The Contemporary Rural Working Classes in England and Wales

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There have been few studies of the contemporary rural working class in the UK, despite this social group figuring prominently in highly influential studies in and of the past (e.g. Newby 1977; Thompson, 1963). The predominant focus of contemporary research on the UK countryside has been on it being a "middle class territory" (Newby 1979: 497), with processes such as counterurbanisation, rural gentrification and agricultural mechanisation and centralisation, all being seen to undermine working class residence and employment in the countryside. Such accounts, however, neglect evidence of low-income migration to certain rural areas; the continuing persistence of low-income populations, even in areas of rural gentrification and middle-class employment growth; and studies highlighting the restructuring of working-class occupations, working conditions, and networks of social solidarity. Research has also pointed to the presence of social mobility within the work-class population, both upwards and downwards, an issue also stressed in more studies of rural employment precarity. Recent analysis of political attitudes and voting behaviours associated with Brexit have also variously stressed the significance of a rural working class and new lines of social solidarity. The student will use the Enhanced Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (EASHE) dataset produced by the Wage and Employment Dynamics Project for the ADR, as well as data related to agricultural employment and social class, gender, ethnicity, educational qualifications and age, to develop a quantitative analysis of the rural working-class employees and residents and their changing employment conditions and relations.