DOCSLIB.ORG

Working-Class Representation As a Literary and Political Practice from the General Strike to the Winter of Discontent

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Working-Class Representation As a Literary and Political Practice from the General Strike to the Winter of Discontent View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of East Anglia digital repository Representing revolt: working-class representation as a literary and political practice from the General Strike to the Winter of Discontent Matti Ron PhD English Literature University of East Anglia School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing August 2020 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived therefrom must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. Abstract Though the dual sense of representation—as an issue of both aesthetic or organisational forms—has long been noted within Marxist literary criticism and political theory, these differing uses of the term have generally been considered to be little more than semantically related. This thesis, then, seeks to address this gap in the discourse by looking at working- class representation as both a literary and political practice to show that their relationship is not just one of being merely similar or analogous, but rather that they are structurally homologous. To demonstrate this point, this thesis will perform close readings of clusters of texts to chart the development of working-class fiction between two high-points of class struggle in Britain—the 1926 General Strike and the 1978-79 Winter of Discontent—with the intention of exploring a variety of working-class representational practices. Through this, it will be shown that the homology between working-class literary and political representations manifests in the realist working-class fiction under discussion lending itself more readily to those political practices most closely adhering to representational political forms while the experiments of the—much neglected—working-class literary avant-garde, which challenged the boundaries of realism, would lend themselves to those movements similarly challenging representational political practices. In doing so, this thesis draws upon and intervenes in over a century of Marxist literary critical debate, in which the working class—as both a literary and political subject—has often remained curiously absent. 2 Contents Acknowledgements ...............................................................................5 Introduction ...........................................................................................6 Working-class representation as a literary practice ................................................................ 7 Working-class representation as a political practice ............................................................ 20 A homology of representations ............................................................................................ 29 Chapter One: Literature in an Age of Crisis .......................................49 Crisis of labour, crisis of capital .......................................................................................... 49 Writing the crisis .................................................................................................................. 56 Woolf, Lawrence and the circumvention of antagonism ..................................................... 67 Representing the class “as it is”: Greenwood, Brierley and Wilkinson ............................... 73 An uneasy avant-garde: Upward, Barke and Sommerfield .................................................. 92 Rupturing representations: Hanley and Gibbon ................................................................. 112 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 138 Chapter Two: Literature in an Age of Consensus ............................ 142 Consensus and its discontents ............................................................................................ 142 The aesthetics of consensus................................................................................................ 155 John Sommerfield: emblem of a paradigm shift ................................................................ 165 Angry young representations: Barstow and Braine............................................................ 168 Indicating fracture: Alan Sillitoe ........................................................................................ 182 At the margins of consensus............................................................................................... 195 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 222 Chapter Three: Literature in an Age of Revolt ................................ 226 The end of consensus ......................................................................................................... 226 Writing revolt ..................................................................................................................... 235 Not a vanguard, but an avant-garde: Johnson and Berger.................................................. 242 The feminist ‘counter-public sphere’: Fairbairns, Carter and Roberts............................... 264 3 Black British literature: Emecheta, Selvon and Lamming ................................................. 282 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 306 Conclusion: the homology of working-class representations .......... 309 Bibliography ..................................................................................... 321 4 Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank my supervisors Prof. Anshuman Mondal and Dr Matthew Taunton whose seemingly inexhaustible reserves of valuable advice, encouragement and belief in my research have been indispensable. Thanks must equally be extended to Dr Nick Hubble both for his help in the early stages of this project as well as his continued support for my wider academic work. You have all been instrumental to my intellectual development over the last few years and it is impossible to fully express how grateful for that I am. I wish to also thank the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing at UEA for providing me with funding for two years, a decision which completely transformed my ability to carry out this research. Like all good Jewish boys, I also want to thank my mum who long encouraged me (despite my mulish resistance) to pursue postgraduate education, first for my master’s and then this PhD. Your lifetime of love and support means you often know me better than I know myself and without it this thesis would never have been possible. I also want to express my profound gratitude to my partner, Debora, and my children, Diego and Mia, who have all made countless sacrifices in order that I should complete this thesis. It was your love which drove me on through the most difficult periods of my research. E, infine, voglio ringraziare il nostro amico, Zambo; mancato ma sempre con noi. 5 Introduction Long a concept of crucial importance to scholars in both literature and politics, the dual sense of the word “representation”—as “depiction” or “portrayal” for literary critics and “speaking on behalf of” for political theorists—has seen the deployment of these diverse conceptualisations in their respective disciplines as only semantically or etymologically linked and, ultimately, theoretically unrelated. This theoretical bifurcation is perhaps most striking within Marxist thought, with its ample discussion of both political representation (for instance, around the role of the vanguard party, its relationship to social democracy, trade unions etc) and literary representation (perhaps most (in)famously around modernism, realism and their relationship to Marxism). Yet despite the centrality of such debates within the Marxist tradition, scant attention has been paid to the structural relationship between the practices of literary and political representation; that is, the structural function of representation—in both senses—and how representation itself structures the relationship between those represented and those representing, not to mention the practical and epistemological function that such structuring implies as distinct from the ideological positions of those inhabiting representational roles. This thesis, then, will attempt to illuminate this relationship by bringing these two seemingly distinct conceptualisations into direct contact, drawing upon structural analyses of working-class political representation in its investigation of the function of form in working-class literary representation. Charting the development of working-class fiction from the 1926 General Strike to the 1978-79 Winter of Discontent, this thesis will argue, through close reading clusters of working-class texts against their respective historical contexts, that the relationship between representational practices in these two fields goes beyond that of mere analogy and, in fact, is one of structural homology. This homology manifests in realist working-class fiction lending itself more 6 readily to those political practices most closely adhering to representational political forms. Meanwhile, the experiments of the (much-neglected) working-class literary avant-garde, which variously challenged, pushed at or ruptured with the boundaries
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Working-Class Experience in Contemporary Australian Poetry
    The Working-Class Experience in Contemporary Australian Poetry A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sarah Attfield BCA (Hons) University of Technology, Sydney August 2007 i Acknowledgements Before the conventional thanking of individuals who have assisted in the writing of this thesis, I want to acknowledge my class background. Completing a PhD is not the usual path for someone who has grown up in public housing and experienced childhood as a welfare dependent. The majority of my cohort from Chingford Hall Estate did not complete school beyond Year 10. As far as I am aware, I am the only one among my Estate peers to have a degree and definitely the only one to have attempted a PhD. Having a tertiary education has set me apart from my peers in many ways, and I no longer live on the Estate (although my mother and old neighbours are still there). But when I go back to visit, my old friends and neighbours are interested in my education and they congratulate me on my achievements. When I explain that I’m writing about people like them – about stories they can relate to, they are pleased. The fact that I can discuss my research with my family, old school friends and neighbours is really important. If they couldn’t understand my work there would be little reason for me to continue. My life has been shaped by my class. It has affected my education, my opportunities and my outlook on life. I don’t look back at the hardship with a fuzzy sense of nostalgia, and I will be forever angry at the class system that held so many of us back, but I am proud of my working-class family, friends and neighbourhood.
    [Show full text]
  • Fictitious Capital and the Elusive Quest in Understanding Its Implications: Illusions and Paradoxes*
    CADMUS, Volume 2, No.3, October 2014, 55-65 Fictitious Capital and the Elusive Quest in Understanding its Implications: Illusions and Paradoxes* Joanílio Rodolpho Teixeira Fellow, World Academy of Art & Science; Emeritus Professor, University of Brasilia, Brazil Paula Felix Ferreira Post-graduate Student, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain Abstract This paper deals with the interaction between fictitious capital and the neoliberal model of growth and distribution, inspired by the classical economic tradition. Our renewed interest in this literature has a close connection with the recent international crisis in the capitalist economy. However, this discussion takes as its point of departure the fact that standard eco- nomic theory teaches that financial capital, in this world of increasing globalization, leads to new investment opportunities which improve levels of growth, employment, income distribu- tion, and equilibrium. Accordingly, it is said that such financial resources expand the welfare of people and countries worldwide. Here we examine some illusions and paradoxes of such a paradigm. We show some theoretical and empirical consequences of this vision, which are quite different and have harmful constraints. 1. Introduction There is an extensive controversy concerning traditional models of economic equi- librium and new development paradigms based on an interdisciplinary, broader study of economics. When faced with the harmful effects of misguided directives in an economic and global sense, theorists have the obligation not only to explain their causes, but also to offer a practical solution or alternate thinking. After all, consistent levels of poverty, unemploy- ment and low growth are results which were not expected in orthodox economic models of equilibrium and should be dealt with instead of being thrown aside as a politically restricted issue.
    [Show full text]
  • Marxism, Sociology and Poulantzas's Theory of the State
    Marxism, Sociology and Poulantzas's Theory of the State Simon Clarke 1 Introduction Political developments in the last ten years have led to a very considerable re- newal of interest in Marxist economic and political analysis, and to a concerted attempt to reinvigorate Marxist theory as a revolutionary force. The focus of this movement is the attempt to develop a Marxist critique of Stalinist dogma- tism and of post-Stalinist revisionism. Its material conditions are the end of the long wave of post-war capitalist expansion and the reappearance of capitalist crisis, on the one hand, and the development of working class resistance to the domination of capital independently of the orthodox Communist Parties, on the other. This Marxist renaissance is taking place in conditions which make it ex- tremely vulnerable to absorption into the frame of reference of bourgeois ideol- ogy. Since 1930 Marxist theory has been positively or negatively dominated by the official Marxism of the orthodox Communist Parties (which I shall refer to as `dogmatism'). Those Marxists who were not prepared to subordinate themselves to dogmatism were not able to challenge it either. The period of cold war and the absence of independent working class resistance to capital meant that there was no basis on which such a challenge could be mounted. The independence of such Marxism was maintained by its diversion of attention from political and economic concerns. It was dominated by the attempt to explain the ap- parent solidity of bourgeois domination by reference to specific superstructural features which varied from one country to another, thus constituting various na- tional schools of `Western Marxism', which borrowed heavily from the dominant bourgeois cultural theories in the various countries.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ecological Aspect to Imperialism and Unequal Exchange
    University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 3-1-2014 Foreign Investment in African Resources: The Ecological Aspect to Imperialism and Unequal Exchange Mariko Frame University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the International Relations Commons Recommended Citation Frame, Mariko, "Foreign Investment in African Resources: The Ecological Aspect to Imperialism and Unequal Exchange" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 207. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/207 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. Foreign Investment in African Resources: The Ecological Aspect to Imperialism and Unequal Exchange __________ A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________ by Mariko Frame March 2014 Advisor: Dr. Haider Khan ©Copyright by Mariko Frame 2013 All Rights Reserved Author: Mariko L. Frame Title: Foreign Investment in African Resources: The Ecological Aspect to Imperialism and Unequal Exchange Advisor: Dr. Haider Khan Degree Date: March 2014 Abstract This dissertation examines the issue of foreign investment
    [Show full text]
  • Classism, Ableism, and the Rise of Epistemic Injustice Against White, Working-Class Men
    CLASSISM, ABLEISM, AND THE RISE OF EPISTEMIC INJUSTICE AGAINST WHITE, WORKING-CLASS MEN A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Humanities by SARAH E. BOSTIC B.A., Wright State University, 2017 2019 Wright State University WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL April 24, 2019 I HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION BY Sarah E. Bostic ENTITLED Classism, Ableism, and the Rise of Epistemic Injustice Against White, Working-Class Men BE ACCEPTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Humanities. __________________________ Kelli Zaytoun, Ph.D. Thesis Director __________________________ Valerie Stoker, Ph.D. Chair, Humanities Committee on Final Examination: ___________________________ Kelli Zaytoun, Ph.D. ___________________________ Jessica Penwell-Barnett, Ph.D. ___________________________ Donovan Miyasaki, Ph.D. ___________________________ Barry Milligan, Ph.D. Interim Dean of the Graduate School ABSTRACT Bostic, Sarah E. M.Hum. Master of Humanities Graduate Program, Wright State University, 2019. Classism, Ableism, and the Rise of Epistemic Injustice Against White, Working-Class Men. In this thesis, I set out to illustrate how epistemic injustice functions in this divide between white working-class men and the educated elite. I do this by discussing the discursive ways in which working-class knowledge and experience are devalued as legitimate sources of knowledge. I demonstrate this by using critical discourse analysis to interpret the underlying attitudes and ideologies in comments made by Clinton and Trump during their 2016 presidential campaigns. I also discuss how these ideologies are positively or negatively perceived by Trump’s working-class base. Using feminist standpoint theory and phenomenology as a lens of interpretation, I argue that white working-class men are increasingly alienated from progressive politics through classist and ableist rhetoric.
    [Show full text]
  • Orwell George
    The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume II: My Country Right or Left 1940-1943 by George Orwell Edited by Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus a.b.e-book v3.0 / Notes at EOF Back Cover: "He was a man, like Lawrence, whose personality shines out in everything he said or wrote." -- Cyril Connolly George Orwell requested in his will that no biography of him should be written. This collection of essays, reviews, articles, and letters which he wrote between the ages of seventeen and forty-six (when he died) is arranged in chronological order. The four volumes provide at once a wonderfully intimate impression of, and a "splendid monument" to, one of the most honest and individual writers of this century -- a man who forged a unique literary manner from the process of thinking aloud, who possessed an unerring gift for going straight to the point, and who elevated political writing to an art. The second volume principally covers the two years when George Orwell worked as a Talks Assistant (and later Producer) in the Indian section of the B.B.C. At the same time he was writing for Horizon, New Statesman and other periodicals. His war-time diaries are included here. Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia First published in England by Seeker & Warburg 1968 Published in Penguin Books 1970 Reprinted 1971 Copyright © Sonia Brownell Orwell, 1968 Made and printed in Great Britain by Hazell Watson & Viney Ltd, Aylesbury, Bucks Set in Linotype Times This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser Contents Acknowledgements A Note on the Editing 1940 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Contextualising British Experimental Novelists in the Long Sixties
    Contextualising British Experimental Novelists in the Long Sixties Joseph Andrew Darlington School of Arts and Media University of Salford, UK Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, January 2014 Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………4 Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………….5 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………6 Chapter 1: The Experimental Writers and The Sixties 1.1: “White Heat”: The Scientific Sixties 1.1.1: “Experimental Literature?”…………………………………………………………………..14 1.1.2: Science and the Sixties………………………………………………………………………….20 1.1.3: Groupings, Movements, Contemporaries……………………………………………..24 1.1.4: Against the Nineteenth Century Novel………………………………………………….28 1.1.5: The Technological Context……………………………………………………..…………….32 1.1.6: “The Establishment”……………………………………………………………………….…….37 1.2: The Experimental Novelist in Context 1.2.1: Post-war Prosperity……………………………………………………………..……………….42 1.2.2: Calder and Better Books…………………………………………………..…………………..47 1.2.3: The Widening World of Education…………………………………….………………….51 1.2.4: Writers and the BBC……………………………………………………..……………………..55 1.2.5: The Arts Council……………………………………………………….……….………………….59 1.2.6: Public Politics and Pay Disputes…………………………………………..…….…………63 1.2.7: Feminism: A Revolution in Progress………………………………..…..…….…………67 1.2.8: Anthony Burgess: A Case Study in Influence………………………..…….…………71 1.3: The Death of Keynesianism 1.3.1: Keynsianism versus Neoliberalism……………………………………….….…………..75
    [Show full text]
  • Nick Tabone – Songlist
    NICK TABONE – SONGLIST • Use Somebody - KOL • So Beautiful – Pete Murray • Save Tonight – Eagle Eye Cherry • Cherry Cherry – Neil Diamond • Sweet Child o Mine – Guns and Roses • Bad Moon Rising - CCR • Feeler – Pete Murray • Viva la Vida - Coldplay • Flame Trees – Cold Chisel • To Her Door – Paul Kelly • All Along the Watchtower – Hendrix • Another Brick in the Wall – Pink Floyd • Wonderwall – Oasis • Champagne Supernova - Oasis • I’m Yours – Jason Mraz • Run to Paradise - Choirboys • Sunsets - Powderfinger • Sex on Fire - KOL • Here Without You – 3 Doors Down • Lying Eyes - Eagles • You Found Me – The Fray • Push – MB 20 • Breakeven – The Script • Where I Stood – Missy Higgins • Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd • This Love – Maroon 5 • Best of My Love - Eagles • Shimmer - Fuel • Are you Old Enough? - Dragon • Butterfly – Jason Mraz • Like it Like That – Guy Sebastian • Love Lost – Temper Trap • No Surprise - Daughtry • 3am – MB 20 • End of the Line – Travelling Wilburys • Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen • Mustang Sally • Movin Out – Billy Joel • Like a Stone - Audioslave • This Heart Attack • Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison • I Shot the Sheriff – Bob Marley • Take it Easy - Eagles • Holy Grail – H and C’s • Electric Feel - MGMT • Breathe – Faith Hill • Give me one Reason – Tracy Chapman • Working Class Man – Jimmy Barnes • Burn For You – John Farnham • Stop and Stare – One republic • Dream Catch Me – Newton Faulkner • Wherever you will Go – The Calling • Looking out My Back Door - CCR • Cocaine - Clapton • You Shook me All night
    [Show full text]
  • The Aesthetic Diversity of American Proletarian Fiction
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2001 The aesthetic diversity of American proletarian fiction Walter Edwin Squire University of Tennessee Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Recommended Citation Squire, Walter Edwin, "The aesthetic diversity of American proletarian fiction. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2001. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/6439 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Walter Edwin Squire entitled "The aesthetic diversity of American proletarian fiction." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in English. Mary E. Papke, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Walter Squire entitled "The Aesthetic Diversity of American Proletarian Fiction." I have examined the final copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in English.
    [Show full text]
  • Transformations in Capital Accumulation
    Transformations in capital accumulation: From the national production of an universal labourer to the international fragmentation of the productive subjectivity of the working-class Juan Iñigo Carrera Buenos Aires, 2002 CICP CENTRO para la INVESTIGACION como CRITICA PRACTICA [email protected] Transformations in capital accumulation: From the national production of an universal labourer to the international fragmentation of the productive subjectivity of the working-class Juan Iñigo Carrera 1. The starting point The revolutionary action of the working-class needs to organise itself through the awareness of its concrete determinations. Since we are focusing on a process characterised by international integration and fragmentation, it could seem that the most concrete approach is that circumscribed to the economic policies that prevailed in the different national processes of capital accumulation involved.1 Still, this approach ends up by bringing down all historically-specific necessity to the immediate action of those that personify capital. Thus, apologetics of capitalism presents national capitalists and state-bureaucrats as the social subjects whose abstract will rules the historical movement. Opposite to this sterility it could seem that the starting point lies in capitalism’s global unity, once this unity is represented as the movement of accumulation regimes, their rise, ‘failure’ and fall. Still, then, the subject of historical change seems to have vanished, as if this were ‘a process without a subject’.2 Once again, abstraction has displaced the concrete. It could seem, then, that the answer lies on circumscribing the global unity of accumulation to its concrete manifestation: class struggle. Still, considered in itself, class struggle comes down to a series of confrontations in which, now the working-class prevails and advances, now it is defeated and retreats, at the rhythm imposed by the development of working-class consciousness.
    [Show full text]
  • Download PDF Version
    Communist Party of India (Marxist) Programme Introduction 1.1 The Communist Party inherited the progressive, anti-imperialist and revolutionary traditions of the Indian people. Since its formation in 1920, by a small group of determined anti-imperialist fighters inspired by the October Socialist Revolution in Russia, the Party had set before itself the goal of fighting for complete independence and basic social transformation. The Party pledged to work for the establishment of a socialist society in India, free from class exploitation and social oppression. 1.2 True to the cause of proletarian internationalism, the Party consistently supported the national liberation movements against the imperialist order and the struggles for democracy and socialism the world over, which were major features of the twentieth century. The Party adopted the principles of Marxism-Leninism as the guide to action for winning national independence, to attain the objective of socialism and to advance towards the ultimate goal of communism. The Communists were the first in the country to raise the demand for complete independence and put forward a resolution for this in the Ahmedabad session of the Indian National Congress in 1921. 1.3 The Communists, while demanding complete independence, also stressed the need for giving a radical content to the slogan of swaraj through a definite programme for social and economic change by including such vital questions as abolition of landlordism, end to feudal domination and elimination of caste oppression. 1.4 The Communists while participating in the freedom struggle, from the outset, devoted their energies to the task of organising workers in trade unions, peasants in the Kisan Sabha, students in their unions and other sections in their respective mass organisations.
    [Show full text]
  • Helen Smith Full Thesis
    A Study of Working-Class Men Who Desired Other Men in the North of England, c.1895 - 1957 Helen Smith Department of History A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy November 2012 Abstract This thesis is the first detailed academic study of non-metropolitan men who desired other men in England during the period 1895-1957. It places issues of class, masculinity and regionality alongside sexuality in seeking to understand how men experienced their emotional and sexual relationships with each other. It argues that fluid notions of sexuality were rooted in deeply embedded notions of class and region. The thesis examines the six decades from 1895 to 1957 in an attempt to explore patterns of change over a broad period and uses a wide variety of sources such as legal records, newspapers, letters, social surveys and oral histories to achieve this. Amongst northern working men, ‘normality’ and ‘good character’ were not necessarily disrupted by same sex desire. As long as a man was a good, reliable worker, many other potential transgressions could be forgiven or overlooked. This type of tolerance of (or ambivalence to) same sex desire was shaken by affluence and the increased visibility of men with a clear sexuality from the 1950s and into the era of decriminalisation. The thesis analyses patterns of work, sex, friendship and sociability throughout the period to understand how these traditions of tolerance and ambivalence were formed and why they eventually came to an end. Although the impact of affluence and decriminalisation had countless positive effects both for working people in general and men who desired other men specifically, the thesis will acknowledge that this impact irrevocably altered a way of life and of understanding the world.
    [Show full text]