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      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        May 2019

        Assembling cultures

        Workplace activism, labour militancy and cultural change in Britain's car factories, 1945-82

        by Jack Saunders

        Assembling cultures takes a fine-grained look at workplace activism in car manufacturing between 1945 and 1982, using it as a key case for unpicking narratives around affluence, declinism and class. It traces the development of the militant car worker stereotype, looking at the social relations which lay behind the industry's reputation for conflict. This book reveals a changing, complex world of social practices, cultural norms, shared values and expectations. From the 1950s, car workers developed shop-floor organisations of considerable authority, enabling some new demands of their working lives, but constraining other more radical political aims. This is a story of workers and their place in the power relations of post-war Britain. This book is invaluable to academics and students studying the history, sociology and politics of modern Britain, particularly those with an interest in power, rationality, class, labour, gender and race.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        January 2020

        Assembling cultures

        Workplace activism, labour militancy and cultural change in Britain's car factories, 1945-82

        by Jack Saunders

        Assembling cultures takes a fine-grained look at workplace activism in car manufacturing between 1945 and 1982, using it as a key case for unpicking narratives around affluence, declinism and class. It traces the development of the militant car worker stereotype, looking at the social relations which lay behind the industry's reputation for conflict. This book reveals a changing, complex world of social practices, cultural norms, shared values and expectations. From the 1950s, car workers developed shop-floor organisations of considerable authority, enabling some new demands of their working lives, but constraining other more radical political aims. This is a story of workers and their place in the power relations of post-war Britain. This book is invaluable to academics and students studying the history, sociology and politics of modern Britain, particularly those with an interest in power, rationality, class, labour, gender and race.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        May 2021

        Assembling cultures

        Workplace activism, labour militancy and cultural change in Britain's car factories, 1945-82

        by Jack Saunders

        In British political discourse the idea that in the 1970s trade unions 'ran the country' has become a truism, a folk mythology invoked against the twin perils of socialism and strikes. But who exactly wielded power in Britain's workplaces and on what terms? Assembling cultures takes a fine-grained look at factory activism in the motor industry between 1945 and 1982, using car manufacturing as a key case for unpicking important narratives around affluence, declinism and class. It traces the development of the militant car worker stereotype and looks at the real social relations that lay behind car manufacturing's reputation for conflict. In doing so, this book reveals a changing, complex world of social practices, cultural norms and shared values and expectations. From relatively meagre interwar trade union traditions, during the post-war period car workers developed shop-floor organisations of considerable authority, enabling some to make new demands of their working lives, but constraining others in their more radical political aims. Assembling cultures documents in detail a historic process where, from the 1950s, groups and individuals set about creating and reproducing collective power and asks what that meant for their lives. This is a story of workers and their place in the power relations of post-war Britain. This book will be invaluable to lecturers and students studying the history, sociology and politics of post-war Britain, particularly those with an interest in power, rationality, class, labour, gender and race. The detailed analysis of just how solidarity, organisation and collective action were generated will also prove useful to trade union activists.

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