Labor history
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| - | :''[[history of popular culture]]'' | ||
| - | '''Working class culture''' is a range of [[culture]]s created by or popular among [[working class]] people. The cultures can be contrasted with [[high culture]] and [[folk culture]] and are sometimes equated with [[popular culture]] and [[low culture]] (the counterpart of high culture). | ||
| - | ==Existence== | + | '''Labor history''' or '''labour history''' is a sub-discipline of [[social history]] which specialises on the history of the [[working class]]es and the [[labor movement]]. Labor historians may concern themselves with issues of gender, race, ethnicity and other factors besides class but chiefly focus on urban or industrial societies which distinguishes it from [[rural history]]. |
| - | Working class culture is extremely geographically diverse, leading some to question whether the cultures have anything in common. Many socialists with a [[class struggle]] viewpoint see its importance as arising from the [[proletariat]] they champion. Some states which cla to be [[Communist]] have declared an official working class culture, most notably [[socialist realism]], which aims to glorify the worker. It should be noted that glorification of the worker in abstract is seldom a feature of independent working class cultures. Other socialists such as [[Lenin]] believed that there could be no authentic proletarian culture free from [[capitalism]], nor that high culture should not be outside the experience of workers. | + | |
| - | ==Development== | + | The central concerns of labor historians include [[industrial relations]] and forms of labor protest (strikes, lock-outs), the rise of [[mass politics]] (especially the rise of [[socialism]]) and the social and cultural history of the [[Proletariat|industrial working classes]]. |
| - | Working class cultures developed alongside the working class itself, during the [[Industrial Revolution]]. As most of the new proletariat were former [[peasant]]s, so the cultures took on much of the localised folk culture. This was soon altered by the changed conditions of social relationships and the increased mobility of the workforce, and later by the marketing of [[mass-produced]] cultural artefacts such as [[Printmaking|print]]s and ornaments and events such as [[music hall]] and later [[film|cinema]]. | + | |
| - | ==Working class culture and popular culture== | + | Labor history developed in tandem with the growth of a self-conscious working-class political movement in many Western countries in the latter half of the nineteenth century. |
| - | Working-class culture may be seen on TV shows such as ''[[Roseanne (TV series)|Roseanne]]'' or ''[[Good Times]]'' in which American families struggle to pay for basic needs. In the United States, working-class culture is often conflated with Southern culture. Thus, shows like [[The Dukes of Hazzard]] or [[The Beverly Hillbillies]] can be seen as examples of that culture. | + | |
| + | Whilst early labor historians were drawn to protest movements such as [[Luddism]] and [[Chartism]], the focus of labor history was often on institutions: chiefly the labor unions and political parties. Exponents of this ''institutional'' approach included [[Sidney Webb|Sidney]] and [[Beatrice Webb]]. The work of the Webbs, and other pioneers of the discipline, was marked by optimism about the capacity of the labor movement to effect fundamental social change and a tendency to see its development as a process of steady, inevitable and unstoppable progress. | ||
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| + | As two contemporary labor historians have noted, early work in the field was "designed to service and celebrate the Labour movement." | ||
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| + | == See also == | ||
| + | *[[Business history]] | ||
| + | *[[Communist Party Historians Group]] | ||
| + | *[[Historiography of the United Kingdom]] | ||
| + | *[[New labor history]] | ||
| + | * [[History of trade unions in the United Kingdom]] | ||
| - | One of Australian [[pub rock]] singer [[Jimmy Barnes]]'s more popular songs references the culture and its hardships; the song is appropriately titled [[Working Class Man]]. | ||
| - | ==See also== | ||
| - | *[[Blue collar]] | ||
| - | *[[Industrial novel]] | ||
| - | *[[Labor history (discipline)|Labor history]] | ||
| - | *[[Proletarian literature]] | ||
| - | *[[Proletarian novel]] | ||
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Labor history or labour history is a sub-discipline of social history which specialises on the history of the working classes and the labor movement. Labor historians may concern themselves with issues of gender, race, ethnicity and other factors besides class but chiefly focus on urban or industrial societies which distinguishes it from rural history.
The central concerns of labor historians include industrial relations and forms of labor protest (strikes, lock-outs), the rise of mass politics (especially the rise of socialism) and the social and cultural history of the industrial working classes.
Labor history developed in tandem with the growth of a self-conscious working-class political movement in many Western countries in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Whilst early labor historians were drawn to protest movements such as Luddism and Chartism, the focus of labor history was often on institutions: chiefly the labor unions and political parties. Exponents of this institutional approach included Sidney and Beatrice Webb. The work of the Webbs, and other pioneers of the discipline, was marked by optimism about the capacity of the labor movement to effect fundamental social change and a tendency to see its development as a process of steady, inevitable and unstoppable progress.
As two contemporary labor historians have noted, early work in the field was "designed to service and celebrate the Labour movement."
See also
- Business history
- Communist Party Historians Group
- Historiography of the United Kingdom
- New labor history
- History of trade unions in the United Kingdom
