Product Description

Although housing in Bethnal Green was often appalling, a complex network of relatives - families of three generations held together by the powerful mother-daughter bond at the centre - was always available to provide mutual aid and a sense of community. It was when families were rehoused in the immaculate new estates outside London, miles away from their kin, that the vital support system broke down, with disastrous effects on the quality of people's lives. This famous book, based on a major three-year research project, makes clear how planners have frequently failed to understand real human needs; it also provides a marvellous portrait of the resilience and generosity of spirit which went at least some way to compensate for the deptivations of inner-city working-class life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29258 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author
Michael Young is Director of the Institute of Community Studies, President of the Consumer's Association and of the National Extension College and Chairman of both the International Extension College and the Open College of the Arts. His publications include The Rise of the Meritocracy, Innovation and Research in Education, and The Metronomic Society: Natural Rhythms and Human Timetables. Peter Willmott is a Senior Fellow at the Policy Studies Institute. Chairman of the Institute of Community Studies and Visiting Professor of Social Policy and Administration at the London School of Economics. The authors were founder memebers of the Institute of Community Studies and have also written jointly Family and Class in a London Suburb and The Symmetrical Family.

Customer Reviews

A Classic Study of Working Class Community Life
Young and Willmotts book is based on a three study of the Bethnal Green area of London - a traditional industrial working class community. Whilst they combine classic social science methodologies employing structured surveys, interviews and observation, the book reads not as as a study but a narrative.

Drawing their evidence from all areas together ina seamless manner the paint a picture of ife in Bethnal Green where the extended family and wider community are very much part of the individuals life. The role of the mother is especially central representing the key binding force in family life .

The picture is of a happy community, where material wealth is yet to overturn community spirit as the key value.

A section analyses life in a recently created out-of-town estate where many from Bethnal Green have moved to - the authors suggest that the move shows how easy it is to break up a successful organic community and despite the better material quality of life that teh estate represented the overall quality of life was severly diminished.

This book is academic in its basis but is written for the general reader. Anyone interested in social history, community life or Britain would love the book. For the academic there is a lengthy appendix which provides all the details of methodology leaving the book open to necessary academic critique. The average reader can and will ignore this.

Some have criticised the book as romanticising working class life, and it is perhaps the case but definitely the title paints a picture that is hard to ignore.