- Working class culture
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Working class culture is a range of cultures 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).
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 that claim to be communist have declared an official working class culture, most notably socialist realism, which aims to glorify the worker. However, 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, and that high culture should not be outside the experience of workers.
Working class culture developed during the Industrial Revolution. Because most of the newly created working class were former peasants, 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 prints and ornaments, and events such as music hall and cinema.
Portrayals in popular culture
Working class culture has been portrayed on TV shows such as Roseanne and 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. The English TV show Shameless highlights working class life in a Manchester suburb.
One of Australian pub rock singer Jimmy Barnes's more popular songs, "Working Class Man" references working class culture and hardships.
Some youth subcultures such as skinheads, punks, rockers and metalheads have been associated with working class culture.
Some sports such as rugby league football, darts and association football, which is sometimes referred to as the working man's game, are associated with the working class.
Further reading
- Navickas, Katrina. "What happened to class? New histories of labour and collective action in Britain," Social History, May 2011, Vol. 36 Issue 2, pp 192-204
See also
- Blue collar
- Labor history
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