1st Edition
Towards a Very British Version of the “Culture Wars” Populism, Social Fractures and Political Communication
This book examines the emergence and the political use of what has come to be known as “culture wars” in the United Kingdom.
Adopting multidisciplinary perspectives, it investigates the ways in which cultural identities are used for political ends. The book bridges the conceptual and theoretical gap in fully understanding so-called “culture wars” in a British context; as such, it envisages debates as part of a larger political project to gain popular support by tapping into voters' sense of neglect by the political elite. Applying the concept of “national populism” as a binding conceptual framework for the book, a prestigious panel of international experts offer thorough analyses to show that not enough attention is being paid to what may be considered as an “escalation” of culture wars, and to how divisions have been accentuated by political elites to deliberately exacerbate them.
This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and readers in British politics, populism studies, party politics, Conservative party politics and more broadly to European and Comparative politics.
1. Towards a very British version of the “culture wars”: An introduction
Raphaële Kilty
2. Partisan conflict over Clause 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act: Culture Wars avant la lettre
Mark Garnett and Kate Williams
3. Nigel Farage’s national populist campaign in favour of Brexit: Early signs of a culture war in the United Kingdom
Laëtitia Langlois
4. Comparative evidence from the Yellow Vests movement in France: Communities of grievance
Brigitte Granville and Federica Liberini
5. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s use of metaphors and the emergence of the UK “culture wars”: The great divider?
Alma-Pierre Bonnet
6. The Conservative Right’s ‘War against Woke’: Fighting the latest ‘enemies within’
Peter Dorey
7. Policing the culture wars in contemporary Britain: ‘More PCs, less PC’
Emma Bell
8. Climate Change and Cultural Collision in UK politics: Petrolheads vs. Ecowarriors
Michael Drolet
9. Critical Race Theory and the politics of race in Britain: The Long Culture War
Paul Warmington
10. Academic freedom and transphobia in UK higher education: Two sides of the same coin?
Lexi Webster
11. Conservative unionism v. Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill: Killing two birds with one stone?
Fiona Simpkins
12. Conclusion
Raphaële Kilty
Biography
Alma-Pierre Bonnet is a Senior Lecturer in British studies at Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University, France.
Raphaële Kilty is a Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History and Politics at Clermont Auvergne University, France.
“This is an engaging and timely book on the much talked about "culture wars" in the UK. It offers a striking assessment of the many fronts opened by populists in their efforts to take over the Conservative party. A must read for anyone eager to make sense of the new and consequential "phoney war".”
Florence Faucher, Director of the CEE, Sciences Po, Paris, France
“A timely and thought-provoking book which explores the multiple dimensions of an agenda which now seems set to play an increasingly divisive and transformative role in political debate in the United Kingdom. The contributors are alert both to the political motivations driving contemporary culture wars and to their comparative context. A wide-ranging and sophisticated collection which deserves an extensive readership.”
Gillian Peele, University of Oxford, UK
