Interview

Jon Lawrence, Ole Münch and Kim König

Picturing working class communities

8 August 2025

(0:25 h)

Interview

Jon Lawrence, Ole Münch and Kim König

Picturing working class communities

In this episode, we talk about working-class communities. Or rather: ideas about the working-class, some of which are quite romanticised. Joining host Kim König and Research Fellow Ole Münch to discuss the topic of his GHIL lecture is Jon Lawrence, Emeritus Professor of Modern British History at the University of Exeter. Together, they explore how these ideas have influenced scholarly discourse and political imagination in post-war Britain, as well as the tension between lived experience and intellectual frameworks when it comes to understanding working-class life. Drawing on field notes from post-war social science projects, Jon's research uncovers surprising patterns in how researchers approached working-class culture and reveals why certain perspectives became more prominent than others. We also consider the enduring power of ideas about community and why these scholarly frameworks continue to be important for understanding Britain today.

Don't miss Jon Lawrence and Christiane Reinecke's accompanying GHIL lecture on “Sociology and the Urban Experience”.