As the coalition government oversees the biggest transfer of wealth from the poor to the very richest in living memory, questions of class, space and inequality ought to be at the forefront of contemporary research. Government cuts will hit the poorest sections of society hardest, deepening socio-spatial inequalities, while politicians struggle to formulate convincing policies to ‘rebalance’ the economy and kick-start sustained growth. The last 30 years of neo-liberal hegemony have witnessed the de-industrialisation of Britain; a precipitous decline in skilled manual work; the gentrification of urban neighbourhoods and the residualisation of council estates. The shift from manufacturing to services has been accompanied by a significant increase in non-manual work. Yet more people in contemporary Britain still chose to self-identify as ‘working class’ in preference to any other label.

This interdisciplinary CRESC workshop brings together researchers across the social sciences and humanities to ask how we might explain the robustness of this form of social identification in the face of the economic and political changes outlined above and what this implies for policy narratives like ‘the Big Society? In particular, what role does the spatialisation of inequality play in understanding class formation, fragmentation and relations; in the construction of social identities and the articulation of belonging; in the experience and memory of displacement and de-industrialisation and in the potential for a renewed class-based politics?

Speakers include: Michael Bailey, Kirsteen Paton, Douglas Robertson, Ben Rogaly, Mike Savage, Selina Todd and John K. Walton

To register for this event, please complete the registration form and send to stacey.vigars@manchester.ac.uk. Places are limited and successful registration will be based on a first-come, first-served basis.

This workshop is the first in a planned series that will address the following themes:

• Changing places– gentrification, privatisation, residualisation and ‘regeneration’
• Mapping lifestyles, mapping classes?
• Remembering working-class cultures
• Class politics, belonging and social change

For further information contact Ben Jones (benjones6@googlemail.com) or Andrew Miles (andrew.miles@manchester.ac.uk)