Name: Chavs
ISBN: 9781839760921

Owen Jones

In modern Britain, the working class has become an object of fear and ridicule. In this acclaimed investigation, Owen Jones explores how the working class has gone from "salt of the earth" to "scum of the earth." Exposing the ignorance and prejudice at the heart of the chav caricature, he portrays a far more complex reality. The chav stereotype, he argues, is used by governments as a convenient fig leaf to avoid genuine engagement with social and economic problems and to justify widening inequality. This new edition includes a new chapter, reflecting on the overwhelming response to the book and the situation in Britain today.

The Demonization of the Working Class

Chavs

A compelling investigation into the myth and reality of working-class life in contemporary Britain. In modern Britain, the working class has become an object of fear and ridicule. From Little Britain’s Vicky Pollard to the demonization of Jade Goody, media and politicians alike dismiss as feckless, criminalized and ignorant a vast, underprivileged swathe of society whose members have become stereotyped by one, hate-filled word: chavs. In this groundbreaking investigation, Owen Jones explores how the working class has gone from “salt of the earth” to “scum of the earth.” Exposing the ignorance and prejudice at the heart of the chav caricature, one based on the media’s inexhaustible obsession with an indigent white underclass, he portrays a far more complex reality. Moving through Westminster’s lobbies and working-class communities from Dagenham to Dewsbury Moor, Jones reveals the increasing poverty and desperation of communities made precarious by wrenching social and industrial change, and all but abandoned by the aspirational, society-fragmenting policies of Thatcherism and New Labour. The chav stereotype, he argues, is used by governments as a convenient figleaf to avoid genuine engagement with social and economic problems, and to justify widening inequality. Based on a wealth of original research, and wide-ranging interviews with media figures, political opinion-formers and workers, Chavs is a damning indictment of the media and political establishment, and an illuminating, disturbing portrait of inequality and class hatred in modern Britain.

Eugenia Andino

Puede que yo esperase demasiado o que esté demasiado acostumbrada a un estilo más académico cuando leo ensayo. El caso es que me pareció repetitivo y superficial. Sí, todo lo que dice es verdad, pero el conjunto del libro no me enganchó.

Natali Topliff

This is one of those books that you just need to read if you are from the UK, and have ever used the term Chav.

Ilia Markov

I think this book was going to be all about bashing the upper and middle classes, the Tory party establishment, and New Labour and IT IS (and it's well deserved in many cases btw), but it's also much more.

Owen Jones makes a few important points that we should be thinking about — sometimes they feel like their hidden in the overall narrative, but they are there nevertheless.

Point 1: We can't all be middle class — it's virtually impossible for it to happen. Some people will always be on the lower end of the social spectrum.
Point 2: What do we do about them? How do we support them?

In modern Britain, the working class has become an object of fear and ridicule. From Little Britain's Vicky Pollard to the demonization of Jade Goody, media and politicians alike dismiss as feckless, criminalized and ignorant a vast, underprivileged swathe of society whose members have become stereotyped by one, hate-filled word: chavs. In this groundbreaking investigation, Owen Jones explores how the working class has gone from "salt of the earth" to "scum of the earth." Exposing the ignorance and prejudice at the heart of the chav caricature, one based on the media's inexhaustible obsession with an indigent white underclass, he portrays a far more complex reality. Moving through Westminster's lobbies and working-class communities from Dagenham to Dewsbury Moor, Jones reveals the increasing poverty and desperation of communities made precarious by wrenching social and industrial change, and all but abandoned by the aspirational, society-fragmenting policies of Thatcherism and New Labour. The chav stereotype, he argues, is used by governments as a convenient figleaf to avoid genuine engagement with social and economic problems, and to justify widening inequality. Based on a wealth of original research, and wide-ranging interviews with media figures, political opinion-formers and workers, Chavs is a damning indictment of the media and political establishment, and an illuminating, disturbing portrait of inequality and class hatred in modern Britain.

Chavs The Demonization of the Working Class

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