The Uses of Literacy

Aspects of Working-Class Life

Richard Hoggart author Lynsey Hanley editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd

Published:1st Oct '09

£10.99

Available for immediate dispatch.

The Uses of Literacy cover

When a society becomes more affluent, does it lose other values? Are the skills that education and literacy gave millions wasted on consuming pop culture? Do the media coerce us into a world of the superficial and the material - or can they be a force for good?

When Richard Hoggart asked these questions in his 1957 book The Uses of Literacy Britain was undergoing huge social change, yet his landmark work has lost none of its pertinence and power today. Hoggart gives a fascinating insight into the close-knit values of Northern England's vanishing working-class communities, and weaves this together with his views on the arrival of a new, homogenous 'mass' US-influenced culture. His headline-grabbing bestseller opened up a whole new area of cultural study and remains essential reading, both as a historical document, and as a commentary on class, poverty and the media.

ISBN: 9780141191584

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 22mm

Weight: 292g

400 pages