Photographs as Sociological Evidence

1
Photographs as Sociological Evidence

• Professor Roger Penn
• 2008

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Photographs of Rochdale 1986

• These photographs were taken by myself around the
  time of the start of SCELI.
• They illustrate some of the themes in my book
  Social Change and Economic Life in Britain 2006
• The importance of the textile industry
  historically in this area nb 1.8 million textile
  workers in 1918 and its collapse after the
  1970s.
• They also show the close proximity of terraced
  housing to the factories these houses form the
  core of the Asian ethnic enclave in central
  Rochdale

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Mills beside the Canal
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Mills beside the Canal

• This illustrates the location of the textile
  mills along the Rochdale Canal.
• The mills were rebuilt in the boom period prior
  to 1914.
• Textiles were both imported and exported along
  the inland waterways.

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State Mill Now a Training Centre
6
State Mill Now a Training Centre

• This shows the dense pattern of textile mill
  development.
• The chimneys indicate the use of coal also
  brought by canal barges to power the steam
  engines that drove the machinery.
• In 1918 there 2 million coal miners and 1.8
  million textile workers in Britain.

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State Mill and Surrounding Mills
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State Mill and Surrounding Mills

• This is the classic shape of a textile mill circa
  1910.
• Note the engine room at the bottom right of the
  mill and the extensive windows on 5 storeys.
• This was the maximum height and led to different
  processes on successive floors.

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Derelict Mills along the Canal
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Derelict Mills along the Canal

• The mills are derelict.
• From being one of the worlds most affluent
  towns, Rochdale suffered heavily from mill
  closures, unemployment and urban blight by
  the1980s.

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Derelict Mill
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Abandoned Canal
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Derelict Roof
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Abandoned Machinery
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Mill Housing
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Mill Housing

• The housing was very close to the mills.
• Terraced and with 2 up, 2 down
  accommodation.
• No gardens.
• These houses now occupied by Asian families
• very overcrowded.

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Interpretation

• These photographs have been interpreted using
  other data sources.
• These are evident in Social Change and Economic
  Life in Britain.

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Population Census Data on Employment Table 2.1
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Development of Manufacturing in Rochdale Figure
6.A
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Employment Census Data on Employment in Textiles
in Rochdale1971-1981Table 8.1
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Population Census Data on Birthplaces of
Inhabitants of Rochdale 1921-1971 Table9.2
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Employment Census Data on Rochdale 1971-1981
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Employment Census Data on Rochdale 1981-1987
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Visual Data takes Many Forms

• Graphical
• Photographic
• Diagrammatic
• Tabular
• Each can support the others in a visual
  intertextuality