Discuss: Representations of the working class

By Goldfinger at sr.wikipedia [CC-BY-3.0-rs], from Wikimedia Commons under Creative-Commons license Until well into the twentieth century working class people were either invisible in fiction and drama or else shown as stereotypes: the unworthy and sometimes the worthy poor.

But slowly from the 1950s more positive representations became available, especially as actors, writers and directors from the working class entered the media.

Today we have a mixed picture from, say, Gavin and Stacy to Shameless.

We'd like you to share your thoughts with us and with each other. Here are some questions to ponder:

• What do you think of as s typically working class person?
• What are the dominant images?
• Are they stereotypes?
• Is it impossible to say now?
• When do we see images of working lass people? What are they doing?

Let us know your responses to the statements below, then give us some more of your thoughts, experiences and memories of working class representation in the comments section lower down this page.

Once you've discussed representation, you can visit other discussion hubs about working class work, housing, leisure and struggle. You can also order a free journal of working class life to dig deeper in to each of these issues.