London Calling The Middle Classes and the Remaking of Inner London [Hardcover]

Symbolizing both commerce and culture, London has always been a magnet for the ambitions of the middle classes. However, the past three decades have witnessed a dramatic fragmentation in inner-city Londons social map. New and highly distinctive middle-class neighbourhoods have sprung up where embattled workers seek to combat the deleterious effects of long working hours, travel, and stress on traditional family values. This book is the first to explore the powerful impact of globalization on Londons economy and those who are caught up in it. More and more people are responding to the negative effects of working life as well as the lack of structure in their lives and particularly those of their children. The gentrification of certain areas and the differences among them directly reflects this desire to impose cultural values and structure on urban surroundings. How do these areas reflect middle-class values, ideologies, lifestyles, social backgrounds and occupational choices, and how have old neighbourhoods been refashioned and made amenable to middle-class life? In what ways has family life been affected by this new emphasis on values, structure and security, and what does the future hold? This fascinating book provides the first sustained analysis of the profound effects of globalization on city dwellers. Its original account of the relationship between urban space and cultural reproduction will inspire new research for years to come.

Tim Butler has already established himself as the foremost British sociologist of gentrification. Butler and Robson take this a step further by presenting a fascinating account of how London's middle classes are adapting to the challenge of living in a global city. This is a readable, lively, yet robust account of the contemporary urban change. Mike Savage, Department of Sociology, Manchester University

London Callingis a fascinating and illuminating book about the changing role of the middle classes in innelÓp