WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, Monde Libertaire - 33 Newport Street (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 From the working class --- From a working-class district of Leeds, a

city with an industrial past in the northeast of England, to the
academic world: such is the journey of Richard Hoggart, sociologist and
author of around thirty essays, including The Uses of Literacy
(published in French as La Culture du pauvre, 1957) and now 33 Newport
Street, published by Hors d'atteinte - the autobiography of an
intellectual from England's working classes. --- The author weaves
childhood memories with analytical tools to portray life in a
working-class neighborhood in the 1920s and the story of his family.
There is no miserabilism, no condescension toward a world from which he
comes and for which he maintains respect and affection, especially
toward the women -his grandmother, his aunt- who supported him in his
social ascent. Too often, people from popular backgrounds disguise their
origins. Other observers from more privileged milieus try to understand
that working-class life where every penny counts, but they cannot give
flesh to their narrative. Albert Camus or Louis Guilloux explain this
very well in their works and correspondence.

Accuracy of description and feeling
Richard Hoggart skillfully combines sociological autobiography and
literary narrative: 33 Newport Street "reads like a novel - captivating
and full of emotion," notes his editor, Marie Hermann. The precision of
descriptions, facts, and feelings is tangible to those who know these
worlds. His mother counts and manages the budget, forced to deny any
extra to her children. "If they want to survive and not sink, the poor
must -an additional, ironic and perverse burden- manage their money as
accountants would."

Some members of his family work in the factory and forego social
advancement. Each detail helps one understand the life of these
neighborhoods and the difficulty for children to imagine a future. The
sociologist Bernard Lahire aptly points out the "class contempt that
ordinarily strikes those labeled 'tight', 'stingy' or anxious, when in
fact they never had the luxury not to be. Those who, as the saying goes,
'can afford it', go through small ordeals without worry[...]; none of
this threatens their financial balance or the survival of their loved
ones. They thus appear detached from material contingencies, but only
because, for them, everything is easily replaceable." Beyond these class
relations, there is also the opposition between "them/us" within the
social space, from one street to another, almost from one floor to the
next. Through examples and memories, Richard Hoggart analyzes
still-relevant issues such as inheritance, cultural handicaps, and
inequalities in school. He knows how to move from the concrete to
theoretical analysis. His family: Uncle Walter and his alcoholism, the
sadness of the grandmother, Aunt Ethel's anger - life takes place in a
closed circle, few invitations. Pleasures are homemade, simple, and
bring happiness.

No miserabilism
No miserabilism throughout the pages. Just observations. Children's gaze
is harsh toward those who cannot afford outings, who must wear
low-quality clothing, looked at as scholarship kids.

Social life is analyzed in touches: school, teachers, clubs, love lives,
the place of Jews. A sharp remark about the police: "Whenever the police
behaved dishonorably, people just said: 'Cops don't shit roses.' That
was the typical popular phrase."

The extensive analysis of schooling, inequalities, teacher motivation
(or lack thereof), pedagogy, the critique of history teaching, and the
path of a teenager to university recalls the works of Pierre Bourdieu
and Jean-Claude Passeron.

 From this book emanates an intense and legitimate pride in coming from
that working-class world, claiming it, and highlighting the personal and
family resources that allowed Richard Hoggart to transmit, through his
culture and teaching, the values of the working class.

Richard Hoggart
33 Newport Street
Autobiography of an Intellectual from the English Working Class
Ed. Hors d'atteinte, 2025

https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8577
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca