Author: Bell, Michael Mayerfeld
Title: Childerley: Nature and Morality in a Country Village (Morality and Society Series).
Description: Chicago : University Of Chicago Press, 1994. Hardcover. Dustjacket. 292 pp.- In Childerley a twelfth-century church rises above the rolling quilt of pastures and grain fields. Volvos and tractors share the winding country roads. Here, in this small village two hours from London, stockbrokers and stock-keepers live side by side in thatched cottages, converted barns, and modern homes. Why do these villagers find country living so compelling? Why, despite our urban lives, do so many of us strive for a home in the country, closer to nature? Michael Bell suggests that we are looking for a natural conscience: an unshakeable source of identity and moral value that is free from social interests-comfort and solace and a grounding of self in a world of conflict and change. During his interviews with over a hundred of Childerley's 475 residents-both working-class and professional-Bell heard time and again of their desire to be country people and of their anxiety over their class identities. Even though they often knowingly participate in class discrimination themselves-and see their neighbors doing the same-most Childerleyans feel a deep moral ambivalence over class. Bell argues they find in class and its conflicts the restraints and workings of social interests and feel that by living close to nature they have an alternative: the identity of a country person, a villager that the natural consicence gives.English text. Condition : very good. Mailorder only - Alleen verzending mogelijk. Book condition : very good. ISBN 9780226041971.

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