Brighton trio create eye-opening graphic guide to class

Class: A Graphic Guide brings together insights from sociologists Laura Harvey and Sarah Leaney with brilliant drawings from Hove-based illustrator Danny Noble, winner of the 2020 Comedy Women In Print Award.

Conversations about class are as relevant today as ever before. The new book delves into different aspects of this eternally fascinating - and often contentious - aspect of British life. What can class tell us about gentrification, precarious work, the role of elites in society, or access to education? How have thinkers explored class in the past, and how does it affect us today? How does class inform activism and change?

From the publishers of the bestselling Queer: A Graphic History, the new book challenges simplistic and prejudicial ideas about working-class people, discusses colonial roots of class systems, and looks at how class intersects with race, sexuality, gender, disability and age.

Danny Noble with copy of the graphic guide Class - courtesy Danny's Twitter

Dr Laura Harvey

Dr Laura Harvey, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at University of Brighton, said: "This book uses the graphic medium to bring the issue of class to life in all its complexity. Danny's illustrations are irreverent, sensitive, and heart breaking all at once.

"By developing different characters in the book we hope readers will be able to get a sense of different perspectives and experiences. At times the characters speak back to the theory, challenge accepted norms and reject labels, and this was really important to us when writing the book - that we connect the academic study of class to the lived experience of being classed."

Danny Noble said: “I love the Graphic Guide series. Comics are the most brilliant way to bring ideas to life. Laura and Sarah wrote such a clear and clever and accessible book that I wanted to create images to complement that, with lots of movement across the page and characters that people might be curious to know more about. I'm very happy to be part of a book that shines a light on some of the excellent activists and movements that are working to fight class inequalities.”

Along with an official book launch at London comic book shop Gosh on 22 September, the authors will be running a participatory workshop on 19 November in Brighton, aimed at teachers, trade unionists, activists, community organisers and anyone else interested to share ideas and experiences about social class in different contexts - in the classroom, on the picket line, in community meetings, in everyday life.

For details of the CLASS workshop on 19 November, check for social media updates nearer the time:

Laura Harvey on Twitter: @auralisings

Sarah Leaney on Twitter: @SarahLeaney

Sarah Leaney - University of Brighton sociologist