Digitisation of Affluent Worker Study
Background
The Affluent Worker Study (1961–62) is a landmark sociological investigation conducted by John Goldthorpe and colleagues to test the “embourgeoisement thesis”; the idea that rising living standards were transforming the British working class into a middle-class group in terms of attitudes, lifestyles, and political views. Based on hundreds of interviews with car workers and their wives in Luton and Cambridge, the study explored work orientations, social identities, and class consciousness in post-war Britain. It remains one of the most influential empirical studies of class in twentieth-century sociology, and was the foundation for the conceptualisation of “class” in the UK.
Despite its significance, the original study materials, including interview transcripts, researchers’ notes, and supplementary documents, were largely only available in paper-based archival form, limiting access and reuse. Several digitisation waves tried to make this data more available, but less than half the original study was available for download. This project addressed that gap through a comprehensive digitisation initiative, which converted the full corpus into high-quality, fully searchable digital formats, with careful quality control and anonymisation to meet contemporary ethical and data protection standards.
The digitised dataset has been deposited with the UK Data Service, ensuring long-term preservation and open access. This not only safeguards a key sociological archive but also enables new forms of analysis, particularly intersectional approaches addressing race and gender, thereby significantly extending the study’s analytical and public value.
Size and file formats:
- 847 surveys, digitised into fully-searchable PDFs.
- 300 open-ended questions (semi-structured interviews on class), digitised into fully-searchable PDFs and RTFs.
- 1 SPSS file containing survey responses.
Objectives
- Digitise the complete corpus of Affluent Worker Study materials, including interviews, fieldnotes, and supplementary documents.
- Maintain an accurate and comprehensive record of all data, including systematically linking related materials (e.g. matching workplace and at-home interviews for the same participants).
- Enhance and extend the study documentation, including providing additional guidance on the original survey instruments and research design to support secondary analysis.
- Ensure all digitised data is anonymised and compliant with current data protection standards (e.g. GDPR).
- Deposit the digitised dataset with the UK Data Service for long-term preservation and open access.
- Enhance the accessibility and usability of a foundational sociological dataset for researchers, educators, and the public.
Timeframe
April 2025 – September 2026
Project team
University of Durham: Stephen Ashe, Vikki Boliver, and Ragini Khurana
Project manager: Maureen Haaker
Digitisation Technicians: Sophie Cunningham and Maqbool Inamdar