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replaces exclusionary and confrontational identity politics with fluid cultural and identity positions which are adopted or relinquished according to the circumstances but in any case are not pitted against one another. At no time does the main character feel torn between her dual cultures. Instead she shows her knowledge of the ins and outs of each culture, adopting what is or is not acceptable for a young woman of her age in order to assert herself and find a place in society. She is shown ‘in a dynamic process’ (Freedman and Tarr, 2000: 5), not as the object of a
‘white, working class male’. I would still attack racism and sexism and homophobia, yes, but I would be a white, working class male and other decent, white working class males would be my true brothers.65 Class was being reconstituted, not only through social and economic forces but in terms of individual identity and a politics of recognition.66 Personalised understandings could thus mirror the identity politics of opponents. These feelings became acute in writing workshops. In developing a literature based on working-class experience, writers had to be free to