| Class Structure in Australian History | |
| Author: | Terry Irving & Raewyn Connell |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | History |
| Subject: | Labour history Social history |
| Published: | 1979 |
| Publisher: | Longman Cheshire |
| Pages: | 378 |
Class Structure in Australian History[1] is a work of Australian social history, written by Terry Irving and Raewyn Connell.[2] [3] Published in 1979 by Longman Cheshire, It is considered a definitive work of the Australian New Left.[4] It studies the development of social classes, periodising the political economy of capitalism in Australia.
Terry Irving and Raewyn Connell collaborated in the Radical Free University project in Sydney,[5] and shared a concern with class methodology and the portrayal of resistance in social history. The aim of the project was the pursuit of socialist strategy, as they remarked: "Our intention is political —to help people gain a clear understanding of the patterns of class relations they live in and have to act on here and now".[6] Furthermore, taking inspiration from E.P. Thompson, they rejected a moralisation of the working class: