Soap is part of the sub-text of E P Thompson’s Making of the Working Class,whose 60th anniversary falls this year.
The debate has moved on a good way since but right-wing economists were keen to argue that the development of industrial capitalism led to increased living standards for the working class. Thompson looking at levels of poverty argued that the evidence for this was patchy in terms of occupation and geographical area. Fundamentally however his way of looking at living standards was not the same as the right-wing economists.
His concern was whether workers could live without the fear of destitution and few or no means and the impact this had on them intellectually and political. One benchmark of this was whether soap was affordable. Thompson does not focus on the point but cleanliness was a key part of being a respectable member of the working class.
Its interesting to note that in the current cost of living crisis the price of soap has gone up and sales of it have gone down. Demand for soap has fallen by 48% in the first six months of 2023 (Times July 22nd) The cost of a bar of soap has risen by 50% in the last 12 months.
There appears to be hygiene poverty, although sales of soap are down elsewhere too, in Australia for example. An interesting and perhaps concerning sign of the times
Leave a Reply