british manual workers from producers to consumers, c..pdf

U N I V E R S I T Y O F O X F O R D Discussion Papers in Economic and Social History Number 74, December 2008 British Manual Workers: From Producers to Consumers, c. 1950–2000 Avner Offer BRITISH MANUAL WORKERS: FROM PRODUCERS TO CONSUMERS, C.1950–2000 Avner Offer All Souls College, Oxford Forthcoming in Contemporary British History, vol. 22, 4 (2008), pp. 538–571 Abstract A large majority of the labour force were manual workers in 1960. As voters, they had electoral power to pursue collective goods. As producers they were able to disrupt production. The majority left school with no qualifications. Their human capital con- sisted of skills specific to particular production processes. These became obsolete with de-industrialization, and with the large rise in secondary and higher education. Educated workers relied more on individual bargaining power, and less on collective goods. Casting workers as consumers rather than citizens or producers punished those with low purchasing power, it de-legitimized producer collective action and justified low wages. Poverty increased and relative wages fell. Rising productivity was partly offset by rising house prices and longer household working hours. Council-house sales enfranchised a minority and penalized the rest. The majority continued to iden- tify as working class, but their culture was discredited by market liberalism and con- sumerism. Keywords: manual labour, human capital, skills, consumerism, housing, market liberalism A proletarian mod