“Somewhere That Belongs to Me”: The Idea of Home for the English Working Class, 1930-1964

Abstract

<p>In the period 1930 to 1964, unprecedented attention was paid in England to the issue of working-class housing. Initially, the focus was on improving slum conditions and replacing slums with better housing in the interests of public health. As the years progressed, and particularly during and after the Second World War, focus moved to how homes could accommodate families and what they should ideally look like and contain. This thesis takes an expository approach, encompassing government policy and debate, literary sources and the numerous surveys that were undertaken throughout the period to satisfy middle-class curiosity about the living and working conditions of 'the other half'.</p> <p>The five chapters trace the themes chronologically, starting with government, then the role of women in effecting change in housing conditions, through to how home was portrayed in contemporary literature and how that reflected the significant social and economic change that occurred throughout the period under investigation. The final chapter is concerned with the Mass Observation surveys into housing and the other investigations of the working-classes of England that arose from the developing sociological field.</p> <p>What the thesis uncovers is that although the ideas around what constituted the ideal home changed little over the years 1930-1964, the means of achieving it did, and the issues that were uncovered in exposing what the idea of home was, remain current and relevant today.</p>