A Crisis of Belonging in Modern Britain – Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class by Owen Jones | Book Review

10 MINUTE READ

There are some prejudices in Britain today that have become socially unacceptable: open racism, sexism and homophobia are now widely condemned in mainstream public life. Yet there is one form of prejudice that still seems OK, particularly among the educated middle-class: contempt for the white working-class. Author Across Cultures, Yang-May Ooi, questions her own collusion in this prejudice, in this book review of Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class by Owen Jones.

Loss of Community and Belonging in Working-Class Britain

I’ve been reading Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class by Owen Jones. It was first published in 2011 and is now available in an updated edition. The book was written in the aftermath of the financial crash in 2008 and during the early years of austerity Britain. It traces the economic and cultural forces that reshaped Britain since the Thatcher years, focusing on their impact on the British working-class. Much of what he says is still relevant today – perhaps more so in the context of the rise of Reform UK and the identity politics that party represents.

Jones argues that the white working-class has become demonised in the media and public discussion, as symbolised by the word “chav”. It is a derogatory slur that reduces a vast and diverse section of society into a caricature of vulgar, lazy, dangerous benefit cheats. He puts forward the case that this has allowed them – and their legitimate concerns – to be dismissed and overlooked in large areas of public policy and cultural representation by the primarily middle-class gatekeeper elite.

Loss of Belonging

One of the key themes of the book that resonates with me is about belonging – or, rather, the loss of belonging.  To belong is to be seen and to be valued. To feel that we matter and as citizens, to have a place in the story a nation tells about itself. Chavs argues that the white working-class have been increasingly marginalised in the media, public discussion and social and economic policy. This has led to a sense that their needs and concerns are de-prioritised, they are seen as contributing nothing, have no value and ultimately, that they no longer matter. There is a feeling that they are not represented in Westminster, have no voice and therefore no place in their own country. 

Historically, the white working-class were seen as the backbone of Britain. They were the ordinary, decent folk who kept the wheels turning. While this stereotype was nonetheless patronising, it was recognised that industrial Britain depended on miners, dockers, factory workers and labourers. They built roads, ships, railways, homes and cities. Entire communities formed around industries that gave people jobs – and also identity, solidarity and purpose.

Then came de-industrialisation in the Thatcher years and beyond. Factories closed, mines were shut down and the unions weakened. There was no work – and there still is no work – in many parts of Britain that were once thriving manufacturing centres. Working men’s clubs, union halls and industrial places of work were emotional ecosystems for these communities and their decline led to a sense of displacement and loss that is very real and alive today. 

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Communities that had once been proud working people with a collective identity were told – and keep being told – to “get on your bike” to find work. But, as Jones documents, if there is no work it doesn’t matter how many job applications you submit, you will not find work. His stories of ordinary people struggling to in the face of overwhelming adversity opened my eyes to the chasm of class in British society.

“Get on Your Bike”?

It really made me stop and think. It is easy for us, the educated middle-class with a global mindset, to say: well, go off and find work somewhere else then. Or, as Tory Employment Minister, Norman Tebbitt infamously told unemployed folk in 1981, to “get on your bike” to find work. 

But not everyone is like us, not everyone wants to move away to live in a soulless big city where you don’t know anyone, not everyone has the ability, skill or interest in getting a desk job. And if we truly believe in a free, democratic world where we want to empower people to be who they want to be, then it is not for us to dictate how and where those not like us should live. We need to empower everyone where they are with the opportunities and possibilities to create their own lives and contribute to the nation on their own terms, making the most of their particular skills and abilities. 

Jones argues that the rise of the “chav” stereotype, a caricature that emerged in the tabloids (eg single mothers, benefit cheats, thuggery and more) and on television (eg. the grotesque parodies in Shameless and Little Britain), was/ is a way of blaming working-class people for their poverty and behaviour. The chav, with their tracksuits and their supposed fecklessness, has become a convenient scapegoat for the consequences of neoliberalism. In this telling of their story, notably by those who control the media and political power, they are not victims of economic forces beyond their control but lazy, cheating and undeserving agents of their own bad situations.  

Who is really Shameless?

It seems to me that if the things that are said about the white working-class – often so breezily by those of us who are middle-class – were said about any other minority or disempowered group such as black people and others of ethnic minority groups, those who may be disabled, neurodiverse, LGBTQ+ and more, it would be shocking. We would be cancelled immediately! And yet, mocking and demonizing the white working-class appears to remain the last bastion of this way of stereotyping. 

I am ashamed to say that I have accepted the media and political stereotyping of white working-class people without thinking about it. I myself have made prejudiced, judgemental and heartless sweeping statements from a place of outrage as stoked up by some news item or an encounter that reinforced the stereotype in my mind. I have overlooked the countless ordinary white working-class people who have been, well, just ordinary people getting on with their lives as best they can – just like you and me. 

What would it be like to be someone in this community and to see and hear your tribe being sneered at, mocked and treated like you and your worries and concerns about life and about your country don’t matter? I have experienced that sense of being overlooked and dismissed from my position as an outsider – as I have written about elsewhere on this blog. I can feel the hurt, frustration, outrage and anger rising up again when I recall those times when I have been made to feel that I and my lived experience don’t matter. What would that be like, as a white working-class person, for you and your community to have been treated in this way for the last few generations and to be continued to be treated like this? 

A Sense of UnBelonging 

To me, Chavs is telling the story of the economic decline of the white working-class at one level – but also their symbolic exile. Entire communities have been written out of the national story. They have no political voice, the two main parties, Labour and the Conservatives, now largely representing middle-class interests.  A whole class of people have been made to feel they do not matter and are simply the butt of jokes at best or the cause of all the ills in their own country at worst.   

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The Brexit vote and the rise of Reform UK has often been – and is still – framed as stemming from racism and economic inequality. But I wonder if the rhetoric around anti-immigration is at some level also a cry of pain for recognition: that “we matter” and “we belong”. I am not dismissing the racism but rather asking if exploring what else might be going on could be helpful. What are these movements trying to say that we cannot see behind the literal message, the rage and outrage? If immigrants – “them” – are seen as taking away jobs, housing, NHS places and more, could the real concern be about the lack of jobs, housing, NHS places and more for “us”? What are the injustices that this group is feeling? By addressing the injustices, pain and loss of belonging, might that offer a new path towards understanding, connection and healing?

I am no expert on social or economic policy and far from being a political commentator. I can only share these questions, thoughts and emotions prompted by reading Chavs. For me, exploring new, different and unusual ways of approaching problems and challenges is key to unexpected solutions and innovations whether for writing and the arts, business, technology or social, economic and political matters. 

A Challenging but Essential Read

Jones perhaps romanticises the old labour movement. He sometimes underplays the complexities of working-class life – the social conservatism and the tensions around immigration and social mobility. His characterisation of the class divide can also sometimes feel a bit too binary: villains and victims, elites and the oppressed. 

But these don’t diminish the power of Chavs. It has made me question my till now unthinking prejudice that has been stoked by the media and public pronouncements. I am also trying to reflect on the underlying appeal of Reform UK and far-right groups in Britain today – what are their supporters really trying to say beneath the “anti” rhetoric? Taking the approach of Jefferson Fischer in his book The Next Conversation that I reviewed earlier: what are they really trying to tell us? 

Chavs challenges us to question our presumptions, especially as privileged middle-class educated globalists: who gets to belong in the UK? Who gets to be seen and valued – and to have a place in the story we tell about this country? It forces us to confront an uncomfortable truth: a society cannot build genuine inclusion while openly sneering at parts of its own population. Dignity and recognition matters. Belonging matters.  

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Photos:

Owen Jones – https://x.com/owenjonesjourno 

Chavs book – https://amzn.to/4nIyxT4 

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Further info:

Shameless – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shameless_(British_TV_series)

Little Britain – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4vgtBHpA1I

Norman Tebbitt – https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2023/08/the-absurdity-of-the-tories-on-your-bike-plea

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