Why read Customs in Common?

Book cover of Customs in Common: Studies in Traditional Popular Culture

Book description

Customs in Common is the remarkable sequel to E.P. Thompson's influential, landmark volume of social history, The Making of the English Working Class. The product of years of research and debate, Customs in Common describes the complex culture from which working class institutions emerged in England a panoply of traditions…

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European history

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Why read it?

1 author picked Customs in Common as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Massimiliano Tomba

Author

I could have mentioned other books written by E.P. Thompson. Each of his books has influenced my work.

Customs and Tradition contains "Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism." This brilliant and elegantly written essay shows how capitalism, to impose itself, had to modify the experience of time. This change occurred through numerous conflicts with the traditions and customs of the working classes.

E.P. Thompson teaches us to consider the political importance and emancipatory potential of these struggles and not to leave "tradition" and its energy to the right.

E.P. Thompson taught me to look at these conflicts not just as forms…

From Massimiliano's list on a Marxist’s conception of time, history, and politics.