Drawing on the work of Raymond Williams, Valentin Volosinov and Mikhail Bakhtin, the book examines key issues for working-class studies including: the idea of the 'death' of class; the importance of working-class writing; the significance of place and space for understanding working-class identity; and the centrality of work in working-class lives.

JOHN KIRK is Research Fellow at the Working Lives Research Institute, London Metropolitan University, UK, and a tutor in adult education. He has published widely on British working-class culture and is the author of Twentieth Century Writing and the British Working Class.