ABSTRACT
Museums and the Working Class is the first book to take an intersectional and international approach to the issues of economic diversity and class within the field of museum studies.
Bringing together 16 contributors from eight countries, this book has emerged from the significant global dialogue concerning museums’ obligation to be inclusive, participate in meaningful engagement and advocate for social change. As part of the push for museums to be more accessible and inclusive, museums have been challenged to critically examine their power relationships and how these are played out in what they collect, whose stories they exhibit and who is made to feel welcome in their halls. This volume will further this professional and academic debate through the discussion of class. Contributions to the book will also reinforce the importance of the working class – not only in collection and exhibition policy, but also for the organisational psychology of institutions.
Museums and the Working Class is essential reading for scholars and students of museum, gallery and heritage studies, cultural studies, sociology, labour studies and history. It will also serve as a source of honest and research-led inspiration to practitioners working in museums, galleries, libraries, archives and at heritage sites around the world.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |18 pages
Introduction
part I|40 pages
Shut out: Access and the working class
chapter 1|14 pages
‘A permanent civilising effect’?
chapter 3|13 pages
‘Seat of the Muses or the moolah?’
part II|56 pages
Shut up: The struggle to end the silence
chapter 5|14 pages
‘Go and take a look at Millie now’
chapter 6|16 pages
Museums in late populist democracies
part III|58 pages
Know your place: Site-specific narratives
chapter 8|14 pages
Erasure of working-class heritage in conservation plans
part IV|54 pages
Answering back: Lessons from the working and poverty classes