That work's preface states the author wishes to save this group "from the enormous condescension of posterity," arguing its members weren't passively shaped by structure but (*) "present at its own making.
David Roediger argued contradictions between republican ideals and the material condition of this group led to the emergence of "white people" as a distinct concept in The Wages of Whiteness. Gareth Stedman Jones attacked as anachronistic a work about this group, which was also criticized for its depiction of Methodism as a "chiliasm of despair" that distracted these people from their thwarted political aims. That work's preface states the author wishes to save this group "from the enormous condescension of posterity," arguing its members weren't passively shaped by structure but (*) "present at its own making." The second half of The Road to Wigan Pier is largely a meditation on why this group has not espoused socialism, and E.P. Thompson wrote about the English type of this group. For 10 points, name this socioeconomic group of mostly manual laborers.
David Roediger argued contradictions between republican ideals and the material condition of this group led to the emergence of "white people" as a distinct concept in The Wages of Whiteness.
{working class} [or {American working class;} or {English working class;} prompt on things like {"proletariat"}]