Since the late 1980s the number of community-based credit unions in Britain has grown steadily. These are financial co-operatives based on low-income neighbourhoods, owned and controlled by local residents, which aim to provide savings and low-cost credit facilities to their members. Although...

The contrast between the service class and the working class is central to much class analysis. This structural distinction, based on differences in the employment relationship, is analytically powerful, has validity, and is not in question here. The working class, however, is not homogeneous in...