The Evolution of a Community : A Study of Dagenham After Forty Years

Peter Willmott

ISBN 10: 1032545283 / ISBN 13: 9781032545288

Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) Aug 2025, 2025

About this Item

Neuware - In earlier studies, Peter Willmott and other investigators had documented the social problems of new housing estates - the loneliness, the tensions, the disruption of family and neighbourhood ties. But how far are such troubles transitory What kind of life would develop in communities like these when time had rubbed off the newness Originally published in 1963, in search of an answer, Peter Willmott went to Dagenham in Essex, where forty years before the London County Council began to build a giant estate to rehouse people from the East End of London. His study - of a new estate that had now become an old one - throws light on the long-term effects of this kind of migration. He found at Dagenham, most strikingly, that a way of life very similar to a 'traditional' working-class community had grown up. In this book he discusses the similarities and differences, and shows the influences which had worked for and against this development. After a sketch of the estate's history, he traces the relationships of the people of Dagenham with relatives, friends and neighbours, and then examines their attitudes to each other, to politics and to social class.His conclusions were not only relevant to housing and town planning policy, but provided insight into the meaning of social class in contemporary Britain at the time.

Seller Inventory # 9781032545288

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Evolution of a Community : A Study of Dagenham After Forty Years
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) Aug 2025
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1032545283
• ISBN 13: 9781032545288
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 216W x 140H x 9D millimeters 216 millimeters width by 140 millimeters height by 9 millimeters depth
• Weight: 204 grams

About this title

Synopsis

In earlier studies, Peter Willmott and other investigators had documented the social problems of new housing estates – the loneliness, the tensions, the disruption of family and neighbourhood ties. But how far are such troubles transitory? What kind of life would develop in communities like these when time had rubbed off the newness?

Originally published in 1963, in search of an answer, Peter Willmott went to Dagenham in Essex, where forty years before the London County Council began to build a giant estate to rehouse people from the East End of London. His study – of a new estate that had now become an old one – throws light on the long-term effects of this kind of migration. He found at Dagenham, most strikingly, that a way of life very similar to a ‘traditional’ working-class community had grown up. In this book he discusses the similarities and differences, and shows the influences which had worked for and against this development. After a sketch of the estate’s history, he traces the relationships of the people of Dagenham with relatives, friends and neighbours, and then examines their attitudes to each other, to politics and to social class.

His conclusions were not only relevant to housing and town planning policy, but provided insight into the meaning of social class in contemporary Britain at the time.