Annotated Bibliography on Theories and Sub Cultures Within the
Working Class
James Zeske
Class structure is something that is always up for debate due to the overlapping of
different social classes. One of the hardest classes to dissect is the lower-middle class
that sometimes gets confused with the working class. This bibliography focuses more on
the working class and some sub cultures that surround it. Some of these sub cultures
include graffiti art, dumpster diving, thrift shopping, and sustainable living. There is also
an article about the lower-middle class and the struggles of trying to be a part of the
middle class.
Throughout this bibliography I tried to incorporate a wide range of different
sources and topics. I included books, essays, and journal articles. One book is by an
anonymous writer or writers which contains material about dumpster diving, squatting,
and shoplifting. A few are by artists and curators whom I am interested in and their ideas
about sustainability and John Cage’s theories of experimental music and writing. I also
incorporated a few philosophical journal articles relating to the idea of objects and the
space around them.
This annotated bibliography is meant to function as a list of ideas surrounding the
working class and other social classes that overlap. My idea was to include works that
are about personal experience and ways of living, and others, which are more like
research papers.
Bibliography
Anonymous. 2003. Evasion. Crimethinc.
This is a collection of memoirs by one or more authors (author
anonymous) about dumpster diving, train hopping, squatting, stealing, and
suburban youth. The back of the book sums it up. “We dumpstered,
squatted, and shoplifted our lives back. Everything fell into place when
we decided our lives were to be lived. Life serves the risk taker.”
Beuys, Joseph. 1993. Energy Plan For The Western Man. Four Walls Eight Windows
Press.
This is a great collection of writings, interviews, and lectures by the artist
Joseph Beuys. This book is broken up into three sections: social sculpture,
Its Elements, and The Site. The first writing is a brief statement on social
sculpture titled “Introduction 1979”. Mr. Beuys talks about molding and
shaping the world in which we live and states “Everyone an Artist”. He
also goes on about processes continuing throughout his work due to
chemical reactions, fermentations, color changes, decay, and drying up.
The rest of the book revolves around these theories of social sculpture and
the possible changes within both the work and society.
Brown, Bill. 2001. “Thing Theory”. JSTOR Critical Inquiry Vol. 28, No. 1, Things pp. 122.
In this essay Bill Brown looks at a couple of Philosopher’s ideas about
things including Francis Ponge, Michael Riffaterre, and Jacques Derrida.
He also quotes Leo Stein as saying “Things are what we encounter, ideas
are what we project”. Mr. Brown goes on about the word “things” as
being ambiguous, general, and particular. He gives some examples: “Put
it by that green thing in the hall”. “I need that thing you use to get at
things between your teeth”. “There’s a thing about that poem that I’ll
never get”. He continues to go on throughout the essay about the idea of
the word “thing” and takes many different approaches such as talking
about the avant-garde: Dali, Duchamp, Man Ray, Joseph Beuys, Frank O’
Hara, Robert Rauschenberg, and into popism with Claes Oldenburg.
Cage, John. 1961. Silence “Lectures and Writings by John Cage”. Wesleyan University
Press.
In this collection of writings, lectures, and interviews, John Cage has some
interesting ideas about experimental music and also an essay called “On
Rauschenberg, Artist, and His Work”. The latter is more like poetry using
the found objects in Rauschenberg’s work and some questions to flow
through this ten-page essay. Next is the famous lecture on nothing
followed by a lecture on something.
I really enjoy the essay
“Communication” which is an essay of questions. This essay has a lot to
do with questioning music and aesthetics.
Costall, Alan and Dreier, Ole. 2006. Doing Things With Things “The Design and Use of
Everyday Objects”. Ashgate Publishing Limited 2006.
This collection of essays deals with material objects and their interactions
with humans. In one essay “The Woman Who Used Her Walking Stick as
a Telephone” is about a study done on stroke patients and their multiple
uses for a wheelchair, walking stick, and other walking aids. Another is
called “The Cognitive Biographies of Things” and focuses on a man
named Robert and his large collection of spices. He talks about the
growing collection over time, the organization of spices, and the
connection with cooking.
Felski, Rita. 2000. “Nothing to Declare: Identity, Shame, and the Lower Middle Class”.
JSTOR Vol. 115 No. 1, Special Topic: Rereading Class pp-33-45.
Rita Felski is concerned about the lack of discussion about social class in
contemporary social theory. She focuses on the blurry areas of class being
the lower middle class. She states that this is a difficult class to be in due
to the little more or often less wage than blue-collar industrial jobs. These
are the clerical workers, technicians, and secretaries who want to be a part
of the middle class but do not have the income to fit into the middle class
and live that lifestyle. These people, of course, usually end up in a lot of
debt. Felski brings up Marx and George Orwell to try and make clear this
fuzzy area. She talks about Orwell’s books “Coming up for Air” and “A
Clergyman’s Daughter” to show how he depicts families of the lower
middle class.
Ferrell, Jeff. 2006. Empire of Scrounge “Inside the Urban Underground of Dumpster
Diving”. New York University Press.
This book is about Mr. Ferrell’s research on dumpster diving after
resigning from a tenure professor position. He starts to live on
dumpstered materials and talks about the things he finds such as food,
clothing, old photographs, furniture, and lots more. He also collects
bottles and cans and cashes them in for money. This book is an insight on
the practice of dumpster diving and the advantages of this alternative
lifestyle/subculture.
Flood, Richard and Morris Frances, Curators. 2001. Zero to Infinity: Arte Povera 19621972. Walker Art/Center Tate.
This book focuses on an exhibition examining fourteen artists of the Arte
Povera movement throughout the sixties. The show traveled to four cities
throughout the U.S. between 2001 and 2003. The book starts out with
essays about the exhibition and the Arte Povera movement and then on to
the fourteen artists. It goes through each individual in alphabetical order
and there is an artist statement and/or an interview of the artist to give
insight about their philosophy. The book opens with a brief history of the
Arte Povera of “Poor Art” by saying that the term was coined by the
twenty-seven year old art critic Germano Celant and grew into the
understanding of concept and materials. Most, if not all, of the artists in
the exhibition use found materials to make conceptual constructions.
Some were based on environmental issues and others dealt with
object/space relationships.
Fritsch and Grallimore. 2007. Healing Appalachia “Sustainable Living Through
Appropriate Technology. The University Press of Kentucky.
This book is about different ways to clean up the environment, specifically
Appalachia. The topics include electric energy, energy efficiency and
conservation, food, forest, land, shelter, transportation, waste, and water.
The authors talk about a lot of different environmentally friendly
techniques relating to the above. Some include the use of solar panels,
micro hydropower, wind power, wood heating, food preservation, edible
landscape, organic gardening, natural cooling, simple modes of
transportation, composting, recycling, and much more.
Gastman, Rowland. 2006. Freight Train Graffiti. Sattler Abrams, NY
This book opens up with two definitions. One is “Art” which states art as
“the conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms,
movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty,
specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic
modernism”. The next is graffiti, which is “an urban movement that
focuses on communicating and maintaining one’s identity”. Next it talks
about the history of the American railroad and the beginning of graffiti
writing and how it became a culture. There are interviews and statements
by graffiti writers. This movement became a culture by wanting to be
known in neighborhoods for their writing style and then appeared on trains
as a traveling exhibition.
Gorman, Thomas J. 2000. “Reconsidering Worlds of Pain: Life in the Working Class(es).
JSTOR Sociological Forum Vol. 15, No. 4 pp. 693-717
Gorman focuses on working class families, specifically in a medium-sized
northeastern city in the U.S. This research paper is to try and find out how
many of these working class families have lived in or still live in worlds of
pain. He puts together seven elements to classify “hard living” families.
The seven elements are: 1) heavy drinking 2) marital instability 3)
toughness (profanity and violence) 4) political alienation 5) rootless ness
6) present-time orientation, and 7) a strong sense of individualism.
Koppelman, Robert S. Editor. 2003 Sing Out, Warning! Sing Out , Love! “The Writings
of Lee Hays”. University of Massachusetts Press.
The writings of Lee Hays are a part of America’s left-wing culture and the
working poor of the mid-twentieth century. There is a long introduction
and brief essay by the editor who writes about the conditions of the
working poor and the rebellious, protesting, left-wing culture. This book
brings up issues about the working poor, the depression, left-wing culture,
and the early years in the South.
Schor, Juliet. 2003. Gender, Race, and Class in Media. Chapter 19 “The New Politics of
Consumption, Why Americans Want So Much More Than They Need.” SAGE
Publications.
Juliet Schor talks about the “New Consumerism” which means an up
scaling of lifestyle norms; the pervasiveness of conspicuous, status goods
and of competition for acquiring them; and the growing disconnect
between consumer desires and incomes. She uses this as a starting point
and goes on about an increase in jobs and income and women getting
white-collar jobs. Schor also talks about the conventional view,
consumption being social, meaning that people follow trends and buy
things because other people buy them. The advertising industry is also a
major factor of consumption. Near the end she breaks down the politics of
consumption into seven parts. They are: A right to a decent standard of
living, Quality of life rather than quantity of stuff, Ecologically sustainable
consumption, Democratize consumption practices, A politics of retailing
and the “cultural environment”, Expose commodity “fetishism”, and A
consumer movement and governmental policy.
Smith, Stephanie. Curator. 2005. Beyond Green, Toward a Sustainable Art. Smart
Museum of Art, University of Chicago, Independent Curators International, New York.
Beyond Green revolves around an environmentally conscious exhibition
involving over twenty international artists and touches on issues of
sustainability. The book includes an introduction by curator Stephanie
Smith and an essay by theorist and art historian Victor Margolin. Also
included are essays and interviews by the artists. Two artists, Allora and
Calzadilla collaborate on a video project, which follows a young man on
two altered vehicles. Using found objects, Allora and Calzadilla attach a
trumpet onto the exhaust of a moped to create jazz like sounds in the video
called “In Returning a Sound”. In “Under Discussion”, a wooden table is
turned upside down and a boat motor is attached. The young man cruises
in the water around an island. The two artists are interviewed and discuss
both pieces. Other projects throughout the book include Free Soil, solar
panel book bags, and built environments.
Tulku, Tarthang. 1990. Knowledge of Time and Space. Dharma Publishing
Tulku brings up new ideas about time, space, and knowledge. He talks
about different theories of time (past, present, and future), space and the
“stuff” that passes through it, and knowledge which is to gather
information from birth to death in order to survive and function.
Throughout the book Tulku keeps you thinking and wondering about these
ideas. For example, in the chapter “Body of Time”, he states “Suppose
that we pushed past and future to their furthest limits-the beginning of the
beginning and the end of the end. We might speculate that their extreme
past and future meet”.