Mockery and Morality in Popular Cultural Representations of the White, Working Class

Abstract

We draw on ‘new’ class analysis to argue that mockery frames many cultural representations of class and move to consider how it operates within the processes of class distinction. Influenced by theories of disparagement humour, we explore how mockery creates spaces of enunciation, which serve, when inhabited by the middle class, particular articulations of distinction from the white, working class. From there we argue that these spaces, often presented as those of humour and fun, simultaneously generate for the middle class a certain distancing from those articulations. The plays of articulation and distancing, we suggest, allow a more palatable, morally sensitive form of distinction-work for the middle-class subject than can be offered by blunt expressions of disgust currently argued by some ‘new’ class theorising. We will claim that mockery offers a certain strategic orientation to class and to distinction work before finishing with a detailed reading of two Neds comic strips to illustrate what aspects of perceived white, working class lives are deemed appropriate for these functions of mockery. The Neds, are the latest comic-strip family launched by the publishers of children's comics The Beano and The Dandy, D C Thomson and Co Ltd.

The Place of Disgust: Disability, Class and Gender in Spaces of Workfare

“…Drawing upon the work of Bourdieu (1984) in their analysis of class, Raisborough and Adams articulate the ways in which distancing has been a marked feature of the respectable middle class -as a mark of class distinction [64,65]. Haylett, Lawler and Skeggs all draw similar conclusions; however, these authors position disgust as central to the middle-class process of distancing, where distancing is a critical feature of maintaining the hegemony of the middle-class subject as morally desirable [48][49][50].…”

“…The power of disgust also resides in its ability to compel those with a deeply stigmatised identity, such as the women of this study, to -internalise the social judgements made of their stigmatisation as shame, self-loathing, self-disgust, self-contempt and self-hatred‖ ( [65], p. 202). The repetitive questioning of one's legitimacy in terms of disability status and the ongoing surveillance that the disabled women in this study endure within disabled workfare spaces has left them with internalised feelings of self-disgust.…”

No Choices, No Chances: How Contemporary Enterprise Culture is Failing Britain's Underclasses

“…Indeed, Webster (2008) argues that white ethnicity is invisible and unexamined in the racism, crime and justice debates, in which 'whiteness' is seen as the default position. A new stream of crossdisciplinary, academic writing (in criminology, anthropology and sociology) is emerging around this phenomenon (for example, see Hayward and Yar, 2006;Tyler, 2006;McCulloch, Stewart and Lovegreen, 2006;Snell, 2006;Hanlon, 2007;Webster, 2008;Tyler, 2008;Rainsborough and Adams, 2008;Kehily and Nayak, 2008;Martin, 2009;and McDowall, 2009).…”

“…Rainsborough and Adams (2008) argue that the chav debate is characterized by mockery, disparagement, humour and distancing. Indeed, Nayak (2006) argues that in post-industrial society, young working-class men must forge new identities, looking beyond traditional notions of manhood and paid employment.…”

“…Regional variations include 'neds' (in Scotland) and 'scallies' (Mersyside). Rainsborough and Adams (2008) …”