In a storeroom at Sussex University lie the records of Mass-Observation, an organisation of anonymous people-watchers which in its heyday ran into much criticism. Some of its supporters made large claims for its methods and findings; respectable journals hailed a new form of social research, while others jeered; Evelyn Waugh complained of 'pseudoscientific showmanship'. During World War Two a minute by an official in the Ministry of Home Security described Mass-Observation reports on blitz morale as 'a most extraordinary mixture of fact, fiction and dangerous mischief' emanating apparently from 'the intelligentsia' (see Living through the Blitz by Tom Harrisson, co-founder of the organisation).

LRB 1 October 1981 | PDF Download