Journal of Economic Studies in Literature
JESL, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2026, pp.82-91.
Print ISSN: 3107-3492; Online ISSN: 3107-3506
Journal homepage: https://www.jesljournal.com
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64058/jesl260105pwcbg
李郑心岚（Li Zhengxinlan），李锋（Li Feng）
摘要：受凯恩斯主义宏观经济学的思想影响，二战后的英国通过国有化改革推动工业经济复苏，带动工业城市蓬勃发展，促成消费社会兴起，迎来经济高速增长的黄金时代。阿兰·西利托的小说《周六晚与周日晨》以20世纪五十年代工人的生存境遇为切入点，揭露了繁荣表象下被掩盖的劳动规训、劳资博弈，以及消费主义蔓延等社会问题。流水线生产、薪酬体系与工作纪律将工人异化为可替代的工具，工人则以消极怠工、反抗权威等方式进行抗争，工厂内部形成对立割裂的等级关系，劳资矛盾不断激化。在工厂之外，战争创伤、核威胁等现代化风险笼罩英国社会，工人们试图通过报复性消费、纵情享乐来逃避生存焦虑，分期付款、超前消费等信贷消费模式也逐渐流行。规训与诱惑相互交织，最终使工人陷入身体与精神的双重异化。
关键词：《周六晚与周日晨》；黄金时代；工人阶级；劳动规训；消费社会
作者介绍：李郑心岚，中国海洋大学外国语学院博士生，主要研究方向为英美文学，电子信箱：lizhengxinlan@stu.ouc.edu.cn。李锋（通讯作者），文学博士，中国海洋大学外国语学院教授，郑州大学英美文学研究中心兼职研究员，主要从事英美文学研究，电子信箱：franklee1978@163.com。
Title: The Plight of the Working Class in Britain’s “Golden Age”: A Case Study of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
Abstract: Under the influence of Keynesian macroeconomic thought, post-WWII Britain restored its industrial economy through nationalization reforms. These policies boosted the robust development of industrial cities, facilitated the rise of a consumer society, and ushered in a golden age of rapid economic growth. Alan Sillitoe’s novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning focuses on the living conditions of workers in the 1950s, exposing social problems hidden behind prosperity—including labor discipline, labor-capital relations, and the spread of consumerism. Driven by assembly-line production, wage systems and work disciplines, workers were reduced to replaceable tools, yet they resisted through acts like slacking and defying authority. Such conditions engendered antagonistic and fragmented hierarchies inside factories and further intensified conflicts between labor and capital. Outside the workplace, British society was overshadowed by modernization risks such as wartime trauma and nuclear threats. To escape existential anxiety, workers resorted to compensatory consumption and hedonistic pleasures, leading to the growing prevalence of credit-based consumption such as installments and advanced consumption. As discipline and temptation became intertwined, workers were ultimately trapped in a state of physical and mental alienation.
Keywords: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning; Golden age; Working class; Labor discipline; Consumer society
Author Biography: Li Zhengxinlan is a Ph.D. candidate at the College of Foreign Languages, Ocean University of China, specializing in British and American literature. E-mail: lizhengxinlan@stu.ouc.edu.cn. Li Feng (corresponding author), Ph.D., is a professor at the College of Foreign Languages, Ocean University of China and a research fellow at the Center of English Studies, Zhengzhou University, specializing in British and American literature. E-mail: franklee1978@163.com.
Received: 06 May 2026 / Revised: 20 May 2026 / Accepted: 05 Jun. 2026 / Published online: 15 Jun. 2026 / Print published: 25 Jun. 2026.
