http://nowaytomakealiving.net/post/333 is a sociological space about work, generating discussion and exchange on what work, paid or unpaid, is like in today’s world Sun, 29 Aug 2010 09:20:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://nowaytomakealiving.net/post/333/comment-page-1#comment-95 Dave Harris Sat, 22 May 2010 16:18:55 +0000 http://nowaytomakealiving.net/?p=333#comment-95 I used to show my sociology students Saturday Night... so they could see what factory work looked like! Although I am a southerner, the opening scenes also remind me of a furntiure factory in Portsmouth in the 1970s at going-home time - the same stream of people on pushbikes and motorbikes, including the legendary BSA Gold Flash driven by the foreman (who is being cuckolded by Arthur). However, I have always seen Arthur Seaton as an affluent worker. Younger readers might need to ask their elders about the fanous Goldthorpe et al study but Arthur has many of the characteristics. He was doing light semi-skilled factory work -- bikes not cars, admittedly -- and thus attracted some of the reservations about not being 'proper working class' that some people have mentioned above. He was also instrumental and apolitical as in the famed remark about wanting good wages while 'all the rest is propaganda'. The last scenes have him reminiscing about the glorious past with his old mate before going off to choose a house in a new estate with his 'respectable' bride. But he is not fully bourgeoisifed and he tells us he will always be a troublemaker - just what respectable society (even Sillitoe?) feared.. What a film! I used to show my sociology students Saturday Night… so they could see what factory work looked like! Although I am a southerner, the opening scenes also remind me of a furntiure factory in Portsmouth in the 1970s at going-home time — the same stream of people on pushbikes and motorbikes, including the legendary BSA Gold Flash driven by the foreman (who is being cuckolded by Arthur).
However, I have always seen Arthur Seaton as an affluent worker. Younger readers might need to ask their elders about the fanous Goldthorpe et al study but Arthur has many of the characteristics. He was doing light semi-skilled factory work — bikes not cars, admittedly — and thus attracted some of the reservations about not being ‘proper working class’ that some people have mentioned above. He was also instrumental and apolitical as in the famed remark about wanting good wages while ‘all the rest is propaganda’. The last scenes have him reminiscing about the glorious past with his old mate before going off to choose a house in a new estate with his ‘respectable’ bride. But he is not fully bourgeoisifed and he tells us he will always be a troublemaker — just what respectable society (even Sillitoe?) feared..
What a film!

]]> http://nowaytomakealiving.net/post/333/comment-page-1#comment-72 Alan Sillitoe and other Nottingham Lads : No Way To Make A Living Sun, 25 Apr 2010 20:19:14 +0000 http://nowaytomakealiving.net/?p=333#comment-72 [...] bet­ter than any­one else. The world of Arthur Seaton in Sat­urday Night and Sunday morn­ing already dis­cussed on the site, is what my friends’ grand­dads had when they were back from the war: they were skilled on the [...] […] bet­ter than any­one else. The world of Arthur Seaton in Sat­urday Night and Sunday morn­ing already dis­cussed on the site, is what my friends’ grand­dads had when they were back from the war: they were skilled on the […]

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