Chavs: the demonization of the working class

"In modern Britain, the working class has become an object of fear and ridicule. From Little Britains Vicky Pollard to the demonization of Jade Goody, media and politicians alike dismiss as feckless, criminalized and ignorant a vast, underprivileged swathe of society whose members have become s...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jones, Owen
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: London 2011
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Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19177985124919951679-Chavs-the-demonization-of-the-.htm
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author Jones, Owen
author_facet Jones, Owen
collection Library items
description "In modern Britain, the working class has become an object of fear and ridicule. From Little Britains Vicky Pollard to the demonization of Jade Goody, media and politicians alike dismiss as feckless, criminalized and ignorant a vast, underprivileged swathe of society whose members have become stereotyped by one, hate-filled word: chavs. In this groundbreaking investigation, Owen Jones explores how the working class has gone from salt of the earth to scum of the earth. Exposing the ignorance and prejudice at the heart of the chav caricature, one based on the medias inexhaustible obsession with an indigent white underclass, he portrays a far more complex reality. Moving through Westminsters lobbies and working-class communities from Dagenham to Dewsbury Moor, Jones reveals the increasing poverty and desperation of communities made precarious by wrenching social and industrial change, and all but abandoned by the aspirational, society-fragmenting policies of Thatcherism and New Labour. The chav stereotype, he argues, is used by governments as a convenient figleaf to avoid genuine engagement with social and economic problems, and to justify widening inequality. Based on a wealth of original research, and wide-ranging interviews with media figures, political opinion-formers and workers, Chavs is a damning indictment of the media and political establishment, and an illuminating, disturbing portrait of inequality and class hatred in modern Britain. "
format TEXT
geographic United Kingdom
id 19177985124919951679_27ace12f598741fda872265bd7f526b8
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 19177985124919951679_27ace12f598741fda872265bd7f526b8
is_hierarchy_title Chavs: the demonization of the working class
language English
physical 298 p.
Paper
publishDate 2011
publisher London
Verso
spellingShingle Jones, Owen
poverty
social class
working class
social inequality
Chavs: the demonization of the working class
title Chavs: the demonization of the working class
topic poverty
social class
working class
social inequality
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19177985124919951679-Chavs-the-demonization-of-the-.htm