from1931 show population levels plateau at 14,955 and then decrease
to 13,925 by 1951. Dennis et al, 1969: 12
The authors also highlight the development of housing correlated with the
growth of population. Statistics show that even though population had
decreased by 1951 in the same year Ashton recorded the highest ever
number of inhibited houses. It was stated that between 1911 and 1953
almost 1,300 houses were built in Ashton, the majority by the local
authority or National Coal Board. Dennis et al, 1969:14
The statistical information used in relation to population and location
draws ones attention to population changes in Ashton between 1931 and
1951, however population statistics relating to 1941 were not provided.
Therefore can the changes relating to 1931 and 1951 be identified as a
result of nationalising the coal industry or has the twenty year gap of
recorded social, economic and political factors influenced results.
With regards to working life in Ashton the authors use a Marxist
approach to define the position of the wage earner in a mining
community.
The role of the worker is not to direct production,
it is to put himself at the disposal of the employer
for a period of time. As a consequence of his labour
power being bought by the employer the product of
his labour is alienated from the immediate producer,
the labourer, and is appropriated by the employer.
(Dennis et al: 1969: 27-28)
In the same way Anthony Giddens wrote how Marx identified two main
elements within a capitalist enterprise. The first being capital or any asset
or machinery which can be used to make future assets. The second
element being wage labour or workers who do not own the means of their
production but must find employment from the owners of capital. Marx
believed that owners of capital or capitalists, form a ruling class or
bourgeoise whilst the rest of the population is made up of the working
class wage earners or the proletariat. Giddens, 2001: 12
The fact that more than six out of ten working males in Ashton are
employed in the mining industry means that family structures have a
significant similarity, the breadwinner is a wage earning working class
miner. The authors look at how such dependence on the coal industry
structured family life and relationships.
The employment opportunities for women in Ashton were limited with only
196 jobs available in 1951-1952 for the 4862 women aged between
fifteen and sixty five years. Therefore it was virtually impossible for most
women in Ashton to escape from dependence within the home and their
responsibilities of housekeeping and child rearing. The authors refer to;
the pure economic fact that of man’s being
breadwinner for his family is reinforced by the
custom of family life, the division of responsibility
and duties in the household, and the growth
of an institutional life and an ideology accentuate
the confinement of the mother to the home.
Dennis et al, (1969: 174)
The authors express that in Ashton a ‘Woman’s place is in the home’
looking after the home and children whom are all dependent on
the wage of their father. Dennis et al, 1969: 175.
With regards to leisure in Ashton the study shows how coal mining is one
of the few industries in which the provision of leisure facilities by
employers is required by law. Furthermore the Mining Industry Act
(1920) set up a Miner’s Welfare Fund which was used for purposes
connected with the social well being, living conditions and recreation of
mine workers. The Miners’ Welfare Institute was built in 1897 to
accommodate a Working Men’s Club and a theatre and has many
functions . However, the trade union, the colliery and the Miner’s Welfare
Institute have been shown to appeal to only of Ashton people as areas of
leisure activity. The author’s explanation for this is that the miner already
has established his leisure activities away from the ones these
organisations provide. There are six Working Men’s Clubs in Ashton and
high numbers of memberships show that this is one of the preferred
activities. The Working Men’s Clubs are predominantly male clubs and
only one of the clubs in Ashton allows female memberships.
Dennis et al, 1969:164.
Furthermore with regards to leisure the author’s discuss Public Houses,
sport, gambling and going to the cinema were amongst other popular l
eisure activities undertaken by the residents of Ashton. The only voluntary
association in which women fully participate in Ashton is the Women’s
section of the Labour Party.
The study raise issues relating to work, families and leisure, in particular
relating to the roles of women. Work is discussed as the physical,
dangerous work undertaken by miners and not the women’s role as
homemaker. Furthermore it must be noted how it created a male culture
of mutual dependence which continued outside working hours and into
leisure and other social activities which often excluded women.
After the second edition of Coal is our life was published a number of
authors reviewed the study I particular the strengths and weaknesses of
the study. One particularly positive review was written by Thomas Lupton
after the original edition was published in 1956.
In the review Lupton refers to Coal is our life as a ‘refreshing read’ and a
well written report of social life in a modern community. In his review
Lupton describes how the authors have outlined the interrelationships of
various aspects of social life in Ashton .He states that the authors accept
that they have not identified every individual aspect of the population in
Ashton nor have they given focussed full attention to external factors
which influence the town. Lupton expresses that in his opinion the authors
have successfully made a ‘specifically anthropological contribution’ to our
understanding of mid twentieth century England. The review refers to the
book as ‘a contribution which other disciplines, with their emphasis on
specific aspects of social life - the economic, the political, and the
industrial- are not so well equipped to make’. Lupton states that families
in Ashton have a ‘common fate determined by virtue of their similar
relationship through a wage earning husband to the coal industry’ .
Lupton backs up his statement by referring to the following facts - more
than 70 percent of occupied males in the town work in the coal industry
(60 percent at local collieries), there is no other major industry in the
locality and employment opportunities for women are limited.
With regards to the chapter referring to ‘miners at work’ Lupton expresses
that it is a flawed and rigid approach to industrial conflict. He states
that whilst the authors refer to stressful conditions in the mines resulting
in conflict between worker and manager there is little emphasis on
positive factors which encourage worker and manager cooperation. The
review states that due to contradictory evidence, the book at times
regards ‘working class solidarity as a stubborn fact of life’ .
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Overall Lupton’s review of Coal is our life was positive and he found the
sections on leisure and family life excellent in particular the analysis of
the function of gambling. Lupton concluded his review by suggesting that
the authors could have related their findings to the work of other
sociologists in communities in Britain and America. Furthermore failure to
examine the implications for sociological theory was a major shortfall.
A less positive review was written by author Ronald Frankenburg with
regards to the release of the second edition.
Author Ronald Frankenburg reviewed the second edition of Coal is our
Life in 1966.Frankenburg commented that book was a reprint of the
original edition with an introduction rather than a new edition. In his review
Frankenburg stated that Professor Henriques may have been over modest
about the general value of community studies in particular the study done
for Coal is our Life. However, he agreed with the way Professor Henriques
drew attention to two of the major problems of sociological and social
anthropological discussion. The relation of macro to micro studies, as
well as the ‘relationship of theory, practical empirical work and
methodology‘. Frankenburg referred to the second chapter entitled ’The
miner at work’ as one of the finest descriptions of Marxist theory with
regards to the ‘position of the wage earner in capitalist society in relation
to a specific social situation’. He expressed that chapter two of the book
provided an interesting contrast to later attempts focussing on the theory
of alienation, which in comparison he felt was not as strongly evidenced.
In general the review was positive although Frankenburg expressed that
the original faults of the first edition remained, in particular the overstated
’subservient position’ of women in the community and limited reference
to religion.
Overall Frankenburg felt the book provided a miners view of
Ashton’s social life rather than a view of the community as a whole.
From a personal point of view I am inclined to agree with Frankenburg to
a certain degree. In particular I found the community study often biased
and more of a study of miners themselves rather than the community as
a whole. In the introduction of the book the author does accept
that a study of this type has drawbacks and their research
does not necessarily reflect the community framework of every level of
social life and that phenomena such as relationships in families is
imposed by the coal mining industry upon which the community is based.
Newby and Bell define this type of study in the book entitled Community
Studies, for them a community study is concerned;
with the study of the interrelationships of social institutions
in a locality. This does not mean all social institutions
locally have to be studied but, unless these interrelations
are considered they will not be considered as community
studies.
Bell and Newby, 1971: 19
However the methods of the study do not describe the community as a
whole, moreover it is a study which focuses on the miners work, leisure
and family. The fact that the study was undertaken over one year it
therefore only provides an analysis of a year in the life of a coal mining
town rather an analysis of a Yorkshire mining community. On the positive
side one found the author’s explanation of how a mining community is so
different from that of other industrial industry very informative. On the
whole I found the book clearly defines the conflict perspectives of
Marxism in the predominantly working class community known as Ashton.
Bibliography
1) Bell C, and Newby H. 1971. Community Studies.
London: Unwin Publishers.
2) Billington R, Hockey J and Strawbrdge S, 1998. Exploring Self and Society. London: Macmillan Press Limited.
3) Crow G and Allan G. 1994. Community Life. An introduction to local social relations. Hemel Hempstead:
Harvester.
4) Dennis N, Henriques F and Slaughter C. 1956. Coal is our Life. An analysis of a Yorkshire mining community (2nd Edition 1969). London: Tavistock
5) Giddens A. 2001. Sociology, Fourth Edition. Cambridge and Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Limited
6) Ritzer G. 2007. Contemporary Sociological Theory.
New York: Mc Grow Hill.
Websites
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2) ? 13/04/07
3) 12/02/2007