The white working class

In a feature in Prospect on what was ‘overrated’ and ‘underrated’ in 2009 the magazine’s editor David Goodheart had this to say:

“The idea of the neglected white working class deserves less respect. For a start, 89 per cent of Britons are white and two-thirds self-identify as working class—so they are the majority. But they comprise so many sub-groups of varying fortunes that the category itself is useless. Moreover, all beyond a small slice at the bottom have grown richer and more powerful of late. The Resolution Foundation has shown that, under Labour, the average lower paid worker has got more from the state in benefits and services than they pay in tax (for the first time in decades). Not listened to? Eh? From talk radio through tabloids to the polls and focus groups that politicians pore over—never has the voice of the white working class rung louder. Yet the perception of abandonment is real, especially at the very bottom. Why? It’s mainly a cultural thing. Mass immigration; the decline of factory work; the disappearance of an old way of thinking which reassured people that, however low in the pecking order, they still had a place and a value—all of this has left some people feeling bereft. And it’s not something that politics can easily fix.”

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