The Breaking of the English Working Class
What has become of the English Working Class in the 21st Century?

Class is more central to understanding what is happening in the UK than it has been for decades. But what does it mean to be working class today? And how should we define it? For some, it is a cultural definition, untethered from its traditional links to labourism. For others, the divisions are found between generations based around the opportunities of home ownership.

Jonas Marvin argues that such simple definitions are not enough. Visiting two communities - Tottenham in north London, and Stoke in the Midlands, he shows that while there is a common experience of work, the differences in housing and everyday life are palpable, resulting in a profound bifurcation in proletarian consciousness. Ultimately, the book charts the demolition of the conscious, political subject whose emergence E.P. Thompson traced more than half a century ago: the English working class.
1148772379
The Breaking of the English Working Class
What has become of the English Working Class in the 21st Century?

Class is more central to understanding what is happening in the UK than it has been for decades. But what does it mean to be working class today? And how should we define it? For some, it is a cultural definition, untethered from its traditional links to labourism. For others, the divisions are found between generations based around the opportunities of home ownership.

Jonas Marvin argues that such simple definitions are not enough. Visiting two communities - Tottenham in north London, and Stoke in the Midlands, he shows that while there is a common experience of work, the differences in housing and everyday life are palpable, resulting in a profound bifurcation in proletarian consciousness. Ultimately, the book charts the demolition of the conscious, political subject whose emergence E.P. Thompson traced more than half a century ago: the English working class.
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The Breaking of the English Working Class

The Breaking of the English Working Class

by Jonas Patrick Marvin
The Breaking of the English Working Class

The Breaking of the English Working Class

by Jonas Patrick Marvin

eBook

$9.99 
Available for Pre-Order. This item will be released on August 18, 2026

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Overview

What has become of the English Working Class in the 21st Century?

Class is more central to understanding what is happening in the UK than it has been for decades. But what does it mean to be working class today? And how should we define it? For some, it is a cultural definition, untethered from its traditional links to labourism. For others, the divisions are found between generations based around the opportunities of home ownership.

Jonas Marvin argues that such simple definitions are not enough. Visiting two communities - Tottenham in north London, and Stoke in the Midlands, he shows that while there is a common experience of work, the differences in housing and everyday life are palpable, resulting in a profound bifurcation in proletarian consciousness. Ultimately, the book charts the demolition of the conscious, political subject whose emergence E.P. Thompson traced more than half a century ago: the English working class.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781804295533
Publisher: Verso Books
Publication date: 08/18/2026
Series: Salvage Editions
Sold by: Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format: eBook
Pages: 208

About the Author

Jonas Marvin is a writer, researcher and campaigner based in Stoke-on-Trent. He regularly contributes to Salvage, Novara Media, Voice Wales and Conter. He frequently participates in conferences, activist spaces and events speaking on themes related to socialist transition, social movements, race and class, uneven economic geography and nationalism.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter One: Marx in the Potteries
Chapter Two: Disorganised Abandonment
Chapter Three: The Personal Society
Chapter Four: The Long 90s Were Really Long
Chapter Five: Whither Gravediggers?
Conclusion: Good Life Syndrome
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