Hard Work: Life in Low-pay Britain
{{Short description|2003 book by Polly Toynbee}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Hard Work: Life in Low-pay Britain
| image = Hard Work (book).jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Cover of the first edition
| author = Polly Toynbee
| cover_artist =
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| series =
| release_number =
| subjects = {{hlist | Capitalism | British politics | poverty}}
| publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing
| publisher2 =
| pub_date = 2003
| media_type = Print (paperback)
| pages = 242
| awards =
| isbn = 978-0-7475-6415-7
| dewey =
}}
Hard Work: Life in Low-pay Britain is a 2003 book by the British journalist Polly Toynbee.
Synopsis
The book is an account of life on the minimum wage. Toynbee moved into a council housing estate in Clapham Park and took on various jobs such as a hospital porter, cake packer and telemarketer. Toynbee is critical of the moral failings of capitalism and advocates for those who work essential jobs to receive more morally just pay.
Reception
In The Guardian JoAnn Wypijewski was slightly critical of Toynbee and her support for New Labour, writing "How touching, how New Labour, that one from the winners' side should now survey the wreckage, find the survivors deserving and evoke the sentiment of Bill Clinton: "I feel your pain"{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/feb/15/highereducation.news|title=Review: Hard Work - Life in Low-Pay Britain by Polly Toynbee|first=JoAnn|last=Wypijewski|date=15 February 2003|website=the Guardian}} while in the Daily Telegraph Alasdair Palmer described the book as "hectoring" and wrote "The political philosophy which underlies her recipe for remedying that experience (poverty), or improving it, is not plausible".{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4729792/Poverty-just-aint-what-it-used-to-be.html|title=Poverty just ain't what it used to be|first=Alasdair|last=Palmer|date=2 February 2003|publisher=|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}} The book was also reviewed in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.{{cite journal | pmc = 539518 | pages=307–308 | volume=96 | issue=6 | journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine | title=Hard Work: Life in Low-pay Britain | year=2003 | doi=10.1177/014107680309600616 | last1=Stanwell-Smith | first1=R. }}
References
{{reflist}}
Category:2003 non-fiction books
Category:Books about politics of the United Kingdom
Category:Books critical of capitalism
Category:Books by Polly Toynbee
Category:Bloomsbury Publishing books
Category:English-language non-fiction books
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