The Evolution of a Community: A Study of Dagenham After Forty Years

Peter Willmott's study of Dagenham in Essex, published in 1963, found that a way of life similar to a 'traditional working-class community' had grown up, influenced by migration. He traced relationships, attitudes, and social class in the community.

Format: Hardback
Length: 170 pages
Publication date: 01 August 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

In earlier studies,Peter Willmott and other investigators had documented the social problems of new housing estates – the loneliness, tensions, and disruption of family and neighborhood ties. But how far are such troubles transitory? What kind of life would develop in communities like these when time had rubbed off the newness?

Originally published in 1963, in search of an answer, Peter Willmott went to Dagenham in Essex, where forty years before the London County Council began to build a giant estate to rehouse people from the East End of London. His study – of a new estate that had now become an old one – throws light on the long-term effects of this kind of migration. He found at Dagenham, most strikingly, that a way of life very similar to a 'traditional working-class community had grown up. In this book, he discusses the similarities and differences and shows the influences that had worked for and against this development. After a sketch of the estate's history, he traces the relationships of the people of Dagenham with relatives, friends, and neighbors, and then examines their attitudes to each other, to politics, and to social class.

His conclusions were not only relevant to housing and town planning policy but provided insight into the meaning of social class in contemporary Britain at the time.

Weight: 471g
Dimension: 216 x 138 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032545080