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Changing Social Class Identities in Post-War Britain: Perspectives from Mass-Observation

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  • Mike Savage

Abstract

The idea that class identities have waned in importance over recent decades is a staple feature of much contemporary social theory yet has not been systematically investigated using primary historical data. This paper re-uses qualitative data collected by Mass-Observation which asks about the social class identities of correspondents of its directives in two different points in time, 1948 and 1990. I show that there were significant changes in the way that class was narrated in these two periods. There is not simple decline of class identities, but rather a subtle reworking of the means by which class is articulated. In the earlier period Mass-Observers are ambivalent about class in ways which indicate the power of class as a form of ascriptive inscription. By 1990, Mass-Observers do not see class identities as the ascribed product of their birth and upbringing, but rather they elaborate a reflexive and individualised account of their mobility between class positions in ways which emphasise the continued importance of class identities. As well as being a contribution to debates on changing class identities, the paper highlights the value of the re-use of qualitative data as a means of examining patterns and processes of historical change

Suggested Citation

  • Mike Savage, 2007. "Changing Social Class Identities in Post-War Britain: Perspectives from Mass-Observation," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 12(3), pages 14-26, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:12:y:2007:i:3:p:14-26
    DOI: 10.5153/sro.1459
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Elizabeth B. Silva, 2007. "What's [Yet] to be Seen? Re-Using Qualitative Data," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 12(3), pages 27-38, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rose Lindsey & Sarah Bulloch, 2014. "A Sociologist's Field Notes to the Mass Observation Archive: A Consideration of the Challenges of ‘re-Using’ Mass Observation Data in a Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Study," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(3), pages 147-160, September.
    2. Sam Friedman, 2022. "(Not) bringing your whole self to work: The gendered experience of upward mobility in the UK Civil Service," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 502-519, March.
    3. Abigail Knight & Julia Brannen & Rebecca O'connell, 2015. "Using Narrative Sources from the Mass Observation Archive to Study Everyday Food and Families in Hard Times: Food Practices in England during 1950," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 20(1), pages 29-72, February.
    4. Dana Wilson-Kovacs, 2014. "‘Clearly Necessary’, ‘Wonderful’ and ‘Engrossing’? Mass Observation Correspondents Discuss Forensic Technologies," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(3), pages 161-176, September.
    5. Rachel Hurdley, 2014. "Synthetic sociology and the ‘long workshop’: How Mass Observation ruined meta-methodology," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(3), pages 177-202, September.
    6. Friedman, Sam, 2022. "(Not) bringing your whole self to work: the gendered experience of upward mobility in the UK Civil Service," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113417, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Sarah Nettleton & Emma Uprichard, 2011. "‘A Slice of Life’: Food Narratives and Menus from Mass-Observers in 1982 and 1945," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 16(2), pages 99-107, June.
    8. Emma Casey, 2014. "‘Mass Gambling’ from 1947 to 2011: Controversies and Pathologies," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(3), pages 203-213, September.

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