Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
We Have Never Been Middle Class by Hadas Weiss
Acute interrogation of how social perceptions, values and beliefs influence economic behaviour
PIC CAP Diners in denial: Luis Bunuel’s The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie
PAUL FOLEY is disappointed by a production that encourages the audience to laugh at rather than with the characters
Odysseus’s homecoming myth is treated as a factual story, with strong resonances for our contemporary world. This is an implicit anti-war film that has an urgent relevance, writes JOHN GREEN
The Star's critics ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARTIN HALL, MICHAL BONCZA, ANGUS REID reviews Holy Cow, One to One: John and Yoko, King of Kings, Panda Bear in Africa
PATRICK JONES recommends a vital anthology from Afghan and Iranian poets where the political and personal fuse into witness-bearing and manifesto-making
WILL STONE is impressed by Hania Rani who is already making a name for herself in the male-dominated world of modern classical music
MIK SABIERS enjoys the theatrical feminist six piece who have a lot of fun that the audience feeds off as the set rolls on
SELF-STYLED “academic nomad” Hadas Weiss's first book explores culture in Germany and Israel by studying communities in-depth and over extended periods.
[[{"fid":"16969","view_mode":"inlineright","fields":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-inlineright","data-delta":"1"}}]]An anthropologist living in Spain, she uses literature review, formal ethnographic research and informal observation based on personal experience to explore the relevance and influence of the term “middle class” and her book is a scholarly but accessible exploration of a pervasive and damaging myth.
It opens with the unsettling suggestion that “middle class” is an ideology rather than a genuine identity within the capitalist class system. This, says Weiss, is why we struggle to develop a clear definition.
More from this author
ANDREW HEDGECOCK relishes visual storytelling with no respect for genres, movements or styles
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes two exhibitions that blur the boundaries between art and community engagement
Two books and a film that examine cultural excavation and the impact of place on behaviour
ANDY HEDGECOCK invites readers to contribute short fiction to our arts pages, offers some guidance and picks a few favourites