The Changing Face of the Working Class Week 17. Britain in the 20th Century

Industrial Worker (early 20th century) Fordist Worker (Post-war) Mass trade unions/Labour Party Affluent Society. Post-war social contract Fragmentation/ disempowerment Industrial Worker (early 20th century) Fordist Worker (Post-war) Service Worker (post-industrial) decline of heavy industries (1910 onwards) rise of mass production (circa 1930s) de-industrialisation escalates (1980s onwards)

Grayson Perry tapestries (class as taste in the early 21st century)

‘It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness.’ Karl Marx, Preface to the Critique of Political Economy (1859)

Post-war social contract… … leads to the politically and socially Conservative 'affluent'/Fordist worker? Post-war social contract…

Mass public sector strike – winter of discontent 1978-1979 Miners strike leads to three-day working week in 1974

Grunwick 1976-1977

1984-85 Miners' Strike Arthur Scargill vs Margaret Thatcher

1990s – the rise of the post Fordist worker

What does class struggle in the 21st century look like?