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3 - Words at Work

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2014

Sidney Tarrow
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

This chapter analyzes the language of contention that emerged from labor conflict. It begins with two of these words: sabotage and striking. It then turns to the broader issue of the formation of the working class in England, made famous by E. P. Thompson and a number of historians and sociologists. The third part moves from England to France and the United States, where similar histories of class formation can be found. The fourth part reflects on the decline of class language in contemporary politics. The underlying theme of the chapter is the strong influence of the political context both on the construction of class conflict and on the constitution of the working class. I begin with a form of contention that, like many others, emerged from a specific conflict between workers and their employer in the context of a political crisis – the boycott – and then became modular.

Boycotting Colonel Boycott

boycott (tr): to refuse to have dealings with (a person, organization, etc.) or refuse to buy (a product) as a protest or means of coercion to boycott foreign produce.

Colonel Charles Boycott was the land agent for Lord Erne during the Irish land wars of the 1870s and 1880s. Charles Parnell, an Irish politician, had called for reform of the extortionate rents that Irish farm workers were forced to pay their absentee English landlords. When Boycott refused, he was chosen as the target of the new policy, designed to put pressure on greedy landlords by ostracizing their agents and avoiding the violence that had often broken out during the land wars. When Boycott’s workers refused to work in the fields as well as in his house, and when even the local merchants refused to trade with him, he was completely isolated (Marlow 1973).

Type
Chapter
Information
The Language of Contention
Revolutions in Words, 1688–2012
, pp. 54 - 80
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

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  • Words at Work
  • Sidney Tarrow, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: The Language of Contention
  • Online publication: 05 June 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139567190.004
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  • Words at Work
  • Sidney Tarrow, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: The Language of Contention
  • Online publication: 05 June 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139567190.004
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Words at Work
  • Sidney Tarrow, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: The Language of Contention
  • Online publication: 05 June 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139567190.004
Available formats
×