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Thinking Allowed: Baristas; 'People' History

07/05/2014

Baristas; 'People' History

BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, Baristas; 'People' History

The rise & fall of the working class. Also, the attraction of 'cool' jobs with poor wages.

Laurie Taylor explores a hidden history of the British working class. Also, a US study of 'baristas' - how do some jobs with poor wages acquire a 'cool' image?

The rise & fall of the working class: Laurie Taylor talks to Selina Todd, social historian at St Hilda's College, Oxford, about her sweeping study of ordinary British people between 1910-2010. Rooting her analysis in first person accounts from factory workers, servants and housewives, she reveals a hidden history full of the unexpected: How many of us know that cinema audiences once shook their fists at Winston Churchill? Also, US sociologist, Yasemin Besen-Cassino, discusses her research on 'baristas', the preparers of coffee across the urban world. She finds a group of affluent young people who'll work for poor wages if they're associated with a 'cool' brand.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

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