The Pub and the People

Abstract

MASS Observation is an organization which has been evolved to make objective studies of the way of life of the peoples of Great Britain. The sponsor of the movement, Mr. Tom Harrisson, was formerly a professional anthropologist, who, whilst working on the island of Malekula in the New Hebrides Group, came to the conclusion that the people in the wilds of Great Britain were as much in need of scientific observation as the cannibals of Malekula. On his return to Great Britain he teamed up with a newspaper reporter, Mr. Charles Madge, who was thinking along similar lines. Thus Mass Observation was born. In August 1939 it consisted of a team of whole-time paid investigators and a nation-wide group of voluntary observers providing information about themselves and their neighbours. This by way of introduction to the organization that produced this book.

The Pub and the People

A Worktown Study. Mass Observation. Pp. 350. (London : Victor Gollancz, Ltd., 1942.) 16s. net.