Working-Class Suburb: Social Change on an English Council Estate, 1930-2010 - Rilegato

Clapson, Mark

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0719079519 ISBN 13: 9780719079511

Casa editrice: Manchester Univ Pr, 2012

Riassunto

Not all council estates are the same. A detailed historical account of the birth and social evolution of the Whitley council estate in Reading, Working-Class Suburb challenges many of the more depressing images and cultural stereotypes about council housing in twentieth and twenty-first century England. Key areas covered by the study are housing and politics; community campaigns; women and the corporate life of council estates; the uses of leisure; the relationships between tenants, residents and the local authority, and continuities in working-class life despite economic, demographic and political change.

The book will be of interest to anyone studying urban history and social history, to professionals working in the fields of housing policy and housing studies, and to the growing number of academics interested in suburban studies.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sugli autori

Mark Clapson is Reader in History at the University of Westminster


Mark Clapson is Reader in History at the University of Westminster

Mark Clapson is Reader in History at the University of Westminster.

Dalla quarta di copertina

In this detailed historical account of the birth and historical development of the Whitley council estate in Reading, Mark Clapson challenges the negativity associated with council estates and shows that this working-class suburb participated in wider trends in twentieth and twenty-first century England.

Originally a new council estate for slum dwellers, the Whitley Estate lacked facilities in its earliest years, but local campaigns soon established a living community in South Reading. Following the hardships of war, and through the postwar decades of expansion, Whitley changed as England changed, becoming less socially homogenous, and increasingly diverse in terms of tenure. Conservative housing policies changed the character of the estate, but never irrevocably so: any simplistic notion that the Whitley Estate was increasingly polarized and segregated from whatever mainstream society is, fails to grasp the complexities of its history. By focusing on housing and politics, on environmental campaigns and the uses of leisure on the Whitley Estate, Clapson questions whether there was a ‘golden age’ of working-class community and of social capital in England. He shows that there were always people willing to come forward to fight for the estate. Their efforts were particularly successful when given assistance from the local council and from other agencies, a finding that raises some questions for ‘the Big Society’.

The book will be of interest to anyone studying urban history and social history, to professionals working in the fields of housing policy and housing studies, and to the growing number of academics interested in suburban studies.

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Manchester Univ Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2012
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0719079519
• ISBN 13: 9780719079511
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 260
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile