Reddit reviews Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class
We found 15 Reddit comments about Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
If you would like a couple of good reads on this subject Polly Toynbee's Hard Work and The Spirit Level by Wilkinson and Pickett, (Link to PDF oof some of the book) are very good reads as is Chavs by Owen Jones.
Also the Black report and Marmot review are heavy but eye opening reads.
I'm sure many people with say that this is good for the country but the evidence is that it simply costs us all, yes the gap has closed a little over the last few years but that trend will reverse and when you look at the degree of inequality within the UK in comparison to our EU neighbours we have such along way to go.
I think that one of the reasons that the government is so anti-EU is that they wish for this level of inequity to stay (and increase).
Required reading ;) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1844678644
Chav is overwhelmingly used as a punch down on the lower classes and people who live in social housing.
It's the same as "Trailer Trash", "Housos", "Gopnik". It's slang term overwhelmingly for lower classes, and I've heard Chav used against people simply for their "lower class" accent, they weren't in an adidas tracksuit committing crime.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chavs-Demonization-Working-Owen-Jones/dp/1844678644
There is an entire fucking book about how Chav is used to demonise lower class people.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chavs-The-Demonization-Working-Class/dp/1844678644/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346952718&sr=8-1 it's nothing new. It's part of the culture now that people think everyone who receives benefits is some sort of lazy, anti-social layabout. It's quite frankly disgusting
Just finished Caitlin Moran's "How to be a Woman" which I loved, going to get stuck in to "Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class" over the weekend.
In short, rich people are responsible for poverty through government and industry policy, then they convince us all the fault actually lies with poor people for being poor and not sorting it out themselves. For further reading: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chavs-Demonization-Working-Owen-Jones/dp/1844678644
Graham Smith
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chavs-Demonization-Working-Owen-Jones/dp/1844678644
One part of this book documents this sort of thing well. Related to the Madeline McCann girl missing.
I'll suggest two books for you:
> Now, I have to ask, (and there may be a reason - I am asking for interest not as a challenge) What does a "hippy Leftie" see in UKIP?
Ok, firstly let me invite you to read over this. It was a response to a question about how UKIP are setting the agenda.
Toward the end of that I referred to The Broken Compass/ The Cameron Delusion by Peter Hitchens.
Summarising Hitchens' argument in an extreme way gives you something like this:
a. Socialism is bad. Not even just BAD. Socialism is BAD!
b. The Labour party has a socialist plan that requires several decades in power.
c. The Conservative party is complicit in helping the evil socialist plan.
d. When the Conservatives are in power they deliberately don't roll back the evil socialism.
e. This allows the Left to roll out their evil plan in stages while the Right pretends to oppose it.
f. The Conservatives should be kept out of power until they're forced to reform and stop supporting this nonsense.
Hitchens is not, in my opinion, a good writer. He is, however, a compelling writer. I disagree with him almost diametrically on the conclusion he draws, but I do agree with a lot of the problems he identified getting to it.
How I see it is that:
a. There is no actual conspiracy. Just short-termism, self-interest, stupidity and greed.
b. The Left has become infected with the policies and attitudes of the Right.
(In the post I linked I explained the rush for the political Centre: Blair was so successful in leading his party in a huge lurch to the Right that playing the middle of the road became the only game in town.)
To quote George Galloway , "I care nothing for the Conservatives of the Liberal Democrats. I wish them political perdition. But I do care about the Labour party [...] and I want to [...] appeal to the Labour party to turn away and break decisively from the path of treason set for them by Tony Blair almost twenty years ago and from which they have not properly resiled. They must stop taking their supporters for granted. They must stop imagining that working people and poor people have no option but to support them[...]"
Quick detour: I sometimes read books in pairs. I bought The Cameron Delusion and Chavs: The demonisation of the working class at the same time. This is an interesting counterbalance to Hitchens, but much more to the point it's a reminder than the shitting on the working class is not the exclusive entertainment of the Right.
One more thing to cover quickly: Blair dragged Labour to The Centre If you imagine it like a ruler with Labour and the Conservatives starting at the ends this moves them to literally around the centre. (50cm'ish.) The Conservatives followed suit under Cameron, but the Centre is now somewhere in the region of 70-80cm. It's not impossible that people from the Right might not see it that way, but that's how it seems to me.
OK, I think that'll do for what I think is wrong with the Left:
a. Huge lurch to the Right.
b. Assumption that they're entitled to the support of the poor and the working class.
c. Comprehensive failure to represent the poor and the working class.
Setting aside Hitchens' conspiracy theory where I do agree with him is that you best influence your politicians by punishing them when they behave badly. This is where, "You MUST vote Conservative or Labour or you waste your vote!" serves us terribly. It means they can treat you like shit and you have to take it.
OK, a second detour: Anatol Rapoport proposed a game theory algorithm he called Tit For Tat. More or less this is, "Cooperate until the other player betrays you. Then punish them until they resume cooperation." Or: Every time you screw me over I will slap you until you quit it.
Aside from the fact that five year electoral cycles are a problem, I think this is a good way to handle politicians. They're not inherently valuable. They're not important or special. They are supposed to work for us. There're conflicts of interest in that, but that is what they're for.
(Having to rush a little now, need to leave for work soon.)
UKIP are eating support from the Conservatives. This forces the Conservative party to reconfigure to acknowledge its Right wing support. I don't agree with those people, but I do think their party ought to represent them and to stop assuming entitlement to their support.
The utter neglect of and spite toward the poor and the working class from Labour means that a lot of those people are considering voting UKIP. They might be misguided in doing so, but you're not going to argue that it's not going to happen.
This means that UKIP support influences both the Conservatives and Labour. Better yet, they leverage both sides, which means larger numbers, which means more influence.
There's a very interesting book on "Chavs" you should probably read. :)
Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class by Owen Jones.
It's simply the best book about the effect of the rapid destructing of Britain's industry and the consequences of that on the working class. It's affecting, sad and brilliant. The cases are well thought out and his reasoning is faultless.
A truly peerless book.
Do you have a cogent argument for why that isn't the case?
This book was critically acclaimed and more or less makes my argument. Have a read of the précis.
Edit: And the downvotes do the talking...
And, in England, even the Soccer millionaires are being looked down by people who do matter.
http://www.amazon.com/Chavs-Demonization-Working-Owen-Jones/dp/1844678644
Read Owen Jones' book Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class and then maybe you might get your fucking thick skull to grasp the point.