Chavs

In many ways, Chavs examines from the left the issues Charles Murray tackles from the right in Coming Apart. "Chav" is derogatory British slang for a poor person, especially one who is idle, tasteless, and prone to drink and mischief. Author Owen Jones attacks this stereotype and sympathizes with the working classes who have had their lives cut out from under them by the loss of manufacturing and mining in Britain. It is clear that a terrible price has been paid and that government policies can make things worse for the poor, but the structural changes Jones laments happened decades ago and globalization is not going away. In tilting at windmills, Jones too often presents the working class as a lump of labor through which only others can work their will.