The Breaking of the English Working Class (Paperback)

Jonas Patrick Marvin

ISBN 10: 1804295515 / ISBN 13: 9781804295519

Published by Verso Books, London, 2026

About this Item

Paperback. 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. What has become of the English Working Class in the 21st Century? Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781804295519

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Breaking of the English Working Class (Paperback)
• Publisher: Verso Books, London
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1804295515
• ISBN 13: 9781804295519
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

What has become of the English working class in the twenty-first century?

After a decades-long absence, class is once again central to our understanding of ailing Britain. But what does it mean to be working class today? As Jonas Patrick Marvin shows, questions of class have often been replaced by talk of race and geography. Meanwhile, a collective identity capable of pushing for change has become increasingly weakened and sidelined.

Retelling the story of the working class over the last forty years — from Thatcher’s war against the unions to New Labour neoliberalism – Marvin shows how power and capital have combined to shatter a radical identity into many parts: white, male, northerner, homeowner, immigrant, unemployed, disabled. These fragments are then set in conflict against each other. Blending political analysis with an account of his own experiences of class in London and the rustbelt Midlands, Marvin shows how the working class have been demonised and man­aged into impotence.

The working class is more than just an identity. As Marvin argues, it embodies a collective will to demand change, one that can — and must — be rekindled.

About the Author

Jonas Patrick Marvin is a writer, researcher and campaigner based in Stoke-on-Trent. He regularly contributes to Salvage and Novara Media and is a host of the popular podcast Life of the Party.