1st Edition

Labour in British Society An Interpretative History

By Richard Price Copyright 1986
274 Pages
by Routledge

274 Pages
by Routledge

274 Pages
by Routledge

What part has organized labour played in the history of modern Britain? To what extent has British society been shaped by working class organization in industry and labour in politics? A major reinterpretation of the relationship between the history of the working class and the history of British society from 1780 to 1980, Labour in British Society (originally published in 1986) traces two... Read more

Introduction  1. Economic Change and Proletarianisation 1780–1850  2. Social Relations and the Industrial Revolution 1780–1850  3. The Challenge of Radicalism: The Origins of the Mid-Victorian Compromise 1820–1850  4. The Mid-Victorian Compromise in Production Relations 1850–1880  5. Work and Authority 1880–1914   6. Class, Work and Politics 1890–1926  7. Production and Prerogative 1926–1947  8. The Political Economy of Industrial Relations 1945–1980   9. Conclusion

Biography

Richard Price has written six books and many articles and essays on modern British social history and the history of the British Empire. His scholarly interest has been to explore how deep social processes shape wider societal historical forces. His writings on British labour history explored how social relations in the industrial workplace shaped the presence of organized Labour in society. Similarly, his work on the settler colonies of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand explored how their histories were shaped by the encounter between imperial forces and Indigenous peoples. He is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Reviews of the first publication:

“A bold and original interpretation of labour history over the past two hundred years, which challenges much of the received wisdom of previous historians, both Left and Right. It is a most important new approach to the history of industrial relations and labour politics in Britain.”

J. F. C. Harrison, University of Sussex

‘It will deservedly figure prominently in the reading lists of all labour and political history courses in years to come.’

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