Mass-Observation

Jennifer J. Purcell is Professor of History at Saint Michael’s College in Vermont, USA. Using Mass-Observation diaries and directives, her first book, Domestic Soldiers (2010), seeks to understand the day-to-day lives of six women on the home front during the Second World War. She is also the author of Mother of the BBC: Mabel Constanduros and the Development of Light Entertainment on the BBC, 1925–1957 (Bloomsbury, 2020) and editor of Mass Observation: Text, Context and Analysis of the Pioneering Pamphlet and Movement (Bloomsbury, 2023) and Reflections on British Royalty: Mass Observation and the Monarchy, 1937-2022 (with Fiona Courage; Bloomsbury, 2024).

• List of IllustrationsList of ContributorsChronologyIntroduction, Jennifer J. Purcell1. ‘The Observation by Everyone of Everyone’: The Project of Mass-Observation in 1937, Ben Highmore2. Mass-Observation, Charles Madge and Tom Harrisson3. Uncivilising Sociology: How Mass Observation can free the discipline, Rachel Hurdley4. Voices from the Archive, Jennifer J. PurcellBibliographyIndex

For both newcomers and long-time enthusiasts of MO, this book provides insight into the original, ambitious intentions of the founders, useful commentaries on their achievement and its value across disciplines, as well as fascinating interviews with three people whose careers and lives have been closely entwined with the project.