Rural poverty in Britain: from agricultural poverty to rural deprivation

Any meaningful analysis of the nature of contemporary poverty in rural Britain needs to begin by setting out its historical context. In his book, Green and Pleasant Land?, first published more than twenty years ago, Howard Newby provides a powerful critique of historical social change in rural England. Drawing on findings from research projects focused on farming and rural life in East Anglia (see Newby, 1977; Newby et al., 1978), Newby constructs a narrative of the changing nature of English country life that is configured around unequal power structures, property rights, exploitation and poverty. Indeed, the question mark at the end of the book’s title is significant, for Newby seeks to destabilise the notion of an idyllic rural life, whether in the past or present, which has emerged as an hegemonic discourse within national British culture.