Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgements
- Map
- Introduction
- PART ONE OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE
- PART TWO THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE
- 5 The concept of community
- 6 The social structure of ownership
- 7 Images of social structure
- 8 Political attitudes
- PART THREE THE FAMILY, SOCIAL PRACTICE AND BELIEF
- Appendix: supplementary information on the interviews
- Glossary
- Notes
- Bibliography and sources
- Index
7 - Images of social structure
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgements
- Map
- Introduction
- PART ONE OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE
- PART TWO THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE
- 5 The concept of community
- 6 The social structure of ownership
- 7 Images of social structure
- 8 Political attitudes
- PART THREE THE FAMILY, SOCIAL PRACTICE AND BELIEF
- Appendix: supplementary information on the interviews
- Glossary
- Notes
- Bibliography and sources
- Index
Summary
There were no class distinctions, you just had a bit more money.
3012Although there is one sense in which the facts of oral evidence speak for themselves they do not, unfortunately, place themselves into categories. Space precludes the long extracts which are often the best way to demonstrate the authenticity of the evidence and the appropriateness of the interpretation, but the above extract and the following one serve to illustrate my contention that although the fishermen were well aware of material distinctions their perceptions of stratification were frequently weak and confused:
I was wondering what sort of place Yarmouth was in those days, people often talk about the different classes in society, rich or poor or working class.
No, to tell you the truth I never did hear–no distinction in any class or anything, not round about where we lived–there. No, I never heard nothing. I mean–a chap well off–well, not well off, but what we call well off them days he'd go about along with a chap what's very poor, and there was no difference in 'em, you know, they – there would be no difference in the two of'em, the one wouldn't be stuck up and the other one not, there was no class distinction I don't think, very little.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Occupation and SocietyThe East Anglian Fishermen 1880-1914, pp. 90 - 106Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1985