탈계급시대에 톰슨을 다시 읽다 - E. P. 톰슨, 『영국 노동계급의 형성』- (Reading The Making of the English Working Class Again in the Age of De-class)

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· 저자명 : 이영석

초록

It is said that The Making of the English Working Class is one ofthe best books in the field of English history published since the SecondWorld War. Author E. P. Thompson presented a new direction of ‘historyfrom below’ to historians. This paper focuses on summarizing the contentof “The Making of the English Working Class”.
Marxist historians have emphasized the natural transition from “classbased on a productive relation” to “class-conscious class.” Thompsoncriticizes this view. Although the productive relation brought about newclass experiences, those would not be led to forming class. He tried torepresent the history of the working class that had formed themselvesin concrete history. According to his interpretation, the English workingclass was a phenomenon that had been forming themselves on the basisof workers’ agencies. In the formation three traditional and cultural factorsstrongly affected the process of class formation. These were the traditionof dissenters, popular riots and the concept of ‘free born Englishman’.
On the basis of these factors the English artisans and craftsmen wenton organizing themselves into a working class with resistance to theoppression of the government (as happened during the French Revolution).
The trend of de-class in present society brings doubts about whetherthis subject written about by labor historians could exist or not in thefuture. This would be related to the decrease of manual labor,automatization, the revolution of information and communication and somechanges in the traditional concept of labor. Now I agree with the viewthat we cannot have the same inspiration and impression that many youngscholars received from Thompson’s Making a generation ago. However,I believe that we historians could obtain some lessons from his life, thegrand narrative of his writings, and his emphasis on workers’ agencies.

영어초록

It is said that The Making of the English Working Class is one ofthe best books in the field of English history published since the SecondWorld War. Author E. P. Thompson presented a new direction of ‘historyfrom below’ to historians. This paper focuses on summarizing the contentof “The Making of the English Working Class”.
Marxist historians have emphasized the natural transition from “classbased on a productive relation” to “class-conscious class.” Thompsoncriticizes this view. Although the productive relation brought about newclass experiences, those would not be led to forming class. He tried torepresent the history of the working class that had formed themselvesin concrete history. According to his interpretation, the English workingclass was a phenomenon that had been forming themselves on the basisof workers’ agencies. In the formation three traditional and cultural factorsstrongly affected the process of class formation. These were the traditionof dissenters, popular riots and the concept of ‘free born Englishman’.
On the basis of these factors the English artisans and craftsmen wenton organizing themselves into a working class with resistance to theoppression of the government (as happened during the French Revolution).
The trend of de-class in present society brings doubts about whetherthis subject written about by labor historians could exist or not in thefuture. This would be related to the decrease of manual labor,automatization, the revolution of information and communication and somechanges in the traditional concept of labor. Now I agree with the viewthat we cannot have the same inspiration and impression that many youngscholars received from Thompson’s Making a generation ago. However,I believe that we historians could obtain some lessons from his life, thegrand narrative of his writings, and his emphasis on workers’ agencies.

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