From the bawdy audience of a Victorian Penny Gaff to the excitable crowd
of an early twentieth century football match, working-class male leisure
proved to be a contentious issue for contemporary observers. For
middle-class social reformers from across the political spectrum, the
spectacle of popular leisure offered a view of working-class habits, and
a means by which lifestyles and behaviour could be assessed. For the
mid-Victorians, gingerly stepping into a new mass democratic age, the
desire to create a bond between the recently enfranchised male worker
and the nation was more important than ever. This trend continued as
those in governance perceived that 'good' leisure and citizenship could
fend off challenges to social stability such as imperial decline, the
mass degenerate city, hooliganism, civic and voter apathy and fascism.
Thus, between 1850 and 1945 the issue of male leisure became enmeshed
with changing contemporary debates on the encroaching mass society and
its
implications for good citizenry. Working-class culture has often been
depicted as an atomised and fragmented entity lacking any significant
cultural contestation. Drawing on a wealth of primary and secondary
source material, this book powerfully challenges these recent
assumptions and places social class centre stage once more. Arguing that
there was a remarkable continuity in male working-class culture between
1850 and 1945, Beaven contends that despite changing socio-economic
contexts, male working-class culture continued to draw from a tradition
of active participation and cultural contestation that was both class
and gender exclusive. This lively and readable book draws from
fascinating accounts from those who participated in and observed
contemporary popular leisure making it of importance to students and
teachers of social history, popular culture, urban history, historical
geography, historical sociology and cultural studies.
