Semi-detached Britain? Reviewing suburban engagement in twentieth-century society

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Over the last century, cultural and scholarly depictions of middle-class suburbia have created a stereotype that suggests detachment, indifference and the decline of community engagement. Yet, such accounts oversimplify the middle-class experience and the evolving nature of the urban/suburban relationship. Offering a review of existing literature, this article seeks to challenge existing stereotypes by revaluating the social networks constructed by middle-class ‘suburbans’. Far from detached and disengaged, the spatial analysis of associational membership in post-war Leicester reveals the need for a much wider revision of the British suburban narrative.