ABSTRACT
This chapter establishes that the work which follows builds from the theories of Walter Benjamin, Michel Foucault (archaeology of knowledge), Pierre Bourdieu (habitus and cultural capital), Judith Butler (performativity), Raymond Williams (structures of feeling and the breakdown of knowable community), and R. W. Connell (hegemonic masculinity). It also establishes the significance of the period between 1945 and 1989 in the study of working-class masculinities and introduces cultural texts that will be analysed. The chapter defines ‘traditional’ working-class masculinities through the introduction of four foundational aspects – work, family, education, and physicality – and explains that class and masculinity are socially constructed. The chapter explains that although the book focuses on the textual analysis of fictional characters, it is a study of the working-class men of Britain and their position in society.
