HUMSS - Jörg Arnold

The British Miner in the Age of De-industrialisation, ca. 1967-1997

A work-in-progress report

In the second half of the twentieth century, the British coal industry, which had powered the nation’s economy since the early days of the industrial revolution, became caught up in the process of de-industrialisation, the shift from a manufacturing to a service-centred economy.

As coal’s share of the energy market declined and employment in the industry contracted, the coal miners repeatedly found themselves at the centre of public conflict and debate. The figure of the miner was socially constructed as traditional proletarian and affluent worker, as militant Luddite and hapless underdog, as hero and villain.

Rather than try to establish who the miners ‘really’ were, my project asks about the intersections and frictions between self-images and broader social imaginaries. Drawing on the theoretical insights of Raymond Williams and Reinhart Koselleck, it makes an intervention in the fields of labour history, de-industrialisation studies and contemporary British history.

In the colloquium I shall present for discussion the progress I have made with the project over the past twelve months.