The fashioning of a new world : youth culture and the origins of the mass outdoor movement in Interwar Britain
In the early 1930s, the 'hiking craze' transformed strenuous walking in the country from a minority leisure activity into a mass outdoor movement. This thesis examines the social and cultural origins of the movement. Many commentators at the time portrayed hiking as a youth movement, representing a radical break with the past. Subsequent academic studies have emphasised continuity with one of two pre-war traditions: an upper-middle-class, intellectual, neo-romantic walking tradition; and an upper-working- and lower-middle-class, mainly nonconformist, tradition of self-improvement and 'rational recreation'. Some historians have highlighted ideological aspects of the mass outdoor movement, often conflating it with the campaign for access to open country and in some cases portraying 'the battle for the countryside' as a conflict between urban socialist workers and Tory landowners. This has led to the widely held conception that the mass outdoor movement was above all a phenomenon associated with the industrial towns flanking the southern Pennines, where the highest profile access protests took place. Drawing upon newspaper reports, social surveys, autobiographies, oral histories, club records and the archives
Thompson, Simon Robert
The fashioning of a new world : youth culture and the origins of the mass outdoor movement in Interwar Britain. In the early 1930s, the 'hiking craze' transformed strenuous walking in the country from a minority leisure activity into a mass outdoor movement. This thesis examines the social and cultural origins of the movement. Many commentators at the time portrayed hiking as a youth movement, representing a radical break with the past. Subsequent academic studies have emphasised continuity with one of two pre-war traditions: an upper-middle-class, intellectual, neo-romantic walking tradition; and an upper-working- and lower-middle-class, mainly nonconformist, tradition of self-improvement and 'rational recreation'. Some historians have highlighted ideological aspects of the mass outdoor movement, often conflating it with the campaign for access to open country and in some cases portraying 'the battle for the countryside' as a conflict between urban socialist workers and Tory landowners. This has led to the widely held conception that the mass outdoor movement was above all a phenomenon associated with the industrial towns flanking the southern Pennines, where the highest profile access protests took place. Drawing upon newspaper reports, social surveys, autobiographies, oral histories, club records and the archives
fashion new_world youth culture origins mass outdoor movement interwar_britain transform strenuous walk country minority leisure_activity mass outdoor movement examines social_cultural origin movement many commentator time portray youth movement represent radical break past subsequent academic_study emphasise continuity pre_war tradition upper middle_class intellectual neo romantic walking tradition upper working lower middle_class mainly nonconformist tradition self improvement rational recreation historian highlight ideological aspect mass outdoor movement often conflate campaign access open country case portray the battle countryside conflict urban socialist worker tory landowner lead widely_hold conception mass outdoor movement phenomenon associate industrial_town flank southern pennines high_profile access protest take_place drawing_upon newspaper_report social survey autobiography oral_history club record archive