History 301
Spring 2000
Prof. Koenker

Class in the Classic Slum: "Them" and "Us"

Discussion questions for Robert Roberts and Richard Hoggart readings in Joyce, Class

March 24, 2000



1. Roberts writes, "The class struggle, as manual workers in general knew it, was apolitical and had place entirely in their own society" (p. 238). What does he mean by this?

2. What were the internal sources of division within the working class society Roberts describes?

3. Which was a more important source of stratification in Roberts' society: moral or economic differences? Or both? WhatÕs the evidence?

4.What are the sources of identifying "Them" and "Us" for Hoggart? Is it moral or economic?

5. Do working men and working women (or women in working society) have different attitudes about "Them" and "Us"?

6. What role does the theme of "respectability" play in the writings of these two authors (and autobiographers you have already read)? Does a desire for respectability/cleanliness/thrift betray a wish to join the middle class? Or can this be a genuine working-class value?

7. Is neighborliness a particular working-class trait (p. 244), one not shared by the middle class? Which is more important: the desire to keep up with the Joneses or down with the Atkinses? Why?

8. Can you identify from these readings a sense of and sources for working-class conservatism?

9.The introduction to this section cites one of the other authors as saying: "A great deal of working-class history is misread if we mistake category identity for class solidarity." What do these two terms, category identity and class solidarity, mean in the context of the readings for today? In the context of the broader set of issues with which we have been dealing?




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