Chavs argues that the British working class has become an object of fear and ridicule. Noting the ignorance and prejudice that lie at the heart of the ‘chav’ caricature, Owen Jones seeks to reveal the poverty and desperation of the working class. His book claims to be both an indictment of the media and political establishment, and a portrait of inequality and class hatred in modern Britain.

The Introduction traces the phenomenon of the chav discourse, arguing that it is the product of a deeply unequal society, and that hatred of working-class people in British society is now mainstream. Social problems are seen more as the consequences of personal behaviour than as the injustices of capitalism. Turning to the case of Shannon Matthews, Jones notes the superficial similarities with the case of Madeleine McCann, but their very different treatment in the media which lit up, ‘like a flare’ (p. 20), class and prejudice in modern Britain. The campaign said more about the reporters than the reported, the victim was blamed and wider structural factors, such as de-industrialisation and the decline of the local textile industry, were ignored. Moving on to the working class, Jones locates its demise within Thatcherism and her attack on the trade unions; it is the defeat of the Miners’ Strike which was ‘the turning point in the history of modern working-class Britain’ (p. 55). The ‘right to buy’ scheme further divided homeowners and council tenants. Jones looks at David Cameron's background, and has a good section on Iain Duncan Smith, but also at the ways in which New Labour has attacked the working class, specifically the ‘non-aspirational’ working class. It was the Tories that ‘placed the chav myth at the heart of British politics, so as to entrench the idea that there are entire communities around Britain crawling with feckless, delinquent, violent and sexually debauched no-hopers’ (p. 80). But it was since 1997 that social exclusion came to be focused on behaviour, and that Parliament became a middle-class closed shop.

The real focus here is thus the working class, and it is this theme, rather than that of ‘chavs’, which is pursued in subsequent chapters. Jones argues that, from the 1880s, the working class has been disparaged in the media, with examples that include Harry Enfield, Catherine Tate, the treatment of Jade Goody, and shows such as Jeremy Kyle and Little Britain. To be working-class is no longer to be respectable, and everything has come to be judged by middle-class standards. Meanwhile the ‘new working class’, those who sell their labour or who lack autonomy or control over it, is increasingly in work that is part-time and temporary, in service jobs, less likely than previously to be in a union, but with growing debt and lower status. Work has changed: ‘how fast you type is more important than how much you can lift’ (p. 166). Jones argues that society is ‘rigged’ in favour of the middle class, as seen in places as diverse as Ashington and Longbridge, and it is industrial collapse and Thatcherism that is the real culprit. It is need that leads to benefit fraud, and the absence of hope that causes anti-social behaviour. The marginalisation of working-class people drove them into the arms of the BNP, and Labour has no real answer to their problems. Jones concludes, therefore, that the demonisation of the working class runs alongside the flagrant triumphalism of the rich, that a new movement could be rooted in the Left and that the working class will organise to defend their interests.

Despite the book's merits as a polemic there are five main problems with it. First, the main title (no doubt the publisher's idea) is misleading. The book is less a discussion of chavs (probably best seen as a subset of the working class and the inheritor of a longer-term ‘underclass’ discourse) than a study of the problems of the working class. Second, while trenchant, the book is superficial, frequently touching on issues but then moving on very quickly; it lacks depth and at times resembles a catch-all. Third, the book lacks any real sense of historical perspective, rarely going further back than Thatcherism. Historical examples are often poorly chosen; Keith Joseph's 1974 Edgbaston ‘eugenics’ speech is cited rather than his 1972 ‘cycle of deprivation’ theory (which is arguably more relevant). Third, while the book describes media coverage and the situation of the working class quite well, it is much less convincing on the reasons for the latter's predicament. Too often, the causes of a range of social issues are seen as exclusively structural, in an analysis more familiar from the 1970s, and this runs alongside a failure to face up to uncomfortable realities (such as working-class racism). Rich and poor might be ‘two groups with irreconcilable differences’ (p. 165), but there are a lot of people in between, and the reality is more complex. Fourth, the treatment of social class often descends into caricature, too earnest, and lacking a sense of humour. Of course these are serious issues, but there is a parallel demonising here of the middle and upper classes, and of the Conservative Party. And, fifth, there is the question of sources, with much material having been selected from interviews with journalists, politicians and academics.

The book thus tackles real and important issues, and is well-written, readable and trenchant. Its title and style could inspire undergraduates to take more interest in these issues than they might otherwise do. However against that the material cited here, while always lively, is sometimes familiar, unsurprising, anecdotal, repetitive or misleading. This is not in any way to deny the very real problems experienced by the working class and which Jones describes so vividly. But to have any chance of winning those particular political and ideological battles, we need a more honest analysis of the problems, more subtle and convincing explanations and a more plausible way forward.