London Calling: The Middle Classes and the Remaking of Inner London

Description

With Garry Robson Symbolizing both commerce and culture, London has always been a magnet for the ambitions of the middle classes. However, the past three decades have witnessed a dramatic fragmentation in inner-city London's social map. New and highly distinctive middle-class neighbourhoods have sprung up where embattled workers seek to combat the deleterious effects of long working hours, travel, and stress on traditional family values. This book is the first to explore the powerful impact of globalization on London's economy and those who are caught up in it. More and more people are responding to the negative effects of working life as well as the lack of structure in their lives and particularly those of their children. The gentrification of certain areas and the differences among them directly reflects this desire to impose cultural values and structure on urban surroundings. How do these areas reflect middle-class values, ideologies, lifestyles, social backgrounds and occupational choices, and how have old neighbourhoods been refashioned and made amenable to middle-class life? In what ways has family life been affected by this new emphasis on values, structure and security, and what does the future hold? This fascinating book provides the first sustained analysis of the profound effects of globalization on city dwellers. Its original account of the relationship between urban space and cultural reproduction will inspire new research for years to come.

Garry Robson Tim Butler is Reader in Urban Sociology at the University of East London.

'There is a great deal to admire in this book, not least the brave attempt to produce a theoretically informed analysis based on a large number of personal testimonies by middle-class occupants and an insistence on not only the importance of understanding lived experiences but also their social and geographical variety.' Urban Studies Journal 'Tim Butler has already established himself as the foremost British sociologist of gentrification. Butler and Robson take this a step further by presenting a fascinating account of how London's middle classes are adapting to the challenge of living in a global city. This is a readable, lively, yet robust account of the contemporary urban change.' Mike Savage, Department of Sociology, Manchester University 'London Calling is a fascinating and illuminating book about the changing role of the middle classes in inner London and the extent of their integration in local communities. It is theoretically very well grounded and empirically rigorous. It offers significant insights into important policy issues concerning social mix, education and urban regeneration.' Chris Hamnett, Professor of Geography, King's College London