Introduction
-
John Field
Abstract
This chapter discusses the importance of work in modern societies, and then suggests that before 1939 work camps were a normal feature of British life. It defines the concept of ‘work camp’, and argues that the majority of work camp movements were centrally concerned with reshaping the male body. In contemporary societies, body obsessions can change rapidly, and it is sometimes hard to place ourselves in the past, in a society where the comfortable middle and upper classes worried that the working class was physically too weak to contribute to the wider well-being of the community. Work camps, I argue, are therefore of a wider significance in showing us how ideas of work, community, the body and identity were intertwined.
Abstract
This chapter discusses the importance of work in modern societies, and then suggests that before 1939 work camps were a normal feature of British life. It defines the concept of ‘work camp’, and argues that the majority of work camp movements were centrally concerned with reshaping the male body. In contemporary societies, body obsessions can change rapidly, and it is sometimes hard to place ourselves in the past, in a society where the comfortable middle and upper classes worried that the working class was physically too weak to contribute to the wider well-being of the community. Work camps, I argue, are therefore of a wider significance in showing us how ideas of work, community, the body and identity were intertwined.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- Abbreviations ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 Colonising the land 9
- 2 ‘We work amongst the lowest stratum of life’ 32
- 3 Labour colonies and public health 57
- 4 Alternative living in the English countryside 77
- 5 ‘The landless man to the manless land’ 99
- 6 Transference and the Labour government, 1929–31 125
- 7 Incremental growth 148
- 8 ‘Light green uniforms, white aprons and caps’ 173
- 9 Camps as social service and social movement 195
- 10 ‘Down with the concentration camps!’ 222
- Conclusion – Understanding work camps 245
- Select bibliography 264
- Index 271
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- Abbreviations ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 Colonising the land 9
- 2 ‘We work amongst the lowest stratum of life’ 32
- 3 Labour colonies and public health 57
- 4 Alternative living in the English countryside 77
- 5 ‘The landless man to the manless land’ 99
- 6 Transference and the Labour government, 1929–31 125
- 7 Incremental growth 148
- 8 ‘Light green uniforms, white aprons and caps’ 173
- 9 Camps as social service and social movement 195
- 10 ‘Down with the concentration camps!’ 222
- Conclusion – Understanding work camps 245
- Select bibliography 264
- Index 271
