Images of Male Mobility in Martin Amis’ Writings and the Reality

The thesis deals with male mobility in the 1970’s and 1980’s Great Britain. The theoretical part of the paper describes society and the issue of change. In the practical part of the paper, social mobility of Amis’ main characters from the works Success and Money is evaluated with regard to the theory. The analysis attempts to make a contribution to the understanding of Martin Amis’ works as well as male mobility in the 1970’s and 1980’s Great Britain.

Great Britain is a country of many races, beliefs and possibilities. This land lures people who want to change their lives. In other words, Britain promises to give equal opportunities to everyone. To find whether it is true, an ethnographic and a case study is performed. The study uses different theories in documents to observe the male mobility in the 1970’s and 1980’s in Great Britain. Thus, this paper compares the individual theories in documents with Martin Amis’ works Success and Money. The purpose of this paper is to describe, compare and analyze male mobility in the 1970’s and 1980’s in Britain with Martin Amis’ main characters. Due to the fact that Martin Amis’ works were published in 1978 (Success) and 1984 (Money), they were influenced by social and political perspectives of that time. To get the most valid results, this study applies the latest development and changes concerning the social and the research background. This paper answers the question what images of male mobility are conveyed in Martin Amis’ writings in comparison with the reality. The hypotheses are that Amis’characters reflect the social division in the 1970’s and 1980’s in Great Britain; Amis’ characters prove the possibility of changing their social class through various factors; Amis’ characters point to inequity in the society at that time. This study attempts to make a contribution to the understanding of Martin Amis’ works as well as the society of that time. Although much research has been done on this particular topic, there are still some areas open for further examination. The main problems are based either on conflicting evidence from the previous studies or on the chosen methods. Therefore, the exploration of the male mobility in the 1970’s and 1980’s in the United Kingdom is done along with its comparison of Martin Amis’ works. This paper uses qualitative and quantitative research perspectives as there are figures and tables included. The research type is a combination of a case and an ethnographic study. Consequently, contemporary theories and methods are used to study the real life culture. Therefore, the paper makes use of primary and secondary
sources.

This paper concentrates on the works of Martin Amis. His ten novels were published during the last three decades (1970-2000). All of them deal with society, sexuality and money and are widely reviewed and criticized. His works have given him the status of an influential British writer who has pointed out the decline of the values in the society. The paper structure follows consecutively. The theoretical part of this paper describes society and the issue of change. In that part, perspectives fall into five main categories: society, immigration and anti-discrimination laws; the social classes in the 20th century Britain; mobility within the social classes; the main political changes in the 1970’s and 1980’s and the latest findings in the social and the research background. Secondly, the paper concentrates on the author Martin Amis. His opinions as well as their reflection in his works are discussed. In the practical part, Martin Amis’ work Success is introduced and evaluated according to the three hypotheses. Then, Martin Amis’ work Money is observed similarly to Success. The conclusion presents the obtained results.