggression, and indicate that neither intelligence nor social mobility affect the attitudes under consideration. They also seem to show that the young adolescent boys, who formed the sample of this investigation, like girls in theory rather than in practice, and react to frustration inwardly in their thoughts and feelings rather than in overt behaviour.