Sunny’s report from the fringe: on class and culture
11:43 am - September 21st 2008
| Tweet | Share on Tumblr |
Can the left ever become populist again?
‘Can we give the white working classes what they want’? was the question posed by a Fabian Society fringe event yesterday at the Labour party conference. I was asked to speak and I’ll post my short speech on my blog later.
The debate, unsurprisingly, focused very much on the economic deprivation and lack of opportunities that many white working classes face in communities across the country. I have much respect for some of the speakers – Jon Cruddas MP, John Denham (minister for innovation and skills) and Jon Tricketts MP, who complained that the working classes as a whole were being ignored by the Labour party.
Jon Cruddas, perhaps surprisingly, even made a case for middle-class tax cuts as part of an argument to reduce the economic burden on Middle England.
But my argument was somewhat different. It’s all good talking about the economics and the job opportunities, I said, but the issue here is partly that we’re fighting a culture war.
Complaints about immigrants taking resources and getting preferential treatment over white working class families isn’t merely about the money – in many ways this is a proxy war being fought over social issues that encompass identity, community and cultural symbols. Housing is simply the way to articulate that anger.
A report by the Runnymede Trust next month will show that despite popular perceptions, informed by the Daily Mail, minorities are not getting preferential treatment over white families in the battle for resources.
But we still have a problem. And the problem is that while the left likes to talk about economics and equality and poverty, it is less comfortable approaching emotional issues. But these are profoundly important.
Many white working class families feel disempowered because they can’t communicate with new immigrant families moving into their locality. There is no sense of a social glue that ties them together, increasing their sense of isolation.
This isn’t about bashing immigrants – those new arrivals want to be acknowledged as part of the country as much as white working class families who they are now neighbours with.
The problem is that Labour does not have a narrative that brings these people together. There isn’t enough of a focus on building and empowering local communities so people can come together and take charge of changing within their areas.
And it’s a problem with the broader left – unless we take charge of the social and cultural issues that people find difficult to articulate, then we give the right-wing the opportunity to take define these issues on their terms. That, like the Democrats, is the sure-fire way to lose the vote of working class whites for a generation.
Unfortunately, the audience wasn’t entirely convinced. But its time to start banging that drum before it gets too late.
(Posted by Sunder, for Sunny Hundal, who is solely responsible for the content!)
| Tweet | Share on Tumblr |  |
Sunder Katwala is a regular contributor to Liberal Conspiracy. He is the director of British Future, a think-tank addressing identity and integration, migration and opportunity. He was formerly secretary-general of the Fabian Society.
· Other posts by Sunder Katwala
Story Filed Under: Blog
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Reader comments
I disagree that housing is merely a proxy for other issues – in my constituency, as in others, the desperate shortage of suitable affordable accommodation for families is appalling. Overcrowding is rife, with no quick solutions on offer – a grandmother in a bedsit with two infant grandchildren, and a couple with three teenage children (mixed sexes) in a two-bedroomed maisonette, neither with any prospect of appropriate housing in even the medium term, are just two of the families I know of recently.
Its not just the problem of inability to communicate with ethnic minority neighbours it also involves fear over whether the right “middle class in-jargon” is being used when talking with officials and political representatives. “Empowerment” usually entails having or being taught how to communicate effectively and this, in both white working class as well as ethnic minority communities, has been sadly lacking of late.
The beginning of an answer would be for the Left to end it’s unthinking support for unfettered immigration.
Almost all voters whether they be Labour, LibDem or Tory, whether they be white or from an ethnic background, agree that immigration controls should be far stricter and overall levels should slow down so that communities have a chance to get used to eachother.
“Many white working class families feel disempowered”
People who feel disempowered usually feel that way because they don’t have any power, other people have power over them, and they use that power in ways the disempowered disapprove of.
Taking the word “disempowered” literally, the people who feel that way did have more power in the past.
Hi Lorna – I’m not denying that the lack of social housing is an issue. The question is, why is it posed as a direct fight between white and ethnic minority working classes – when that isnt what the evidence bears out.
My view is that in many cases resources are being used as an excuse to raise fears about new immigrants and being unable to connect to them.
Sunny your missing the point, it’s not white vs ethnic minority. However it is undeniable that both whites and non-whites are angry about having to compete for social housing with large numbers of recent arrivals many of whom cannot speak English.
Michael, you’re not disagreeing with Sunny.
The point which is being raised is about how politicians use issues to manipulate public opinion for electoral benefit – it’s people vs party politics.
On a side note I’m embarrassed for Cruddas, he keeps shooting himself in the foot as he gets ever more entangled in the self-serving interests of the Labour establishment.
white working class? are we talking about America here? populism doesnt mean pandering to BNP voters; it means standing up for majority, in this country.
Thought provoking post….I think you are totally right about the left’s inability to deal with what you call emotional issues…when it does produce a narrative it is something that is well-intentioned but riddled with problems like multiculturalism which in my mind has done more harm than good…and the reason it produces narratives like this is an fundemental inability to deal with the real world and the application of perfectly correct principles in the real world….
The problem is the belief that people are entitled to be given things beyond very basic necessities. The attitude that “immigrants are stealing our housing” rests on the idea that anyone is entitled to more than a safety net and the opportunity to move beyond that.
Some deregulation to stimulate opportunity and low income groups being given a basic allowance taking them out of income tax , (rather than the pathetic tax credits), combined with a gradual reduction in welfare would be far more helpful than council housing and the poverty trap.
Michael: “However it is undeniable that both whites and non-whites are angry about having to compete for social housing with large numbers of recent arrivals many of whom cannot speak English.”
I’ve looked quite heavily into this issue (I work in housing) and I think this impression is largely mistaken.
If you look at most minorities (especially South Asians), they are less likely to be in social housing, per head, than white people – and this despite the fact they have much lower incomes. If you adjust for incomes, all these groups – except the Afro-Caribbean minority, who have not really been the target of the recent tabloid rage – are far less likely to get social housing than their financial position would suggest.
The real fact is that there is virtually no social rented housing being built for anyone, but there is a concerted effort in the tabloid media to blame this fact on Muslims and/or Poles – groups who live overwhelmingly in private rented housing, very often overcrowded.
Reactions: Twitter, blogs
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
